NICEIC approved / Part P registered
Domestic
electricians
Electrical work in people’s homes — and what to check before you let anybody near your consumer unit.
07502 396654What a domestic electrician does
Domestic work is the fixed wiring of a home and everything connected to it — the consumer unit, the circuits running through walls and floors, and the sockets, switches, lights and appliances on the end of them.
It is a different discipline from commercial or industrial work, and not only in scale. Homes are occupied while the work happens. There are floorboards to lift and put back, decoration to protect, and people who need the heating on that evening. The regulations differ too: Part P of the Building Regulations applies to dwellings and to nothing else.
Most of it is unglamorous and matters a great deal — a circuit that has been added to four times since 1975, an earth that was never continuous, a cooker on a cable too thin for it.
What to check before you let somebody in
Anybody can call themselves an electrician. These are the four things worth two minutes of your time, whoever you end up using.
Part P registration
Certain work in a home is notifiable to Building Control by law. A registered installer self-certifies it; anybody else has to pay the council to inspect, and that is on you, not them.
A scheme you can look up
NICEIC, NAPIT and ELECSA all publish searchable registers. A registration number that cannot be found in one is not a registration.
Insurance, and what it covers
Public liability is the minimum. Ask whether it covers the work itself, not only accidental damage while on site.
A certificate you actually receive
Minor works or an installation certificate, depending on the job, and it should arrive without being chased. Its absence is what causes trouble at sale or remortgage, sometimes years later.
Ours are on the certificates page, with the numbers, so you can look them up rather than take our word for it.
The work we do in homes
Fuse board & consumer unit upgradesReplace an old rewireable or plastic board with a modern RCBO unit that cuts the power the instant something goes wrong.
Full & partial rewiresRubber or fabric-sheathed cable, too few sockets, no earth on the lighting circuit — a rewire brings the whole installation up to standard.
Sockets, switches & lightingExtra power points, USB sockets, downlights, dimmers and outdoor lighting, installed neatly and properly tested.
Smoke & heat alarm installationMains-powered interlinked alarms on every storey. A legal requirement in rented homes, and well worth it in your own.
Security & outdoor lightingPIR floodlights, driveway and garden lighting, and outdoor sockets installed to the correct weatherproof rating.
Cooker & oven installationElectric cookers, ovens and hobs connected on a correctly rated circuit, with a new cooker point fitted if you need one.
Storage heater & water heater workRepair, replace or reconnect storage heaters, immersion heaters and electric water heaters, including Economy 7 wiring.
Who signs it off
Work in a dwelling that is notifiable under Part P has to reach Building Control one way or another. A registered installer certifies it and notifies it themselves, which is included. The alternative is a building notice and a council inspection, paid for by the householder.
You should end up with a certificate for the work — minor works or a full installation certificate, depending on what was done — without having to ask twice. It is the document that gets produced years later when a house is sold, and its absence is the thing that causes the problem.
We are NICEIC approved and Part P registered, and we notify what has to be notified.
Looking for someone in London?
Most of our domestic work is in London, and that page covers the housing stock we meet there, the areas we get to and how quickly — which is usually the real question when a socket has stopped working.
Domestic electricians in LondonOutside London, the coverage index lists everywhere we go, including Essex and north Kent.
A person answers, any hour.
No call-out fee, charged by the hour, and every notifiable job certified and notified by us.