Self employed start up

Buzz1980 · Dec 10, 2019

Hi all,

just a question regarding starting up as self employed electrician carrying out works in domestic installations such asEICRs, remedial works, consumer unit upgrades etc. I am hoping to start this mid 2020 and I am looking to get some info on pricing etc. I am based up in Scotland.
1- how much is the going rate for carrying out a EICR on a 10way board. Do you charge per circuit or per consumer unit. With additional costs for any remedial works.
2- also do you have to be part of a governing body to sign test sheet off or is your grading card and qualifications enough to sign off Installation.
I will look forward to hearing from you.

Dan · Dec 10, 2019

Welcome to the forum.

1. Pricing varies too much for various circumstances for a thread to be helpful you'd be better off working out your outgoings for your life and splitting that into days or something. Allowing for tax and NI. Then if and when you make that, start to increase your prices.

2. Apparently you can get somebody else to sign your work off (in England at least) but it's frowned upon. Best to get yourself going then when funds allow get yourself on a certification scheme from what I can tell reading the forums.

3. I'm not an electrician and get electric shocks off shopping trollies. So wait for somebody in the actual trade to answer their answer will have credit.

Thanks for registering, hang around, you'll find the forum handy I think.

MFS Electrical · Dec 10, 2019

Welcome to the forum mate. Where in Scotland you setting up? We are based in Inverclyde.
I’m going to say forget the so called going rate and charge what your Worth. You don’t have to compete on price because someone will always do it cheaper and all you’ll do is help devalue our trade by dropping the backside out of your price to undercut or match someone else’s.

You don’t know why anyone else’s rates are that much and you never will.

You’ll have to sit down and work out;
How much you want to earn per day as in to take home.
How much tax you will need to pay.
How much public liability and professional indemnity insurances cost.
How much tools buying maintenance etc costs.
How much the van and the insurance costs.
How much on marketing.
How many days per year your actually going to work. Don’t forget paperwork days. factor in about 1 a week.
there will likely be other expenses as well that you’ll need to factor in.
how much profit you want to make each day for the business.
Then take all your totals and divide it by the amount of days you will work. That will give you your day rate and then divide it by the hours you’ll work per day to get your hourly rate.
And don’t forget you’ll never fill up a full day because of travel time etc so your first hour may be more than each subsequent hour.

Then pricing is easyish - how longs this going to take? Then there’s how much + materials. Sometimes you’ll still underestimate how long a job will take you but at least you’ll be closer to the mark.

No you don’t have to be part of a scheme in scotland but if you are then if building control are involved you won’t have to get them to inspect it. We aren’t part of a scheme.
I’d advise an inspection and testing qualification in addition to your grade card and quals so you can prove competency.

JK-Electrical · Dec 10, 2019

Trig said:
Hi all,

just a question regarding starting up as self employed electrician carrying out works in domestic installations such asEICRs, remedial works, consumer unit upgrades etc. I am hoping to start this mid 2020 and I am looking to get some info on pricing etc. I am based up in Scotland.
1- how much is the going rate for carrying out a EICR on a 10way board. Do you charge per circuit or per consumer unit. With additional costs for any remedial works.
2- also do you have to be part of a governing body to sign test sheet off or is your grading card and qualifications enough to sign off Installation.
I will look forward to hearing from you.

You don't have to hold any qualifications at all to be an electrician in Scotland. Up here, anyone can call themselves an electrician and trade as such, and there are plenty wetpants and kitchen fitters up here who do exactly that.

Hopefully this farcical situation will be coming to and end in the near future though, and sanity will finally prevail. So with this in mind, I would endorse the advice given by MFS and suggest that you get yourself a qualification in inspection and testing if you haven't already done so. You'll benefit from having this qualification if you're going to be carrying-out EICRs for landlords. I draw your attention to paragraph 10 and Annex A of the Scottish Government Statutory Guidance On Electrical Installations And Appliances In Private Rented Property.

As for EICR pricing, I don't know what the state of the market is up in Stirling, but down here in Glasgow there is a plethora of bottom-feeders doing EICRs for as low as £50.00. This is what you'll be competing against if the market in your area is as it is in Glasgow. Some charge per circuit others charge by the size and type of the property that is being tested. I prefer the latter approach.

With regard to consumer unit changeovers, again there is an over-supply of busy fools doing board changeovers for as little as £220.00. Yes, seriously, you read that correctly. This is what you'll most likely be up against. I would again endorse the advice given by MFS in that you should decide for yourself in advance the prices you are going to charge and stick to your decision come hell or high water.

You will only be required to sign-off on work where a Building Warrant is in force. Building Control will require an EIC or minor works certificate(s) c/w schedule of test results from you along with a copy of your SJIB grading card plus a copy of your test meter's current calibration certificate.