Should I pay to correct faulty works?

12 March 2019
by Archive User

Hello fellow constructors and property owners. I have a question for contractors and electricians in the trade.

Would extra costs be payable to contractors and electricians if problems with earthing were noticed, corrected and later proved to cause a fault?

Prior to my electrician issuing an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR), he confirmed I did not have earth.

He carried out the installation of rods and clamps to rectify this issue, which was also chargeable.

A month later, I experienced electric shock in my bathroom as the installation of earth was noticed to be faulty (supply sheath).

UK Power network decided to move the meter outside – luckily I was not charged for this work.

They suggested an issue with bending the sheath may caused the shock.

My contractor suggests this is additional work, but I am convinced that prior to issuing any EICR all electrical cabling has to be checked and notices placed as appropriate.

The electrician claims he did not bend the sheath and that the clamp was already installed.

By the way, the clamp (installed either by him or a previous electrician) was not coloured as required under BS.

Any comment would be appreciated.

One Answer

  1. Mike Hardwick says:

    You could argue forever about this – if your contractor is telling you it’s additional work, then I would pay them to rectify it. It’s really not worth quibbling over safety matters, especially when it comes to electricity. Incidentally, the only other time I heard of someone getting a shock off their taps was via en electrician I spoke to a few years back, and it was nothing to do with an earthing fault. On investigating he’d found that a leaking immersion heater element in the airing cupboard had caused the floor and walls to become damp, including a wall socket which had shorted and subsequently made the damp bathroom carpet ‘live’, as well as anyone walking bare-foot into the bathroom for their morning ablutions. It turns out that the complainant was actually ’live’ and inadvertently earthing themselves through the taps when they touched them! I rest my case regarding not arguing….

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