self employment

DiGiTaLBoOSH · Nov 4, 2013

Hi all,

Im looking into going self employed but am getting confused by requirements needed, i have 18 years experience and all qualifications necessary (apart from 2391 atm)

*do i have to be registered by a governing body such as nic etc? (yes would give credibilty) but is it a must?
*if i have my 2391 where do i get test certificates and get them processed if not with a governing body?

Many thanks

Octopus · Nov 4, 2013

This has been done to death on here, but on the basis you want to do domestic, and stay the right side of the law and building regulations membership of a scheme is a must.

I would also suggest buying a PC based package to do your certs like PIRform or similar.

Guitarist · Nov 4, 2013

Hard to get a lot of the jobs out there if you're not registered to be honest, plus you limit yourself to non-notifiable work unless you're willing to add the cost of notification (£180 + VAT where I live) to every CU change, and new circuit.

Motty · Nov 5, 2013

Standard format EIR / MWC / EICR forms plus Inspections / test results are available free on te IET website, 20-odd page PDF, all forms on the 1 document, just print the pages you need to fill in by hand (at first) to save a bit on the startup costs? eventually as work increases invest in the auto software package.

Already being a member of a part P organisation should give you that little extra edge / customer reassurance when the (domestic) customer asks the question ... especially if you're competing against others who are. you give the cert / SOI / SOTR to the customer and keep copies yourself, notify of the type of work via NICEIC NAPIT ELECSA and they then notify building control who forwards the customer the part P approval certificate. 3-5 rewire / ccu change jobs (depending on location) and the membership outlay is pretty much recovered, rather than paying BC every time for the service.

Needless to say its best to agree the full/ final or at least 85% payment is cleared before any certificates will be issued. a handy trump card to at least cover your back for the legal responsibilities should the customer refuse payment.