So what do you class yourself as? Good? Bad? Or you can be in my gang - the dam right ugly.

Some might say it's the tools you use or jobs you do.

Others will say it's how well you know the regs book, and you need to sit and read it in bed at night to know EVERYTHING there is to know in that book.

How do you determine a good electrician from a bad one?

Tool box talk for electricians, helping electricnas reduce stress, gain back time and earn more money.

Hello and welcome, my name is Ben Poulter, the best electrician in the world as said by me.

Does that count, I am the only one in the world who has said that too.

To be honest I have been called a lot of other things too.

But what actually makes you a good spark?

There are a number of skills an electrician needs to master to be successful, one of course is knowing your stuff.

Knowing that lighting circuits should be wired in a curtain size cable, sockets also need to be wired in a cable size that is suitable for an installation.

You could wire a radial circuit to a kitchen on a 16 amp mcb, but as soon as the kettle is plugged in with the washing machine going and the tumble dryer on - that circi=uit is going to be overloaded.

You can just upgrade the fuse as some people with a small amount of knowledge think.

This is the thing, a small amount of knowledge can be dangerous!

Even if a customer wants 1 socket for a lamp wired from the fuse board, I will make sure its wired as a socket that can be on a 32 amp mcb.

You never know if that property gets sold and the new owner will plug 2 x heaters into that socket.

You can argue that knowledge and experience makes a better electrician.

Experience of fault finding, common issues that happen with an electrical installation can take 2 minutes to find sometimes, but to an electrician with little experience they will rip that install to bits looking for the fault.

Its happened to me before with a socket another electrician installed. It did test out fine and the electrician left.

As soon as that circuit began to pull a load, the RCD would trip.

It could have been a number of things, but it was as simple as the electrician had put the neutral on the wrong side of the bar in the fuse board.

It was that simple.

Do you have to have all the latest tools and most expensive equipment to be good?

I will be the first to admit, spending a good amount of money on your kit will always make the job easier.

Not necessarily better.

There are electricians out there who turn up with a bucket filled with tools from a carboot sale that can get the job done.

However - does that make a good impression on the customer?

It may be vain and not really true, but the more professional your kit looks, the more a customer will trust you to do a good job.

In a round about way it shows you take pride in your work and invest in yourself with new tools.

I have had it before where a gardener has turned up in an estate car with a few had tools.

Yes that guy was half the price of the gardener who turned up in a tipper.

But the gardener with the tipper took half as much time with all petrol kit and took all the trimmings away with them.

There is no doubt I will have the gardener with the tipper back, the other guy I just felt sorry for.

Many of the things electricians class what makes them good, isn't the same opinion as the customer.

Selection of materials for the suitable environment is as huge thing for electricians.

A customer will bring out some downlights they got from amazon £15.99 for 10.

Then want them installed in a bathroom.

A good electrician will take the time to explain WHY they are not going to install those lights.

They are not suitable for the installation. The environment will get filled with steam even if you have an extractor fan

When they go wrong, the liability lies with the customer. I want nothing to do with cheap materials.

Especially these days, things are getting made cheaper and cheaper and the quality is depreciating.

The amount of times a customer has pulled out some sockets or lights and I have had to refuse to fit them.

Electricians have been to too many houses with cheap burnt out sockets that are a near miss for a fire.

Yes we have £10 million of insurance cover, but that doesn't mean you have to rely on it for installing cheap materials.

I have said this before a 100 times, a good electrician needs more then just electrical skills, they need customer skills too.

Knowing how to talk to a customer in their own home and make them feel comfortable with you all over their house is a huge factor to being successful in this game.

These days I have keys to customers houses, when they have a fault of any work done, they say - just let yourself in.

When a customer trusts you after a while, they materials and work you do dont need quoting for.

You can install the most expensive sockets and switches, as long as you can justify it to the customer if they do ask.

Communication with customers and other contractors!

Another thing that will help an electrician go a long way.

The customer might not have a clue what your on about when you explain -

Im going to run a 40amp supply for the hob

2 x 20 amp supplies for the ovens

As we are upgrading the consumer unit to a 12 way RCBO boards and fitting it with a spd the kitchen lighting will be on its own supply too.

Half of that only an electrician will understand.

However being able to explain clearly what you're doing and why helps other contractors and customers understand why you're there.

And also what their money is paying for.

To be honest a good electrician is a bit of a geek, who knows their stuff.

There are bad electricians out there who just throw it in, can we actually call them electricians?

Anyone can make a plug socket or a light work. But can they make it work safely forever.

Not just until they get back in the van and paid.

If a customer calls you up and complains of a circuit tripping.

I always say its better it does its job and trips, then doesnt trip and causes a fire.

I wouldn't be getting a call then.

That's what makes a good electrician.

Until next time