Notification fee via a scheme (NICEIC, NAPIT) is just a few £, but there are annual membership fees of circa £600 to be able to do this.
Direct notification via LABC is often quite costly (many £ hundreds), as generally they want to discourage this. In some cases, set as high as they dare in the hope nobody goes down that route.
As far as I know, the plumber wouldn't have been qualified to notify via NICEIC or NAPIT. Don't they require apprenticeship training or similar? I'm dragging this thread quite a bit off topic now to be fair, so I'll go off and do some research.
Now I might have a bit of a moan directed towards the ether
If the direct notification fee's are so inflated, no wonder we see so much property at work (construction/development) that isn't certified. To be quite honest, even my own house, a build from 2005 by Ben Bailey, absolutely doesn't comply with building regs in multiple areas and would certainly fail LABC inspection. It was probably done under type approval and is shoddy, to say the least. Actually, I'm being kind, the standard of build is so outrageously poor.
As one example, as part of this project, after taking down a plasterboard ceiling we found a roof joist without a hanger on one end. They had tacked the hanger up, but forgotten to install it, so there was literally a free range roof joist above our bathroom. Also, we have found huge circular holes cut through i-joist web, non reinforced notches in the i-joist flanges, ridiculous plumbing, electrical cables running diagonally behind plasterboard. The list is endless. To cap it all, the flooring turned out to be chipboard glued and nailed directly to ijoists, which, as you probably know, dear reader, have flanges made of laminated wood (ply), so use of glue is an absolute disaster.
As a result, I trust nothing in our house anymore and honestly believe that anything I personally do, is an upgrade on what was originally installed. I do at least know how to terminate a cable and the basic principles of continuity testing etc. I am also cautious, which is an attribute I'd expect electricians to be familiar with. lol
You guys are like gold, honestly. I really appreciate your help in understanding things. I'm sure I'll get there, one day.