The Advice Thread

[Wolf Hunting]

Can anyone advise me as to the reasonable hourly rate for a qualified electrician?
I've googled it but it seems to vary an awful lot!

 

[leedswolf]

£45...

 

[Wolf Hunting]

Thanks Leeds, my mate's a plumber and he suggested around that but here outside of Dublin he said around €40.
I'm having a car charger fitted and am being quoted fucking stupid sums!

 

[machin05]

Thanks Leeds, my mate's a plumber and he suggested around that but here outside of Dublin he said around €40.
I'm having a car charger fitted and am being quoted fucking stupid sums!

Electrician we use at work was saying that you need specific accreditation to fit car chargers. Government racket, basically, as you have to pay to achieve it. That cost is then, obviously, passed on to the customer over and over again.

 

[Paul]

Damn those bureaucrats ensuring only competent people using materials that meet a standard fit a live electricity outlet to the front or side of your house.

 

[Wolf Hunting]

Electrician we use at work was saying that you need specific accreditation to fit car chargers. Government racket, basically, as you have to pay to achieve it. That cost is then, obviously, passed on to the customer over and over again.

Hmm, during the conversation with one crowd, the words Cert 1 and Cert 3 came up but I'm not sure which was which, Though I have been told that guys/SME's who are set up to do car chargers will only do that. They will not sort out the 'tails' (Connection from your fuse board to your meter cupboard) because they just want the quick easy jobs. Quick fix it, test it, gone! onto the next and so on.

 

[machin05]

Damn those bureaucrats ensuring only competent people using materials that meet a standard fit a live electricity outlet to the front or side of your house.

It's nothing your qualified electrician doesn't know how to do, just not allowed to without the correct certificate.

 

[Wolf Hunting]

Damn those bureaucrats ensuring only competent people using materials that meet a standard fit a live electricity outlet to the front or side of your house.

No Paul, they are ALL qualified electricians, expensively qualified may I add, but my electrician just gave me a very hefty quote to fit one.
Now to drill a hole through the wall into the fuse box, - let's be generous and say 1 hour.
Another hour to fit a simple trip switch and connect the cable, and lets be generous and give him another hour to bang 30 clips into the wall, (Holding the cable run), drill 4 holes and fit the actual charger box.
That's 3 hours, Lets say he's on €50 per hour, or let's say €65 That's €195, or €200.
The box costs €600 + his mark up, so for nothing I'll give him €100, lets be generous and round it up to €1,000.
He's quoting me €1,400. So, yes, he's ripping me off.
I've asked him for a breakdown.... no reply.

 

[sycophantia]

Pft, just DIY it, there'll be plenty of 'how to' videos on youtube.

 

[Kenny]

He isn't ripping you off.

You have asked someone who has spent years learning a trade to do a job for you and based on the work he has given you a quote. Up to you if you want to use him. Be plenty others out there who can quote you.

Now if he gets the job and he fucks it up, yep he has ripped you off.

You could always go out and spend an age learning the skill yourself, buy the box and fit it yourself but I feel that will cost you a lot more than he has quoted

 

[Keef]

Halfords do a home charge kit, you buy the kit you need, arrange a date for fitting, qualified sparky turns up to fit it dunno if that’s worth a look? Unless you’ve already bought the kit

 

[The Bear]

When the government grant was in effect for EV charger installation, it still cost about £6-700 and that was just for the basic chargers, not necessarily the web controlled ones.

The grant brought it down from £1000+ so your quote sounds about right.

 

[Tredman]

When the government grant was in effect for EV charger installation, it still cost about £6-700 and that was just for the basic chargers, not necessarily the web controlled ones.

The grant brought it down from £1000+ so your quote sounds about right.

I paid £500 for a web version with solar integration

 

[ROVERT47]

Can’t be arsed to comment about the football.
Anyone been to Prague in recent times?, off for a 4 day break next month and wondering how much dosh I’ll need, never been before.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

Main touristy area bars and restaurants are on a par with UK cities. No 80p a pint joints anymore!
Steaks were great, whole atmosphere was lovely and not at all the stag/hen car crash I’d been lead to believe.
Had a five or six shot tasting board of absinthe. Wow! I did it but never will again.
Absolute best thing? A beer spa. Was recommended to me, was a little sceptical but my wife and I went and it was brilliant. Great fun, great beer, relaxing and a massage afterwards.

 

[ROVERT47]

Ha, gotta a beer spa in the hotel we’re staying in, neither me or the missus are going to be up for that at our age.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

Seriously try it. It’s just good fun for an hour. Any age. I’m not exactly young by the way!

 

[Keef]

Can’t help with the prices, not been recently,
Just walk about, go down any little alley, look up everywhere lots of interesting stuff above head height.
Good tour guide is Praga caput regni, she’ll do a walking tour for just the two of you, it’s like walking about with a knowledgable mate.
Honest guide on YouTube is brilliant, 2 locals giving you tips on stuff to see, cheap bars restaurants etc.
I really like the James Joyce pub it’s hard to find, which is good, it’s the original Prague Irish pub, but not the usual dirty mcscruffies/ Rocky o Reilly/ tam o Shanter type oirish pub

 

[Tredman]

Can’t be arsed to comment about the football.
Anyone been to Prague in recent times?, off for a 4 day break next month and wondering how much dosh I’ll need, never been before.

Went last year. Its ace, pretty cheap too.

 

[Carrotdude]

Hi all, I’m pretty sure I’m screwed but wondered if anyone here has any experience in this field.

We have a leak in our conservatory caused by the box gutter so I had a specialist conservatory repair company come and do a fix in November. They were here all day and seemed to do a good job, we were told it can take 3 months for it to all fully dry out but they gave a 12 month guarantee.

It’s now been 3 months, still leaking, and the company seems to have disappeared. The website has gone, phone numbers don’t work and I can’t even find them registered anywhere. Last email I had from them was at the start of Feb but there was never any indication they were dodgy.

I feel like a complete moron and I’m now very much out of pocket but I don’t even know who to tell or what to do as they’ve disappeared off the face of the earth.