Various bits of work needed... Various questions!

[Charlie_]

I have had my customers get involved many times..
If they want to do all the chasing out, drilling holes, sweeping up, pulling cables then brilliant, bring it on.
Better than a snotty nosed little kid that just wants to mess about with his phone.
Customer also gets to see how amazing we are and best of all endless supplies of food and drink

 

[peterhyper]

I have had my customers get involved many times..
If they want to do all the chasing out, drilling holes, sweeping up, pulling cables then brilliant, bring it on.
Better than a snotty nosed little kid that just wants to mess about with his phone.
Customer also gets to see how amazing we are and best of all endless supplies of food and drink

I feel bad disagreeing with the poster of the month, but I'm happy for the customer to insist on clearing up after me, but that's as far as it goes.

I had a guy last year called me and offered to work with me for free to gain some experience, apart from the fact he wouldn't learn much from me, as FatAlan mentioned, it just slows everything down, and it can take longer to do plus I don't want all the small talk (call me miserable).

Each to their own, but if a customer said they would be my labourer to save on the cost I wouldn't even quote for the job.

 

[SparkyAndGeorge]

I also avoid jobs were the customer wants to be the labourer to save costs. Only things they could possibly do to help are make lots of brews, possibly clean up at end of the day and stay out of the way.

 

[DPG]

The guy who was on here the other day needing to sink an SWA from house to shed would have loved it if the customer had dug the trench through the chalk rock under the grass for him!

 

[coolsparx]

It is a difficult one & there is no one size fits all answer. I am more than happy to get the customer to help by doing chases, lifting floor boards etc. If fact even running cables & mounting back boxes, as long as everything is to regs & what I have asked, also I can see everything before anything is closed or buried.

I have cone across many situations when householders have had work done by trusted electricians & never received certificates or BC notification. They were none the wiser until they come to sell their house & as lay people why should they be, therefore 2 or 3 quotes off recommended electricians is always a good idea.

 

[johnduffell]

legally you can do everything if you notify it to the local building control (however they would want it all checked by someone with the qualifications so you're no better off cost wise)
if you don't want to notify, you can still do a lot - everything except new circuits, and alterations in bath/shower rooms (replacement is allowed) However even then, all work must effectively comply with the regs in order to be within the law. That would at a minimum include the correct testing on top of the actual installation work, even if no documentation needed.
Hope that's useful and objective enough...from one DIY to another.