How you deal with invalid/ non compliant COC's

[Derlyn]

I'm convinced that over 90% of registered electricians do as I do, otherwise, as skatingsparks says, we will have no work and might as well close shop.

Have a lekker day.

[Isetech]

I am at that point where if you cant beat them, join them

What I have learnt, if you just ignore people long enough, eventually they will go away, or get it sorted out themselves.

I think the public have realized that the electrical industry have created a system that protects us as contractors from them and they dont stand a chance against us. It is financially unviable to take action.

So if you are a small business, best you just fly under the radar as a sole prop and if somethings goes wrong, just close, change your number and open under another name with anew number .

If you are a little bigger and have staff, best you join an association and let them protect you from the public.

What is the worse that could happen, someone might call you and ask you nicely to go back and fix the non compliant, if you just ignore them, they will also leave you alone, which is what seems to be happening on the site I am now working.

Its just not worth time and money following up on non compliant installations.

[Isetech]

I have put a lot of thought into how I am going to deal with the 3 projects I am currently working on (all 3 have invalid COCs), the solution is simple.

I go in do what I need to do, test my part of the installation and issue a supplementary COC for the work I did and move onto the next project.

The responsible person (the customer) has done the right thing by employing the services of a registered electrical contractor, they have a COC for the work carried out by the electrical contractors.

They have insurance, who would have to pay out because steps were taken to ensure the property was reasonable safe.

If the person who signed the COC didn't do their job properly, its not the responsible persons job to check the the registered electrician is doing their job properly, it would be up to the insurance company to sue the contractor.

I dont need to look at the original (this is where I am going wrong) COC, I just need the number to fill in at the top of my supplementary and hand it to the customer.

If the building burns down, the insurance company would have to pay for the damages and then try identify the cause, then take action.

As the responsible person (customer), just make sure you have a COC for at least one part of the building, then you are covered by insurance, let them chase dodgy contractors, they have the money and the legal teams to deal with it.

[Isetech]

I definitely wouldn't issue an initial COC for a part of an installation, that is just shooting yourself in the foot, which would open another can of worms.

Rather inform the customer that an initial COC is required and quote to test the entire installation.

If there is no initial COC, I certainly wouldn't issue a supplementary COC, I would rather plan the cat and mouse game like everyone else, just keep dodging until the customer gives up and gets someone to do it right.

Once you put pen to paper you tie the rope around your neck, without the document or signature you cant be held liable for anything.

The worse thing that can happened, you are called back to test your part of the installation and issue a COC, if there is no initial COC, you flip it back to the customer and wait till they get the initial done.

Happy days

[Derlyn]

Why would one be shooting oneself in the foot for issuing an initial COC for a part of an installation ?

[Isetech]

Because if you look up the definition for "Initial" (occurring at the beginning.) you will understand why we refer to it as the initial and the "supplementary" (enhancing something).

Like I have said in the past, once you take the time to understand how the regulation was created or why it was created, then you will understand.

You need to look at the installation and decide at what point you would require an initial and what point you need to issue a supplementary.

You cannot issue an initial COC for an additional socket, well you could anything is possible in this circus of an industry and you would probably get away with it, however I wouldn't, common snese would tell me otherwise.

[Dave A]

The trouble with a supplementary COC is you need to provide the reference number of the COC it is supplementary to. If you haven't been given that COC reference number¹, issuing an initial COC clearly defining the point of supply and points of consumption covered by the COC seems the best of a less-than-perfect set of options.

1. I suggest CYA principles dictate that you should actually have a copy of the COC on file, not just rely on someone who has provided a reference number.

[Leonsparky]

@Isetech,

You wrote a lot, so I don't think I will comment on even a smidge. However, right in the beginning you said you have never heard of the customer getting his money back. Quite a number have. I even have a case in CPT where client opened case of fraud against lekkertrician, and the NPA is prosecuting.

Some other things you mentioned of concern is doing inspections and giving the other contractor a list to fix. Where does this fall in the regulations? Because EIR states section 3 and 4 as a specific duty of the AIA. The only reason you should be on site is to do installation work. That does not fall into installation work. Just becareful as this has bitten contractors very hard, so much so they had to pay or rectify the installation on their cost for not adhering to regulations.

On the CoC part, only Dept, Supplier and AIA can deem a CoC invalid, See EIR 7(7). Other than that, the CoC is assumed valid. A contractor cannot deem it invalid. Again can come to bite you.

CoC filling, long video on it:
https://youtu.be/ufzDSVnXhq4