Hire a professional electrician.
You shouldn’t mess with residential electricity unless you’re a qualified electrician. Even if a task seems simple, it’s never safe without the right training. Hiring an electrician will lessen the chances of accidents occurring, both during the job and once the job is complete. It also means less risk of your family getting injured in the future.
If you do perform electrical work yourself, you may be breaking the law. In the UK, all electrical work must be carried out in compliance with Building Regulations Part P: Electrical Safety. If you fail to comply, you can face a fine of £5,000, and your home will not have the required electrical safety certificates that are needed to sell it.
Experience
For any job more complicated than wiring a plug or outlet, you should hire a member of a relevant professional organisation. For most jobs, this is NICEIC (the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting). The accreditation proves that the electrician has reached the standards expected of a professional electrical contractor, and will perform any tasks to accepted standards.
A NICEIC qualified electrician can carry out any domestic electrical work, such as installing new lighting, checking outlets and switches, and searching for any faults or potential faults speedily, safely and effectively. They will undertake these tasks much more quickly and appropriately than you yourself will be able to.
Tools and equipment
Because being an electrician is a specialist occupation, it involves having a large amount of tools and pieces of equipment designed to make working on electrical apparatus safe and effective. If you do the job yourself, you’re unlikely to have the correct tools, and even if you buy the correct tools it is hardly likely to be a cost-effective solution as you will not be using the tools on a frequent basis.
Basic tasks
All of these tasks should be carried out by a NICEIC electrician:
- The assembly, installation and maintenance of any electrical or electric wiring, equipment, apparatus, appliances and fixtures
- Diagnosing any malfunctioning systems or components
- Connection of wiring to circuit breakers, transformers or any electrical component
- Inspection of electrical systems, equipment and components
- Testing of electrical systems and circuit continuity in electrical wiring, fixtures, components and equipment
- Provision of advice about electricity, home electrical circuits and electrical components
- Planning the layout and subsequent inspection of electrical wiring, fixtures, equipment and components
- Providing access to electrical systems so other contractors can safely carry out electrical work
- Repairing and replacing wiring, equipment and fixtures, including in areas where access is restricted, or in environments which are potentially hazardous, such as externally
… and this list is only the basic tasks. Hopefully this proves just how important it is to have a specialist do the job.
Hiring an expert
Finding a reliable and qualified electrician is much easier thanks to the internet, and MD Bespoke prides itself on the reviews and recommendations it receives. If you want to speak to a professional electrician in London then get in touch with us today. We’re available to help with any electrical task, large or small.
