Electricians Doing Private Jobs On The Side - Is it Worth It?

You work all week from 6am to 6pm

Why the hell would you even want to go out and do extra work on the side?

I haven't got my Part P registration to be able to sign it off anyway!

That's maybe some electricians opinion of doing electrical work alongside their job as employed.

However the skills you have as an electrician are yours - not the company you work for, so why shouldn't you do private jobs on the side.

It will get you extra money in your pocket and give you some good experience if you want to start up on your own one day.

This podcast is all about private jobs. Is it worth it or is it even legal if you are not able to put a part p certificate on the install?

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

Hello and welcome back once again, or even for the first time ever.

I'm your host of tool box talk for electrician Ben Poulter.

The subject of private jobs can be a mixed opinion.

Some of the older electricians I know have no interest in doing anything other than the work they are paid to do by their employer.

Maybe they have had a bad experience with a builder or customer - and that puts them off for life.

Which I can understand. If you work for a company full time in the week, they pay you a set hourly wage no matter how long the job takes and if things go wrong - it's down to the employer.

Taking on a job where YOU are responsible for everything can be a challenge.

Some see it as a headache, others see it as a challenge and enjoy it.

Me! I love a challenge, if I fail it only makes me learn how to do it better the next time.

Then of course there are the electricians in training, probably on a low wage, because there not qualified or even know how to do it properly at the moment.

But they are eager and want to take on private jobs to earn some extra money.

The younger generation these days in my opinion want it all NOW! Don't want to wait to be qualified, don't want to make good money in a few years….. NOW!

9 times out of 10 they mess it up.

I admire the younger electricians wanting to do more work and having a lot of ambition, as an electrician that can turn out to be dangerous.

When I was at college there was a student who thought he knew everything, even argued with Mr Wallenger the tutor sometimes.

He talked a great story of his ambition and what he was going to become….

Well today he's a fireman, I can only assume it because he knows how many fires his electrical work is going to cause in the future.

For electricians in training, I see you only have a few options when it comes to private work.

Find another electrical business you can do work with at the weekends. This way if the main job goes wrong - you have a back up too.

So many one man band electricians work on their own, but do take on bigger jobs and could do with a hand pulling in cable, clipping, chasing then if you're any good 2nd fixing too.

Don't do work you are not 100% confident is right. The reason customers will ask a younger person training to be an electrician is because they assume it will be cheap.

Therefore supply you with rubbish materials from amazon to fit. If you're training and have a good relationship with a qualified electrician - Ask them.

You want an extra income? Start a blog or a video channel. So many people want to know how to get into becoming an electrician. You could grow a following on your way and document it.

After a while you are able to get sponsorships, products and paid from social media platforms.

If Im a 40 year old electrician who can do it - I know anyone 20 years younger than me can.

What about the electrician who just wants a bit of extra money?

A few nice and easy jobs on the weekend to top up their wages or even plan to be self-employed one day but want to get a taste of what it's like.

Part P is maybe what puts people off.

This is a grey area and after doing some research, its still not 100% clear.

If you're like me and think Part P is a complete rip off for electricians, if you're qualified and have a good amount of history behind you as an electrician, it should be given to you as a qualification and be able to sign your own work off.

That wouldn't make any money for napit or the NIC EIC would it?

It's a good idea on one hand for the owners and landlords, but a pain on the other to have to register and jump through all the hoops to pass every year.

The interesting thing is my Napit was over due one year, the assessor couldn't make it out for a good few months.

The customer needed to get the Part P certification for her extension which I had done.

I visited the site with the council and showed them all my qualifications, also explained the situation.

Surprisingly to me the council had a way round it. All I had to do was show my qualifications, issue a test certificate and pay £80 to the council and they will give the customer the Part P.

I don't know why I was surprised, if there is money to be made, of course the council is going to offer a solution.

It would turn out to be expensive if you had to give the council £80 for every job mind you. So Napit and the NIC are a better option there.

I think with all what's happening in the world at the moment with mortgages and interest rates, customers are going to shop around a little more for tradesmen.

This is of course going to make employed electricians want to also do more work on the side of their full time job.

I say go for it! No job is secure forever and one day you just might find yourself unemployed and having to ring round looking for work.

Go that one step further, keep a record of the work you do for people.

An email or a phone number just in case you ever set up on your own.

The conclusion to is doing private jobs worth it? Hell yeah.

If you really don't want to do it charge more, you either wont be asked again or it will be worth your while with the price you put in.

I say this to a lot of my friends when they ask me to do anything…

Pay me what you think its worth - If its not what I think I wont answer the phone to you again.

To this day I have never lost any friends

Until next time

P.S Are you inside the tool box talk for electricians group, the conversations are great, the giveaways are fantastic and if you enjoy this podcast - you get to hear from me a lot more.

Check the link in the show notes and come on over.