ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Death By DIY

The car angle had crossed my mind as well. I've been carrying out my own repairs and maintenance ever since I started driving at 17, and use a garage only when it's something too big or too awkward to handle myself. (As do many people, especially as the local rate is something like £50 per hour!)

Have to agree there. All they care about is the outward appearance.

Bob,
Jump in all you want....

There is nothing here to stop anyone working on water or drain lines, although the water bye-laws (our equivalent of local ordinances) do sometimes specify certain requirements. In practice, few people know about them and even fewer care. Certain plumbing additions are supposed to be notified to the local council, but I don't know of anyone who actually bothers. (Our council is so hopelessly bureaucratic and inefficient, that we try to have as little to do with it as possible.)

Sounds a reasonable compromise. Just one point though: What happens if somebody has been living in his own house, carried out works, then decides to rent it out?

Yep came across another diy disaster today.. i guess you are all familier with the wylex 60amp switch fuse.. well had to take one out of the house i am working in and found that the supply went to the fuse first and the load came out of the switch...... nice shock for some one if you dont test the load side of a switch before working on it..

Or just sells the house outright?

I have never seen the wording of the law just got by word of mouth.

I would think that as long as the work was done with the proper inspections it is all set.

Of course some (most) DIYs do a bad job, but some get a good book, follow it to the letter and do a good job.

Bob

Guys,
I must say there are some really good comments here.
On the subject of inspections, I believe that a house should be required to be given a thorough inspection, before it is sold and the inspection paid for by the seller.
In these days of Consumer Rights, I'm suprised this isn't a given fact.
But even so, any inspection can never find ALL of the problems in a property, especially where things like joints made inside walls are concerned.
Where should a given inspection begin and end?.
I think that a type of permit system that is linked to each house would be a good idea, so that at least people buying a place has some idea of the work that has been done to the place, should they be looking to purchase it.
However, I sense the term "bureaucracy" being pinned to this idea.
Paul Cornwall,
Unless they've had a lapse of reason there, it is still rather restricted, in the sort of work you can do.

Guys, For very many years I have advocated that inspecting and testing should be mandatory.
In thr UK its a joke. Estate agents and mortgage brokers should tell clients as soon as they walk through the door that they will require a certificate for the property that they intend to bid for or sell.
It usually works like this:- They seldom tell them untill about a fortnight before completion then its a panic to get a report and cert. The report and cert are then used as a bargaining tool to try to negotiate a price reduction for the purchaser.
I agree with Trumpy the vendor should get a cert/ report for the property. Then if the buyer has a report done for his/her own piece of mind at least the two reports should run somewhere near parallel and conclude in a simular fashion.
I also think that most of the reports that I have come across are a complete waste of time, they only cover such things as mains bonding and the distribution board then conclude that the property needs a complete rewire. I have seen a good number of properties wired in pvc stripped out and rewired in pvc of a more inferior grade as a result of a B.S. report. As proffesional we should be giving our clients a report that they can understand and make an informed jugement on.
A cert with lots of one line deviations and the words sotisfactory or unsatisfactory is not good enough in my opinion.
Is the person who reads the reports competent enough to realise how seriouse or trivial some of the deviations are? I doubt it!
In nearly 40 years I have only ever had one person from a mortgage brokers/building society ring me up to enquire about what had been written on a certificate. I think that in itself speaks volumes.

aland,
I can speak from a wee bit of experience in writing these Pre-Purchase reports.
I've done about 20-30 of them for different people over the years.
I always use an NZ EWRB Certificate of Compliance, no matter what the findings of the report, this is a legally binding document and you do not lie on one of these things.
It is handwritten, neatly, and gives the values of any testing done and also an explanation of the the values and what the readings should be.
A stapled Attachment sheet, gives you room to detail the physical areas of the installation that are not covered in the Electrical testing.
W/ the likes of un-supported cables in the roof void and the like.
Just a note though, there is no point in reporting on a buildings Electrical safety, if you don't bother to check it out properly,I'm only an Electrician, not an Inspector, but I reckon with some of the disasters we've had here, with houses burning down weeks after people have moved in, who's kidding who here?.