No sign of any earthing in newly installed kitchen... Please Help!

[Marvo]

I'd start with a full test report from the electrician and plan the best way to remedy the installation then I'd be exploring legal action against the builder or a report to trading standards as an option. Any builder who leaves an installation like this is deliberately and knowingly compromising his customers safety purely for his own personal profit. If you just let it slide you won't be doing any of his future customers any favours.

 

[hightower]

Agree with Marvo. You were savvy enough to spot the issues, the next person might not be. You've got to push this all the way and make sure this guy isn't going to kill some little old dear or God forbid a child.

 

[Simonslimline]

I'd start with a full test report from the electrician and plan the best way to remedy the installation then I'd be exploring legal action against the builder or a report to trading standards as an option. Any builder who leaves an installation like this is deliberately and knowingly compromising his customers safety purely for his own personal profit. If you just let it slide you won't be doing any of his future customers any favours.

Totally agree with you on this.

This "Builder" needs a sharp wake up call. The work this absolute muppet has attempted to carry out is dangerous and if repeated elsewhere could end up seriously injuring or even killing some poor unsuspecting person.

Not sure how people who do this sort of thing sleep at night to be honest.

 

[Octopus]

Thanks to everyone for the replies! I have booked my own qualified electrician to come and sort this out tomorrow morning. It's really great to hear that those of you in the know agree that the work is substandard. I will post back tomorrow and let you know what my electrician thinks of the situation!

After talking to my builder this evening it came out this 'his electrician' doing the work was in fact himself!

Pity the renovation of the flat has just been finished and we will most likely need to run new wires :-/ On the upside I still owe him £700 which should hopefully cover the cost of the new work... better get someone in to double check the gas and plumbing too!!

Thanks guys!

Your £700 isn't going to cover much more than professional tests IMHO........as for running new wires and all the making good....

 

[Englishman]

That is a disgrace. I can't help but lay some blame at customers for this sort of things as a huge amount of them routinely get builders to do electrical work. I'm not blaming the OP in this case, because he believed that the builder was getting a spark in, but a lot of house owners happily let their builders do electrics.

 

[polo1]

That is a disgrace. I can't help but lay some blame at customers for this sort of things as a huge amount of them routinely get builders to do electrical work. I'm not blaming the OP in this case, because he believed that the builder was getting a spark in, but a lot of house owners happily let their builders do electrics.

Whilst I agree some customers are cheapskates, the majority simply don't appreciate
what's involved in electrical work ......it works, therefore it's safe. It lies squarely with the "builder" to use qualified tradesmen, and if they don't then they should pay the full price (legal & financial) when things go wrong. This guy could so easily have been facing a manslaughter charge!

 

[Englishman]

Whilst I agree some customers are cheapskates, the majority simply don't appreciate
what's involved in electrical work ......it works, therefore it's safe. It lies squarely with the "builder" to use qualified tradesmen, and if they don't then they should pay the full price (legal & financial) when things go wrong. This guy could so easily have been facing a manslaughter charge!

The builder needs a serious prosecution but my point about customers stand, I will make clear again that I do not blame the customer in this situation as he was told that a spark was being brought in. And the fact that the vast majority of the public don't appreciate the dangers of electricity and how much work and knowledge goes into systems, is a huge problem in general, and affects the whole proving structure of our business and trade, as well as the work available. Unlike gas and water works, fatal problems are rarely noticeable to the untrained eye.

I've noticed a lot that homeowners allow builders to complete their electrical installations, either because it's cheaper, or because they are mislead over the abilities of the builders. I believe that it is a case of the former on the vast majority of occasions.

 

[ruston]

I agree that £700 wont go far , but at least it is a start.
I would take the advice given , especially with regard to legal redress. This type of installation needs stamping out, it is getting ever more common.

 

[Octopus]

I was doing dome work this morning for a home owner, who is planning an extension and we got talking about the electrics. He asked what I would recommend.

I suggested that he ask to meet the sparky before they start to discuss the project and requirements......and keep contact directly with the spark, not to cut out the builder, but more to ensure they got what they wanted.

All we can do is try and educate clients...

 

[Englishman]

Unfortunately Murdoch, most clients see electrical work as the least important and as such, they try and do it as cheaply as possibly.

 

[quinlivanb]

Hello all, again, thank you for the response! I've had a electrician in today to look at the situation and it's just as bad as it looks, and worse in some places. Looks like the whole place is going to need to be rewired and as all the walls are concrete this is going to require some creative solutions. likely going to cost in the region of 3-5000 pounds. Should be sorted by Christmas thank god!

I also got a plumber in to test the new boiler. He informed me that none of the figures of the test sheet made any sense and it was clear that no combustion or any other of the required tests had been carried out. It also appears that the invoice we were given for this plumbing work was fake. Again the builders have clearly lied about getting a plumber in to fit and test the system. Luckily the plumber was able to fix the few minor issues in a few hours and was able to carry out the required tests. All is now safe on that end!

Luckily the builder has emailed us a copy of this false invoice so this should give us some good legal standing ??

 

[Chris E]

Just a suggestion, if you're not already, log every interation in regards to this issue, invoices, emails, telephone calls, quotes, issues, who, where, everything. You may not need a good chunk of it but its always good to have this info to hand.

 

[hightower]

At the risk of sounding like an absolute 'expletive', how does someone find themselves in this situation? I wouldn't let anyone near my house unless I was sure not only of their qualifications, but also of their previous work. We've just spent £13k on an extension, but only after quotes from various companies and then only after having heard satisfactory reviews (from people we trust) on the chosen company. I mean, it's not like you've had a socket added - you've had major work done, surely making sure you get someone trusted is nothing more than common sense?

P.S. This isn't a stab at the OP. I'm genuinely interested how people find themselves in this situation - did you let your guard down OP, or did you do everything anyone parting with thousands of pounds would do and still found yourself in the predicament?

 

[DPG]

What a cowboy - make sure you go as far as you can with this one. As someone else said, he will be doing other jobs like this and could well end up killing someone. Hope you get everything straightened out before Christmas. Daz

 

[Iddy]

What a complete mess...Hope you get it sorted asap...Maybe one off the members on this forum close to your location could take the job on for you..

 

[DPG]

Post photos of any other nasties that you uncover. Daz

 

[Englishman]

At the risk of sounding like an absolute 'expletive', how does someone find themselves in this situation? I wouldn't let anyone near my house unless I was sure not only of their qualifications, but also of their previous work. We've just spent £13k on an extension, but only after quotes from various companies and then only after having heard satisfactory reviews (from people we trust) on the chosen company. I mean, it's not like you've had a socket added - you've had major work done, surely making sure you get someone trusted is nothing more than common sense?

P.S. This isn't a stab at the OP. I'm genuinely interested how people find themselves in this situation - did you let your guard down OP, or did you do everything anyone parting with thousands of pounds would do and still found yourself in the predicament?

I think they either go with the first quote, do very little research on the company in question, or they've chosen the cheapest. It's as simple as that, I suspect it's the latter, and if it is, then you're simply asking for something like this.

 

[Midwest]

Hello all, again, thank you for the response! I've had a electrician in today to look at the situation and it's just as bad as it looks, and worse in some places. Looks like the whole place is going to need to be rewired and as all the walls are concrete this is going to require some creative solutions. likely going to cost in the region of 3-5000 pounds. Should be sorted by Christmas thank god!

Don't want to sound a bit of a killjoy, but as its going to cost £3-5k and the 'walls are concrete', do you think it's realistic to think its going to be sorted in 8 days? Unless you've got DIY SOS going in.

 

[Englishman]

Also, I'm assuming hat the only electrics altered were in the kitchen? In which case, why does the entire lot need rewiring? I suspect that this isn't the case, and would certainly not be going with just one quote again.

 

[ruston]

Also, I'm assuming hat the only electrics altered were in the kitchen? In which case, why does the entire lot need rewiring? I suspect that this isn't the case, and would certainly not be going with just one quote again.

If it is a concrete building then maybe Lucien's post 4 has it summed up.
I would also want further opinions before I get bitten again.