Officially starting out on my lonely (NICEIC, Arms access advice)

[Joshua]

A little back story. . .

I've been a self employed sub contractor for 6 years now.
Mainly working on new build flats and houses with the odd bit of commercial thrown in for good measure.

I'm finally taking the plunge to start my own fully fledged company.

At the moment I'm still doing site work during the week (1st fix, 2nd fix, containment etc) and I'm getting the odd bit of domestic privates in the evenings and weekends.

I've got 2330 level 2 and 3, Nvq3, 17th Edition etc etc basically everything I needed to get my gold card and I'm doing my 2394/95 or 2391-52 in August.

As it stands at the moment I'm a self employed sole trader taking on contracts with bigger firms on construction sites and carrying out my own domestic work during the weekend.

so what I'm asking is am I ready to gain Arms access on this forum as I think it'll be an invaluable resource for me.

And, as I'm working on site installing containment, fire alarms, CCTV and flat bashing, am I eligible for Approved contractor status with the NICEIC?

Hope all that is easy to digest

New baby
Little sleep
One tired mofo
Be gentle

Josh

 

[telectrix]

think you'll be a welcome addition to the Arms. just wait for admin to clock this thread.

 

[Octopus]

You need to call the NICEIC and see if they will accept your cheque qualifications...

 

[Pete999]

You need to call the NICEIC and see if they will accept your cheque qualifications...

I like this, very near the truth.

 

[Octopus]

^^ They take your money.. do an assessment once per year, send you lots of money making ideas (for them) and don't do anything about the dodgy work undertaken by people who are their members..........

BUT if you use their logo, and not be a member they will act....

 

[Leesparkykent]

Arms access given...only a few posts away from 100.

 

[The Ghost]

Sounds like your amply placed to apply for approved contractor. Very fussy paperwork though. Same as STROMA though

 

[Midwest]

^^ They take your money.. do an assessment once per year, send you lots of money making ideas (for them) and don't do anything about the dodgy work undertaken by people who are their members..........

BUT if you use their logo, and not be a member they will act....

Oh ye of so little faith

 

[Octopus]

Oh ye of so little faith

But extremely realistic......

 

[Midwest]

But extremely realistic......

Sounds like your glass is half empty Murdoch, mines always half full

 

[Joshua]

Arms access given...only a few posts away from 100.

Thanks Lee

 

[Madocks]

All the best

 

[Octopus]

Sounds like your glass is half empty Murdoch, mines always half full

My glass is always 3/4 full except when it comes to the scams...

 

[Dean1990]

How are you currently certifying the necessary private domestic work?

 

[Soulsurfer]

You'll be ok if you can test and interpret the results correctly etc.. I just joined up 2 weeks ago finally, and I have just gone DI first as waiting for bills to be paid to me so I can upgrade in 2wks or so to AC ! Plus it's cheaper to do it this way than straight to AC !

The assessor was sound but did spend a lot of time in the office going over paperwork etc.. Now I need advice on how the heck the Certs etc.. work online as I'm used to iCertifi which is brilliant but after 3-4 calls & countless emails back and forth at least now I can actually login to niceic.com and do a few changes Been a mission ! Anyone who can help with the form filling please get in touch ! Cheers

 

[Midwest]

Now I need advice on how the heck the Certs etc.. work online as I'm used to iCertifi which is brilliant but after 3-4 calls & countless emails back and forth at least now I can actually login to niceic.com and do a few changes Been a mission ! Anyone who can help with the form filling please get in touch ! Cheers

I use the Elecsa on-line certification, but it must be the same as NIC (all part of Certsure). It does get quite easy, once you done a few. If you get stuck, call the on-line certification helpline (again, probably the same office). It is sometimes busy, and it goes to answerphone, try middle of the day if you can. When you do get through, if its something they can't resolve over the phone, they can do a 'remote assist' to your device. Their are some vids' you can watch, that demonstrates various processes etc.

Be mindful they've had some technical issues recently, where customers weren't receiving certs' by email. I had one customer, who didn't get his cert' and compliance cert' by post? There is currently an issue with their mobile app. I always now explain my customer to expect their cert' within a certain time, and to get back to me if it doesn't arrive. Not ideal, some would say, but the process has worked well for some time before now.

 

[Soulsurfer]

I use the Elecsa on-line certification, but it must be the same as NIC (all part of Certsure). It does get quite easy, once you done a few. If you get stuck, call the on-line certification helpline (again, probably the same office). It is sometimes busy, and it goes to answerphone, try middle of the day if you can. When you do get through, if its something they can't resolve over the phone, they can do a 'remote assist' to your device. Their are some vids' you can watch, that demonstrates various processes etc.

Be mindful they've had some technical issues recently, where customers weren't receiving certs' by email. I had one customer, who didn't get his cert' and compliance cert' by post? There is currently an issue with their mobile app. I always now explain my customer to expect their cert' within a certain time, and to get back to me if it doesn't arrive. Not ideal, some would say, but the process has worked well for some time before now.

Hey Midwest do you get charged / have to pay per cert e.g. for each DEIC you fill out and send / print and also per building control notice ? Thought after registration the certs bit was free?
Also there was a pop up saying to download NIC software for forms online by another company called Click or similar ? Do I need to get that to fill in forms too ? As it was just a free trial which usually means a charge afterwards ! Thanks for any help on this.

 

[Midwest]

Yep Soulsurfer, even though we pay handsomely for the privilege of being in their scheme, you also got to pay for the online certs' etc. Each cert' is £1+vat, BC is £3+vat. Posted cert' costs an additional £1.50+vat.

I would either use the Certsure on-line certs, or one of the other many formats (free or otherwise), you don't need both?

I prefer to use the Certsure on-line forms, but I can understand why people prefer not to. For me, someone else takes responsibility of storing the docs (although I do a 'save as'), I found the certs' relatively easy to complete (there's technical support, if you get stuck), and you can store photos of your work, which you can attach to the certs' if you want (although, at the moment the pics are displayed full size, not thumbnail).

I understand there is cheaper or free software out there, but in comparison I used Megger's Powersuite when I started. At the time it cost £180 a year, tech support was for 90 days, and you had to have the software to read the cert's, so no emailing clients with them. I make an admin charge to my clients for certs' (shown in quote).

 

[Soulsurfer]

Yep Soulsurfer, even though we pay handsomely for the privilege of being in their scheme, you also got to pay for the online certs' etc. Each cert' is £1+vat, BC is £3+vat. Posted cert' costs an additional £1.50+vat.

I would either use the Certsure on-line certs, or one of the other many formats (free or otherwise), you don't need both?

I prefer to use the Certsure on-line forms, but I can understand why people prefer not to. For me, someone else takes responsibility of storing the docs (although I do a 'save as'), I found the certs' relatively easy to complete (there's technical support, if you get stuck), and you can store photos of your work, which you can attach to the certs' if you want (although, at the moment the pics are displayed full size, not thumbnail).

I understand there is cheaper or free software out there, but in comparison I used Megger's Powersuite when I started. At the time it cost £180 a year, tech support was for 90 days, and you had to have the software to read the cert's, so no emailing clients with them. I make an admin charge to my clients for certs' (shown in quote).

Thanks Midwest, that's handy to know, spoke to one of their customer service girls today and she said you buy packs of 25 certs a time for £11. I take it the standard certsure fill out process is free once you bought the certificates e cert or whatever they call them ?

 

[Midwest]

Thanks Midwest, that's handy to know, spoke to one of their customer service girls today and she said you buy packs of 25 certs a time for £11. I take it the standard certsure fill out process is free once you bought the certificates e cert or whatever they call them ?

You'll find that is the hand written packs. The on-line process, electronically stored & sent, is the one I'm referring to.