Recent content by msec

I don't blame landlords for not knowing how long it should take, however, both they and letting agents should accept that they have some culpability for not questioning how one sparky can do something for 60 quid that another is charging 200 for, and immediately jumping to the conclusion that...

Because firms with the ability to fix your gates aren't all lined up ten a penny on Checkatrade and MyBuilder ready to undercut each other.

The way we used to do them 15 years ago, and they way they should be done. Today we have the sparky equivalent of the baked bean price wars. I'm just waiting for some numpty to offer landlords a buy one, get one free deal or something similarly stupid.

There's nothing to defend. In a free market economy the proof is in the pudding. You could charge £4,000 a day, if people are paying it, then you're 'worth' it. If they're not paying it, then you're not worth it. This is the very definition of subjective value. As for what you take home, you...

Sparkys are earning £25 an hour employed on the books. My 19 year old daughter works in a burger shop and gets 11 quid an hour, so that's about the same rate a self employed sparky charging £25 an hour could expect to earn. In fact it's probably more. I built up a relatively successful local...

I've had this discussion many times with electricians, landlords and agents. The consensus seems to be that pretty much any EICR should be done within 1 - 4 hours (and these are the supposedly reputable firms). The idea of anything longer than that seems to be bordering on the ludicrous to them...

Yeah, but the agents are only encouraged by the sparkys who seem to be more than willing to bend over backwards for peanuts. The majority of course are using the EICR's as an 'in' for remedial work and will find it even if it's not there. Others are happy just to do them dirt cheap and basically...

EICR's are a complete waste of time now, and, as I predicted beforehand, the situation has got worse since they became mandatory for landlords. I honestly can't understand why any sparky bothers with them anymore.

Not unless the lease stipulates, but as far as I'm aware, there's no default agreement for commercial tenancies, unlike residential ones.