First fix electrics Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[alan99]

Can anybody advise me whether first fix electrics have to be carried out by a qualified electrician?

By this I mean running the appropriate cabling without connecting to supply or attaching fittings etc.

I am of the belief that on building sites this first fix is usually carried out by a labourer or rarely these days an apprentice.

Of course I would expect the cabling to be checked for continuity etc by a qualified electrician before connecting to supply.

[ericmark]

I think the word is "Control"! My son who has a 2391 worked as an inspector for a firm who employed a number of electricians who did not hold this qualification. His job was to visit the sites on a regular basis and to check on their work. If it was not to standard they would need to correct it. And he would visit those who made mistakes more often than those who on the whole did a good job. And at the end he would test and sign all the paper work as the tester and they signed as installer.
But he was in control. Where the DIY man wants to reduce costs there is no reason why the electrician should not employ them to do some of the work. But the electrician would be in control. But unlike the electricians controlled by my son the electrician would not know what your workmanship was like and so would require many visits to ensure you had complied with his instructions.
This is the problem as unlike my son most electricians are not on the road 50% of the time and able to drop in on regular basis but are tied up with other work.
So although in theory it seems great in practice it is near impossible for the electrician to be able to ensure you have made no mistakes.
Also electricians tend to have their personal preferences.
For example there is nothing in the regulations that says you must use grommets on socket boxes. It does say the cable should be fitted in a way where it is unlikely to be damaged and grommets assist in this. So if your work was being inspected by council missing grommets would not be automatic fail only if chaffing was likely would it fail. But if your under the "control" of an electrician and he says he wants grommets which you leave out he will have every right to insist you go back and fit them. It's his call and you must do what he says. Any falling out and you are up the creak. So in real terms you can labour for him but what you can do without him there is very limited.
The only way he can allow for your input is to charge by the hour. The more you help the less hours he is on the job. This also means if he works slow you pay more. You would need a lot of trust to work like that.
So in the main no you can't do the first fix yourself. Unless you pre-pay county council under Part P.

[collectors]

1st fix is often carried out with the help of others, but under supervision of a qualified/certified electrician, as he has to put his name to the work.
You wont get an electrician signing off new work that they haven't installed or supervised.
There are also many other building regs that have to be watched out for when installing electrics.