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Thread: Certificates of compliance

  1. #1
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    Certificates of compliance

    well well were do i start.

    from my experience

    i had a bakkie arrive at a house which i was renting...the so called electrician steps out of his bakkie with a couple tools and tells me he is there to repair a few items in the house...so i left him to do the repairs...when he was finished i asked him some really basic question like dont you need testers to do a COC...his reply no he has a mate who just signs off COCs for him... he trust that he does a good job well you should have seen his face when i told him i was from the deptment of labour...i told him R500 cash would keep me quiet.

    i have done reports with regards to shopping centres which are fire hazards...the response sorry no money in the budget. my wife and children go to some of these centres which is what concerns me.

    so far one has caught on fire which apparently cost the insurance almost R300000.00.

    then of course there are the contractors who are ripping the butt end out of the COCs making an absolute killing out the public.

    dont forget the electricians who are helping out their customers, friends and family members by not doing all the repairs required to make the electrical installation reasonably safe...so when they sell their properties a few years later cant understand why they have to spend thousands bring up to standard.

    i had a customer who purchased a house for a few million...contacted me because the lights would not work so i went and had a look...the wires had been removed...so i looked around found a few other things which were not acceptable so we contacted the person who issued the COC... they came back and spent 2 weeks doing repairs to bring the house up to standard after 2 weeks...damaged ceilings...dirty finger marks all over the roof etc the company was asked to leave...we then got a company which only does COC inspections... who then gave a report 2 pages long of faults which required attention.

    once again the only ones getting the short end of the stick..."the public" who doesnt know any better... shame on all you electrical contractors who take short cuts and over inflate prices for your own personal gain... i hope you all sleep well at night.

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    then we have the public:

    a 2 year old child was electricuted to death a couple years ago eveyone went after the electrical contractor to try blame him...but actually what happened is the contractor tested the house as is normally done... repaired the faults and handed over the COC...the owner then decided to move out did not have the stove disconnected and wires removed as you are suppose to...probably got someone who just knows how to disconnect the stove and left the wires exposed... new owner move in and the 2 year old went into the kitchen and i dont need to say anymore just that there was a lot of finger pointing there after...the contractor had left for aussie but really why would he be the one to blame the home owner should have used a certified electrician who would have removed the wires like thay are suppose to.

    problem is we all make mistakes just some of them we get away with and others someone else might pay the price....BEWARE ELECTRICITY KILLS

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    We're seeing all kinds of problems too. And folks fiddling with the electrical installation that don't quite know what they're doing is one of them.

    The period around the sale of a house is a busy one.

    We've got people moving out - taking what is "theirs" with them. And sometimes that includes light fittings, fans... etc. We even had one where they took the geyser!

    We have movers taking the furniture out and the new furniture coming in, sometimes at the expense of light fittings, switches and fan controllers. I don't know how many times we get called back by a purchaser because we "missed" an open light fitting during our test 3 months earlier. We missed that lamp holder dangling from two wires in the middle of the room clear to see? I don't think so!

    Spec buys are the most fun. The spec buyer redoes the kitchen and bathrooms and gets the place painted and tiled. Off with all the plug and switch covers and down with the lights. A cupboard goes in over the DB. Next thing we're getting called back because we "failed to notice" some missing covers, and the lights aren't working the way they're supposed to. Of course, at the next test, lots of lights and fans are not earthed and when you point this out there's a huge outcry because they "haven't done a thing" to the electrical installation. And as for the inaccessible main switch... we must have missed that last time too.

    Ho boy! Now you've got me started.

  4. #4
    just me duncan drennan's Avatar
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    One problem is that as a home owner without the relevant training you don't actually know any better. I'm a qualified electronic engineer, but that does not mean that I know anything about the requirements for electrical connections in a home.

    So as a consumer, what should you expect from an electrician?

    Or alternatively, where can one find out about the safety aspects before doing DIY work (e.g. changing light fittings)?
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    the most important thing is that the electrician or company is registered...and has the correct qualification and all the staff have tags with their relevent qualification elconop 1/2/3 electrician etc.

    i have been in bussiness for 16 years now as an electricall contractor...i only do work for people who know of me through my customers or friends... i dont even have my personal telephone number in the telephone directory...if a customer looses my number they have to contact someone else who knows my number...i do my work the way i would expect it to be done in my own house and most importantly safety is my number priority then quality then price...i am not cheap i charge a market related price...i had a customer request that i increase my rates because they were concerned that i could not produce the quality of workmanship that is required of the company.

    my services include...power quality analysing...thermal imaging...electrical contracting...and dustless chasing all under one roof...no need for a logistic nightmare trying to compile maintenace reports from different companies...all my equipment has data logging facilities from my fluke 435 to my fluke 1653 multifunction installation tester even my fluke 189 multimeter has logging facilities so there are no misunderstanding about hand written reportes...everthing is logged saved and printed...gee you would think i was trying to sell you my services.

    anyway i am not here to sell my services that is why i have an alias and do not plan on mentioning my company name...just to let you know what i would expect from a company.

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