NICEIC Certification Scheme Sold my soul to the Niceic

[rich.250]

I know their not what they used to be!
But in my area the area engineer is really good, and it shows with the contractors.
The NIC approved contractors are far better than the other approved contractors from other approvals.
I've got a lot more commercial work and tender applications since I joined 2 years ago.

But then again, your only as good as your worst bloke.

 

[uksparks]

I would rather be with the NICEIC over any other and thats down to the online interface which I think its great and also the fact that they are the most widely recognise, nothing more to it.

They seem ok to me, never had any issues, if you are going to pay, just pay and go with the bigger brand, its such a trivial difference in my opinion.

 

[HappyHippyDad]

As the title suggests, I have started the process of registering with the NIC, £540 worse off so far, let the fun begin!

Sorry HM. I keep putting HT for some unknown reason!

 

[rich.250]

As the title suggests, I have started the process of registering with the NIC, £540 worse off so far, let the fun begin!

It's exactly the same price as napit if you go for equal approval level..... Just they have it all as add ons.
Although from seeing work done by others anyone can join Napit!

 

[rich.250]

I would rather be with the NICEIC over any other and thats down to the online interface which I think its great.

And a decent free iPad app

 

[andyb]

It's exactly the same price as napit if you go for equal approval level..... Just they have it all as add ons.
Although from seeing work done by others anyone can join Napit!

Well that's a mater of opinion, there are plenty of posts on this forum that end 'and that was done by an Nic electrician'
I've got no problem with either, I've just today cancelled my Nic membership which was due for renewal Friday, I had my last Nic assessment in September and had my Napit assessment last week, so less than 4 months apart.

There was a difference, in the 10 years that I've been with the Nic the only qualification that I've been asked for is my 17th edition. Napit wanted copies of all my qualifications on application, then the assessor wanted to see them on the day.
The office part took a lot longer for the Napit assessment, he wanted to see all the same stuff but he asked me technical questions in the office then I had to sit and answer some written questions. Only 5 or 6 but not all easy ( I needed to refer to my regs for one) I never had that with the Nic.
The on site bit was remarkable similar.

But to reiterate I'm not advocating one over the other, they're both similar I'm sure with good and bad representatives. The same for Stroma or Elecsa.

Though comments like this

Congratulations on joining the NicEic. Despite the additional cost it'll help distinguish yourself from the amateurs in the other scams
The Nic are far from perfect but a lot of the assessors from the other scams are those that can't get in with the Nic.

Are just plain daft if you ask me (though no one ever does)
Seems I was a pro yesterday an amateur today.

 

[Leesparkykent]

Well that's a mater of opinion, there are plenty of posts on this forum that end 'and that was done by an Nic electrician'
I've got no problem with either, I've just today cancelled my Nic membership which was due for renewal Friday, I had my last Nic assessment in September and had my Napit assessment last week, so less than 4 months apart.

There was a difference, in the 10 years that I've been with the Nic the only qualification that I've been asked for is my 17th edition. Napit wanted copies of all my qualifications on application, then the assessor wanted to see them on the day.
The office part took a lot longer for the Napit assessment, he wanted to see all the same stuff but he asked me technical questions in the office then I had to sit and answer some written questions. Only 5 or 6 but not all easy ( I needed to refer to my regs for one) I never had that with the Nic.
The on site bit was remarkable similar.

But to reiterate I'm not advocating one over the other, they're both similar I'm sure with good and bad representatives. The same for Stroma or Elecsa.

Though comments like this

Are just plain daft if you ask me (though no one ever does)
Seems I was a pro yesterday an amateur today.

So what was the question you had to refer to the regs to? :/

 

[andyb]

So what was the question you had to refer to the regs to? :/

It was to do with firefighter's switches. Colour, height of the ground and whether off is at the top or bottom.
No problem as I could use the regs, just wasn't expecting it.

 

[Andy78]

It's exactly the same price as napit if you go for equal approval level..... Just they have it all as add ons.
Although from seeing work done by others anyone can join Napit!

From the enquiries I made Napit is a lot cheaper. There is the stated website price but if you are moving from another scheme it can be considerably cheaper.

 

[Andy78]

Congratulations on joining the NicEic. Despite the additional cost it'll help distinguish yourself from the amateurs in the other scams
Youll never see a specifier, architect etc choose a stroma, Napit etc contractor over a Nic one. You will see them use phrases similar to "must be registered with the NicEic/or similar.
The Nic are far from perfect but a lot of the assessors from the other scams are those that can't get in with the Nic.
Dont let the money fool you, there is a reason they are still the No1 brand

Really ? My Elecsa assessor was only the other day saying how his own worth was assessed on a regular basis when the scheme was separate from the NICEIC. Now he is working under a NICEIC assessor he hasn't been assessed once in approaching 2 years.

The name exists as a value brand to those who don't know any better or any different, the public, specifiers, main contractors etc.
But from my point of view, looking from the inside of the trade, it's a name to hide behind for all and sundry. Every electrician that I have urged customers to report to trading standards for non-compliant work, dangerous work and fraudulent activities have all been under the NICEIC banner, half of them approved contractors.

 

[Leesparkykent]

I'm an approved contractor....we ain't all bad lol

 

[Dave OCD]

Well I'm with Elecsa [got my annual assessment tomorrow actually ],my assessor is very thorough and makes absolutely sure that my regs knowledge and work are right up to scratch- in reply to the poster who reckons that NIC members are far superior I chose to go with something different as having seen a fair bit of work by the aforementioned organisations 'approved contractors' and not being impressed to say the least I didn't want that logo to give me a bad name lol. [Obviously there are good members as well].

 

[rich.250]

Well that's a mater of opinion, there are plenty of posts on this forum that end 'and that was done by an Nic electrician'
I've got no problem with either, I've just today cancelled my Nic membership which was due for renewal Friday, I had my last Nic assessment in September and had my Napit assessment last week, so less than 4 months apart.

There was a difference, in the 10 years that I've been with the Nic the only qualification that I've been asked for is my 17th edition. Napit wanted copies of all my qualifications on application, then the assessor wanted to see them on the day.
The office part took a lot longer for the Napit assessment, he wanted to see all the same stuff but he asked me technical questions in the office then I had to sit and answer some written questions. Only 5 or 6 but not all easy ( I needed to refer to my regs for one) I never had that with the Nic.
The on site bit was remarkable similar.

But to reiterate I'm not advocating one over the other, they're both similar I'm sure with good and bad representatives. The same for Stroma or Elecsa.

Though comments like this

Are just plain daft if you ask me (though no one ever does)
Seems I was a pro yesterday an amateur today.

That's very different to my experience in the 2 months I was with Napit when I first started.
The assessor was with me in the office for 45mins and then 30mins on site and off he went. I was asked to take the cover off the Db and explain how to carry out a zdb.
After that I thought it was a joke and transferred to the NIC.
That was a lot more thorough, 5 jobs and took nearly all day.

Like you say there's good and bad of all of them.

 

[Andy78]

I'm an approved contractor....we ain't all bad lol

Ha! yeah I know there must be a few good uns by the laws of averages

 

[sledgehammer]

Why does nobody use the ECA?

 

[rich.250]

Why does nobody use the ECA?

I know a fair few that do, it's always along side NIC approved contractor scheme though.
I believe it's only to do with tendering for larger works - ECA is required.

Although are they not all part of certsure??