Quote For A Condition Report For Large Thatched House

[speedster]

Hi All. Went to a very nice large thatched property yesterday.

They would like a quote for an installation condition report.

Supply is TT. At the main intake position are; one 3way consumer unit, one 4 way unit, then 100mA RCD and switchfuse for distribution circuit feeding two 6 way consumer umits.

Last inspection/installation work done 1980s.

Installation appears to be in good general condition with no DIY additions.All prvious work done by NICEIC Guinness member.

Intake has been upgraded recently, i.e. 25mm tails, dno's fuse and main earth conductor and earth spike all recent and in good condition.

Any thoughts on a ball park figure for the inspection and report ?

Also, they would like a quote for replacing the 4 consumer units with 17th edition units,(after the condition report and any remedial work has been completed)

Any thoughts much appreciated .

Thanks, Speedster.

 

[Sidewinder]

£1,500 ish + remedials?

 

[NozSpark]

How long do you think it's going to take you??

Multiply that by your hourly rate!

But bear in mind that while you wouldn't normally inspect cables in a roof void that you may need to determine if they are of a suitable type or in suitable containment for the environment. IIRC they'll be some regs about that somewhere, probably LABC licensing(?)

 

[Riggy]

Looks to me like 20 circuits. I'd be looking at £300.

 

[kerching]

I would quote something stupid as I would not want it

 

[Zeespark]

Why not 10 minutes per accessory, 45-60 minutes per board and 2-3 hours for the write up?

Andy Guinness

 

[Sharpend]

If you are familiar with inspecting and testing the older installations then you should have some knowledge of the sort of issues and constraints you may come up against, which means you should have a working knowledge of the time you would expect it to take.

A circuit is a circuit regardless of where it is installed so the I&T will be fundamentally the same, the variants come from the environment that you are up against to access the circuits sufficiently. There may be different requirements to consider for the type of installation, but it is questionable if these would add time to the report.

 

[binky]

No big deal provided circuits aren't 'confused'. You will need to access attic to check how cabling has been run. Off the top of my head, it is good practice to run cables in conduit under thatch roof, and make sure any lighting points aren't open to catch dust dand debris from thatch - especially downlighters. Generally this is achieved by running cables in conduit and using IP boxes rather than standard JBs. Think garden electrics for attic space and you won't be far off. Thatch drops a lot of dry debris - fire risk, can let some moisture through, and attracts lots of wildlife as cosy place to nest and live. You should also be looking for smoke detector linked to rest of house. Revise 'Dorset model' for thatched buildings. As for cost, I would have thought £300 is plenty, without seeing the place.

 

[Sidewinder]

There are other requirements for thatched dwellings that are over and above those that would be normally expected under several separate requirements.

This must influence your cost of inspection, and you need to ensure that your insurer will cover you.

They may not.

 

[Doc Hudson]

The other point with all inspection and testing, irrespective of the size of an installation, the overall extent and/or limitations to any inspection has to be agreed with the client. It may be that the whole installation is not to be checked all in one go. For example a larger installation may be broken down into smaller sample areas or circuits, then over time a different sample area checked until the whole installation is finally checked then roll back to the first sample area again. We are assuming here that the client does want to whole property checked, not just say a 50% sample with a shorter duration between inspections? At the end of the day you can agree any mutually acceptable arrangements and thus costs.

Doc H.