Electrical Installation Condition Report - a thorough inspection of the whole electrical install, Then issuing a report to the client with all the results.

This is not just turning up to the property and taking a look and guessing if it's any good.

Filling in the certificate alone can take longer than 30 mins.

This is an Electrician putting their name on the install.

Confirming the electrical wiring is SAFE, so if anything was to happen later on, if its an electrical fault that caused it - YOU are liable.

Toolbox talk for electricians, helping electricians reduce stress, gain back time and earn more money.

Ben Poulter your host back once again.

This podcast is about EICR, Electrical Installation Condition Reports.

Do you see them as easy money? Or a pain in the ass?

Only one of them is true, I will explain why!

Now what actually is an EICR?

It's an electrical test that is carried out by a Competent Skilled person (electrician) to ensure that the installation is safe and will not cause any fire risk or electric shock.

We as electricians issue a full detailed report with finding and test results of an installation.

Once you as the electrician have issued that report as satisfactory or SAFE - you are liable if there was anything to happen.

That scares the shit out of me. Being responsible

Maraketh

if there is a fire in a property that I have tested and marked as safe.

It should you too, because that report can be brought up in court too, with a society that likes to look and any angle to shift the blame or get out of being responsible - where there's blame there's a claim.

I used to do a lot of EICR years ago and hated them, they take ages - all the customer wants is the certificate for as cheap as possible.

These days I am lucky if I do 1 a month.

WHY? Because there are people out there who issue a report that is satisfactory for a property for as low as £99.

Most electricians I know charge £99 to install 1 socket below the fuse board that takes an hour.

To be able to test each circuit of a fuse board in under an hour is physically impossible.

There's only a few ways that electricians are doing this….

They put LIM in 90% of the report, which is a limitation as I can be asked to do the test and make the report worthless.

Marking the report unsatisfactory and making up a load of remedials to make some extra money from the job. Where I have heard of electricians charging for work that the property needed and not actually doing it.

The final one is making the test results up, guessing what the results should be and marking the property as satisfactory.

When an electrician signs their name on that report - that's them saying the condition of the wiring is safe.

These electricians must worry all the time that one day they're going to get a phone call and could face prison. Or worse still a huge fine!!!

I am in the market for buying a house at the moment, I have viewed around 10 houses.

Being a spark you always take a look at the electrics and the fuse board.

EVERY one would have failed an EICR.

With dated bodged fuseboards, kitchens were fitted by a DIY person who also did the electrics.

DIY jobs are obvious everywhere.

This is why I know for a fact that, if you're a domestic electrician, you are always going to be at work.

People are realising how valuable having a qualified electrician to do the work is.

There are customers who ask an electrician just to come and take a look when they buy a new house, even new builds.

As a spark, there is always a garden light or an outside socket to suggest to make it all worth your while.

There is going to be a horror story sooner or later of an electrician who has issued an EICR certificate and ends up in jail.

I'm not saying Electricians need to charge a fortune to do them, they just need to do them properly.

This way you will earn the respect of the customer so much more too. There is always a cheap and an expensive future proof option with remedial work.

As long as the customer knows this, it's up to them what they do.

The amount of times I have recommended a fuse board upgrade, but the customer has opted for a small 2 way unit.

It saves the customer a few hundred pounds at that time if funds are limited.

Then less than a year later you get a call to change the board anyway.

Being an honest tradesperson can go a long way and help your business grow over time.

It builds trust with a customer that you know what you're doing and will do what it takes to make that install safe.

An EICR is like a MOT for a property, would you buy a car that had a dodgy MOT?

From a customer's point of view, they don't care. Especially landlords!

Landlords are required to have an up to date EICR on a rented property, if they can get that piece of paper for £99 that's just what they will do.

They don't care that there may be small children in the house, all most landlords care is that the property has tenants and the rent is getting paid.

Not all landlords mind you, say 80%.

These types of people are who keep the £99 EICR Electricians in business.

You will never stop it.

Just make sure that you are not one of the electricians who get caught out from a drive by EICR you did one day.

There are people out there who call themselves electricians, weather they are actually qualified or not - nobody knows.

To be honest, no customers have ever asked to see my qualifications, this is how the cowboy electricians get away with it.

And there are a few around, check out the podcast Jobs Cowboy Electricians Have Bodged - And Left Dangerous

I will leave a link in the show notes below.

Until next time