For obvious safety reasons, electrical work should never be carried out by unqualified contractors. Read on and find out how to make sure the electrician you hire is fully qualified and reputable:

All electricians must be appropriately qualified for the tasks they undertake. Most domestic electrical work is regulated under Part P of the building regulations. This means it has to be certified by your local authorities building control. The easiest way to achieve certification is to simply ensure that the work is undertaken by a Part P registered competent person, since all of the relevant paperwork and notifications will be provided once the task is complete.

Part P-registered electricians are vetted to make sure their work of a good standard. You can be sure that they will use the correct materials for the job, and that their work meets or exceeds the  standards set by an electrical safety test. If you employ an uncertified electrician to carry out the work, you will likely have to pay your Local Authority building control in order to get the work inspected and certified.

To avoid this unnecessary expense, simply check that all the electricians you have shortlisted are registered with ELECSA, NICEIC, NAPIT, or another government approved scheme. Also don’t just take the electricians word, that they are registered, contact the scheme operator directly to confirm that the electrician is registered with them.

If you are employing a builder or carpenter who will be carrying out electrical work as part of the task. Don’t just take their word that the subcontractor they use is registered. The Electric Safety Council has seen an alarming trend with tradespeople employing unqualified electricians recently. Always do the background checks for yourself, and avoid any electrician who is reluctant to provide evidence of their qualifications or Part P registration.

Always obtain several quotations

Always try to get several quotes for the job you need doing, a price that initially sounds cheap, could turn out to be twice the going rate, and conversely a quote that you initially think is steep could actually turn out to be a great deal. Obtaining several quotes will give you a better idea of the going rate.

Whilst some electricians in Swindon will happily give you an estimate over the phone, it’s important to understand that there is a big difference between an estimate and a quote, an estimate is an approximation of what the electrician thinks the the final price may be, but a quote is an agreed fixed price.

Arrange Site Surveys

Prior to providing a quotation, it’s likely that the electrician will want to visit your property in person unless the jobs is a routine inspection. Use this opportunity to further assess their suitability for the task, do they have proof of registration with them? Do they have valid insurance documents and copies of their qualifications you can check?

Whatever work is being undertaken should be clearly itemized in the written quotation provided. You should obtain itemised quotations from each electrician, this will allow you to compare like for like. Bear in mind that the cheapest quote is not always the best, you should also consider the electricians experience, qualifications, and recommendations into account.