"Kevin Chambers" wrote in message
om...
I've been (mostly) reading this group for over a year whilst
renovating my house and during that time have got some usefull
information from it.

snipped (for space saving purposes)

required which they could charge £500 a day for (plus overcharging for
the parts obviously) and that I couldn't legally do anything unless I
found someone to do the gas and certification.

The trades are setting new standards all the time, and equipment suppliers and
manufacturers are constantly changing designs and styles to comply with these new
standards. But the DIYer is not changing with the times as fast as the trades are, so
problems are now starting to arise from this gap in knowledge. Any reputable
tradesperson will be constantly updating their techniques to allow for new things
coming to the market and, in most cases, this is long before the DIYer is even aware
of what is happening. So new found dangers and changes to the codes of practice can
arise due to faults that were found with older techniques and newer methods must then
be introduced to compensate for them.

The average DIYer still has the "That'll do it for me" way of thinking when they carry
out an unfamiliar job. Fact. But, if the work they are carrying out can be dangerous
to people and / or even the environment, then the work is deemed, and rightly so, to
be unsuitable for safe use. This is where new certification schemes would come into
play.

Scenario 1;

The work carried out on a service installation by the DIYer in their own home isn't
perfectly done. The house is then sold on, but still has the defect in the work
carried out by the last DIY owner. The new occupier is lying in bed one night and
suddenly BLAM !!! the cooker pipework, or the shower wiring have burst into flames due
to the defect left by the last owner.

Who's at fault ? The new occupier because he didn't check everything ? But he works
as an accountant and doesn't know anything about DIY at all.

Is it the previous owners fault ? But he had no regulations to prevent him from doing
that type of work, so is he fully responsible ? He felt confident enough in doing the
job to his own standard.

Scenario 2;

The installation is fully tested before the new occupier moves in. This is all done
by people who know what to look for and how to test for all types of fault that might
be dangerous to the new occupier. He finds the fault during his survey and warns of
the impending danger. The new occupier has the defect repaired so that it isn't a
danger any more. No BLAM !!! in the middle of the night. No lives lost due faulty
installations.

Which of these two scenarios would you prefer to happen ?


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