Unregistered Electrical Con-tractors

[Master Electrician]

There are a number of electrical "con"-tractors out there, who are not registered with DoL, via the the ECB, and do not have registered electricians exercising general control, as required by the new (and old) Electrical Installation Regulations. Does anyone have the names and contact details of DoL inspectors that this can be reported to?
ME

[murdock]

you are wasting your time....i have been an unregistered contractor for years...the DOL couldnt organise a screw in a whore house.

unless someone dies on site you wont get the dol to even reply to your report...it is very sad.

if you really want to waste your time....try your local ECA they will give you the number or try the AIA i hear they are just as corrupt as some officials

[Master Electrician]

I thought that would be the case. If they can be bribed to do a cover-up, perhaps they can also be bribed to do an expose'? lol

[murdock]

anything is possible in this country...especially with a little extra funding

[Sparks]

I am sure the DA would gladly shake up the DOL if you approached them. Here in PE they are actually the opposite. I am not registered with DOL because I do not need to. I am too full of crap to let someone unqualified work with electricity so I work alone. As such I do not have employees so I have nothing to do with DOL. They however saw fit to make a case against me because I am on the list they received from the ECB of registered contractors. Needless to say I had to submit an affidavit to the effect of not having any employees and thus not required to register with them. Telephonically though they did still try convince me that I would need a mediator should I ever need to sue my own company. The new regulations are slowly getting out to the public and that will eventually bring the unqualified businesses to their knees.

[murdock]

The new regulations are slowly getting out to the public and that will eventually bring the unqualified businesses to their knees.

and i wait patiently for this day........................still waiting................

been i nthe industry for almost 30 years and 20 of those as a contractor....i have adopted the if you cant beat them join them attitude....not actually joining them but couldnt give a damn put my blinkers on and do the task alocated to me take my money walk away...i dont even bother with the reports or notes on my invoices about how bad the rest of the installation anymore...it wastes my time and my money...nobody will do anything anyway...i hear big mouths every now and again about orders issued but still waiting for anyone to actually be procecuted.

[tron1]

Hi All,

Some help and advice from the senior contractors!!!

I am a trade tested electrician who has served as an appe and been in the industry for more than five years .

I was retrenched a couple of months ago and have not been able to find employment with a company so i decided to start my own.

I would like to know what are the steps?

1.do i register with the ECA and how?what s the criteria.
2.do i register with ecb.
3.do i register with the cidb.
4.I am currently registering a company,uif, workman's comp,vat.
5.I will be writing for installation rules next year and have a n4.

I would also like to know what prices to charge for:
1.call outs.
2.fault finding/per hour rates.
3.rewiring per point ( labour as well as materials)
4.chasing,tubing and wiring of new installations.
5.adding on of power points to an existing installation,surface no chasing required.
6.installing lights,fans.
7.stove connections.
8.trenching per meter.

I know i am bombarding all of you withthese questions but i would like to charge customers a reasonable rate ,offer excellent workmanship and reliability.do it right the first time!!!

regards

Tron 1

[Dave A]

I am not registered with DOL because I do not need to. I am too full of crap to let someone unqualified work with electricity so I work alone. As such I do not have employees so I have nothing to do with DOL. They however saw fit to make a case against me because I am on the list they received from the ECB of registered contractors. Needless to say I had to submit an affidavit to the effect of not having any employees and thus not required to register with them.

I assume you meant you don't have to be registered with the bargaining council.

Obviously you are registered with the DoL as an accredited installation electrician (being registered with the ECB and all that).

I would like to know what are the steps?

The first step would be to pass the installation rules exam and become an accredited installation electrician, I'd think. Up until then, if you aren't working under the general supervision of an accredited installation electrician, about all you can do is repair and replace components of an existing electrical installation. Adding components or installing a new installation is technically verbodend. (although in saying that, Murdock is rather painfully right about what is really happening out there).

[msmoorad]

anyone answering trons questions regarding how much to charge?

id also like to know

im sure u guys remember the story of my friend who was injured while working for one of those electrical con-tractors
hes back at work-although hes not yet fully recovered

and hes doing whatever jobs he can get privately

[Dave A]

Hard to discuss "recommended prices" - the Competition Commission doesn't like it.

[murdock]

this is like asking how long is a piece of string.

if you are a fully complient electrical company...you shouldnt be charging less than R400 per hour...however the electrical industry is like the worse trade to be in...the lowest paid...with every man...his uncle and dog doing electrical work....why because there is no regulation...no policing...you cannot be charged for anything you do wrong or should i rephrase that...you can literally get away with murder...because the people who are suppose to regulate and police the industry still havent figued out how to do it yet...chances are they retrenched all the skilled people or offered packages..to get rid of them...then took over and years later are still try trying to figue out what they are suppose to be doing...and no...i cant see it improving anytime soon...or they are too busy eating the cream while it is still available...i also get the feeling that the cream is coming to an end and now they are trying everything to scratch for every last penny from every nook mand cranny...hence the fica and other documentation we have to fill out down to your employees and their bank accounts...just a pity the rest of the all the departments werent as efficient as sars...just my opinin...i could be way wrong...from wher ei sit...thats what it looks like.

there are also to many people trying to be the big chief but no actually knows their arse from their elbow...you have the likes of the AIA who are trying to take control...but i dont know where that will end up...i just wonder how much money is being shuffled around to keep everyone happy.

an example a tool maker...cnc operator/programer earns around R40 k per month a highly skilled electrician earns around R20 k if he has agood job...in fact i know of some who earn as little as R15 k...but most companies dont employ electricians because you dont need to...you just ride the elconops for as long as you can....keep them down at elconop 1...drop them on site charge the customer electrician rates and exploit them until they report you to the council then loose their job or just keep quiet and who knows the wiser...i see it every day working on site...especially in the big companies which use contractors...it is an absolute joke and we all complain that the industry is falling apart...

so...if you want to know what to charge...the highest amount the customer is willing to pay...and now with the rest of africa moving inot SA we now have all the so called skilled workers from other parts of africa to compete against...for example the last factory move i was sheduled to move...the other fellas came in at R120 per hour for 5 "electricians" ...so gues who moved the factory...the fact that they blew the main db into smitthereens is not important nor the fact that the new factory location has an illegal COC signed over by a metro employee who was never involved in the moved but signs over COCs as a part time job on weekends when not working for the council...and the old factory premises was left in an unsafe conditions for the new owner who is still fighting to get the transfer done months later due non compliance of the old electrical installtion is also not important....

enough said...at least i have vented for today...not that it will ever improve the industry...but like my driving...do as the africans do ain africa...and you wont need to stress...some will say i am a pesimist but ask chris geager who spends his life trying to improve the industry where he is at present...worse off than he was 20 years ago...

by the way a tp for driving in peak traffic stick to the left hand lane as far as possible...even go into the emergency lane if the left lane is moving tooo slow... then push in at the front...it cuts back your travel time by at least 20 minutes...and someone will always give you a gap at the front

[Sparks]

Thanks for the "tip" although I have noticed that the breakdown services here appear to have started a campaign to keep death off the roads. They now utilise the sidewalks in heavy traffic.

[murdock]

and in durban they have made a taxi...bus lane...for all the people who are above the law or who feel the lane is specifically designed for people who just dont give a crap anymore...

the person who designed this lane on the exit from durban...clearly didnt do any research...it seems he tried to copy a first world idea...the lane is on the wrong side of the road for starts...which causes more problem at the N3/N2 intersection...to a point that they now have a metro police car fining the taxi drivers who use the taxi lane...and cant get back into the left lane in time...or should i say try to push in at the last minute...to go north or south....he must be the same perosn who signed off the camera installation tender...which must have come out of the 28 billion rand budget...clearly there is just way to much money in the budget and they need to find something to do with it...other than looking after their own pockets...mates pockets and wasting on road name changes...expensive cars...homes and functions...i suppose if you drive a 2 million rand 4x4 with run flat tyres etc... you dont need to worry about remedial things like fixing the roads...sorting out the potholes...finding out where the poison going into shongweni dam thats killing all the fish is coming from...sorting out the poverty in the province...lets see how well the new kid on the block is going to handle the budget...letrs hope he doesnt have lots of favours to pay back for getting his position..

by the way still waiting 3 days for my water to be sorted out after reporting and getting a reference number...it is time to make a permanent bypass...under the ground and the timing is right because they wont get suspicious because i have free water with a restricitor on already gona look for a water leak so i need to do some trenching

[msmoorad]

and in durban they have made a taxi...bus lane...for all the people who are above the law or who feel the lane is specifically designed for people who just dont give a crap anymore...

the person who designed this lane on the exit from durban...clearly didnt do any research...it seems he tried to copy a first world idea...the lane is on the wrong side of the road for starts...which causes more problem at the N3/N2 intersection...to a point that they now have a metro police car fining the taxi drivers who use the taxi lane...and cant get back into the left lane in time...or should i say try to push in at the last minute...to go north or south....he must be the same perosn who signed off the camera installation tender...which must have come out of the 28 billion rand budget...clearly there is just way to much money in the budget and they need to find something to do with it...other than looking after their own pockets...mates pockets and wasting on road name changes...expensive cars...homes and functions...i suppose if you drive a 2 million rand 4x4 with run flat tyres etc... you dont need to worry about remedial things like fixing the roads...sorting out the potholes...finding out where the poison going into shongweni dam thats killing all the fish is coming from...sorting out the poverty in the province...lets see how well the new kid on the block is going to handle the budget...letrs hope he doesnt have lots of favours to pay back for getting his position..

by the way still waiting 3 days for my water to be sorted out after reporting and getting a reference number...it is time to make a permanent bypass...under the ground and the timing is right because they wont get suspicious because i have free water with a restricitor on already gona look for a water leak so i need to do some trenching

thanks for the replies

plenty of those permanent bypasses existing all over Durban & its not just in the townships
quite a few are in the affluent/high income residential areas.

ive worked with a friend who is a Metro plumbing contractor
so ive gotten to see first hand this sort of stuff.

[BillH]

Who should an electrician be registered with in order to be an accredited installer? The one I just had says he is registered with MERSETA - but are they not just a training organization?