Ian wrote:

Watch who you get in as this type of work is often seen as an invitation
to do a full rewire, rip you off and cause a lot of mess which youdon't
need.

Not sure I follow the logic. Very few electricians would be prepared to
change a CU on its own if the rest of the wiring was in a dangerous state.

A consumer unit can start at £35 complete with 10 MCBs of values of
your choice. They can also go up to over £100 depending on the style

Being realistic you probably need to budget more for a decent 17th
edition CU and 10 MCBs... the RCDs alone are likely to be pushing £30
for a pair.

you want. I replaced mine for £35 and it took about 30mins as all the
cables were long enough
People taking two or three hours, stringing the job out, then claiming not
to be able to connect anything up unless you agree to a rewire are cowboys.

This is misleading. Yes you can complete the mechanics of swapping one
CU for another in 30 mins if you are lucky, and its a simple layout
without many ways. However you are not going to be able to do adequate
testing in that time. There is also a good likelihood that other work
will be required before the new installation is to an adequate standard
- e.g. bringing the main equipotential bonding up to spec.

If you are quoting a fixed price for the job, you also have to budget
for potential problems that may not be visible until after the initial
work is done. What happens when a previously non RCD protected circuit
now trips the RCD? How would the customer feel if the electrician turned
round and said, sorry can't get power on to that socket circuit - there
must be a fault in there somewhere, but fixing that is not included in
the price?

What they should be doing before starting is giving you the opportunity to
pay for a full test if you want it, then they will have a better idea of

The testing aspects of installing a new CU are not optional (at least
not for a professional).

whether they feel confident to do the job or not. Most visual inspections
are OK to give an idea of the state of wiring.

The devil, as always, is in the detail. Visual inspections don't give
you the detail. It is often easy enough to spot the installations where
it would be unsafe to do any work without also doing a full or partial
rewire, however the systems that "look ok" but have hidden problems can
take far more fixing.

Contractors are like garages now, not to be trusted, they have a set
figure in their mind that they want to get from you - so will lie to get
it.

Alternatively the contractors are honest and up front about the real and
potential costs, and the customer is a clueless tightwad who thinks the
world is out to screw them. Works both ways.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/