Massive Bodge Job

johninlondon1 · Dec 13, 2011

Had a plastering job to start and electrics looked wrong. Told the owner to get an electrician as I wasn't competent as yet. The Portugese non-electrician has used 1mm t&e cable to connect the sockets (3 rooms + kitchen, 3 circuits 1 for smoke detector, 1 for ring final circuit and one for lights) and wired 2 rooms off one socket creating an additional 5 spurs with double sockets on it. Then he has taken a spur from one of the spurs and made a radial circuit with 2 double sockets in the next room. The circuit was a ring feeding the small kitchen and the 3 rooms and he has changed it all to virtual radial. All the cables to the lights are all wrong and 3 of the 4 rooms lights don't work. Looks like all the plasterboards will have to be removed and flooring taken up. The owner is not happy and some Portugese chef is gonna have a lot of explaining to do. The rooms do not have radiators so it is envivaged that each room will have electric heaters in them. I told the owner that as soon as you plug in a heater and the kettle there is a risk the wiring will fail and possible fire and maybe shock potential. On lighting circuit he used the live conductor as earth and used old red and black cables for the complete circuit, junctions everywhere and no connectors just insulating tape wrapped around. Also the smoke detector was wired with live conductor to earth and earth to live. No green/yellow sheathing at sockets. The list goes on and on. The house is 4 storeys with owner living in basement and 1st floor with 2 x 80+ year old disabled/dementia parents. Top 2 floors are for renting to tenants. People like this should be prosecuted. Apparantly he does a lot of electrical work, so I reckon he should be made to account for his work and each job he has done should be meticulously tested as he is an obvious danger to persons and property.

m4tty · Dec 13, 2011

So much for part p

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But you'll get more plastering work once the place is ripped to bits to rewire lol

ProDave · Dec 13, 2011

Take some photo's and put it in the Black Museum forum.

Then get the address of the "electrician" that did it, and contact trading standards to alert them to his work standards (or lack of standards).

Then email the BBC and see if they want to feature him on Watchdog.

Advise the owner if he hasn't paid the "electrician" to not pay him a penny. If he has paid, ask for it all back (could be a fight ending up in court). Also ask him for his Electrical Installation Certificate first. That will be good evidence to give to trading standards if he produces a certificate with fictitious test results.

Even better would be if he's used the NICEIC logo on any paperwork as they WILL take action if he's doing that.

Then find a reputable, part P registered electrician to do the job properly.

You don't say what the job is, but if it's an extension that comes under building control, then see if the building control guys are interested in taking any action against him.

johninlondon1 · Dec 13, 2011

I agreed 850 quid for 3 rooms all ceilings and walls, customer only wants one room now plasterboarded and wants the decorator to fill and sand and lining paper. He has 2 massive bags of filler and told him that it is going to be rubbish and take him days and my price was extremely cheap for 2 large rooms and 1 smaller room. Walls have lots of bonding on them which he reckons he can fill sand and will be ok, but I doubt it very much. I think because they have spent so much in the past on bodge jobs, the money has ran out and they don't have the money to do it properly and I suspect the DIY decorator would prefer earning 2 weeks at 70 quid a day instead of me leaving nicely plastered walls for him to paint in 2 days or so.

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There is no paperwork but he is back behind the counter in the cafe he works at as a cook. No decent camera on my phone so not able to take pics. I really feel for the owner as she has spent a fortune so far to make the place un-inhabitable. Her nephew is on a mission to go and see the guy and I don't think the chef will be cooking much this week by the time he finishes with him. I told him to see Trading Standards, so left it in his hands. Guy in there now is NICEIC so he is sorting it out now, he mentioned that he hasn't seen things this bad in a long time. I think they should seriously consider copying the GASSAFE scheme for electrical work and only qualified competent persons should be allowed to do any alterations to any property at all.

ProDave · Dec 13, 2011

I agreed 850 quid for 3 rooms all ceilings and walls, customer only wants one room now plasterboarded and wants the decorator to fill and sand and lining paper. He has 2 massive bags of filler and told him that it is going to be rubbish

That's normal practice for a "dry lined" wall. Up here we call it Ames taping, or just taping and filling.

that's how most houses are done up here and the finish is good. you don't even need to wallpaper it with lining paper. A properly taped and filled plasterboard wall is ready for painting or papering as you wish. and it's usually done by the decorator.

I do agree a plasterboard wall skimmed with plaster is a more durable finish, but roughly double the price of taping and filling (it was when we got quotes 8 years ago)

johninlondon1 · Dec 13, 2011

The walls in the small room have been plasterboarded as the DIYer ruined all the walls and the nephew re-boarded them, the other rooms have old plaster on and its all been ripped to shreds where they hacked off the wallpaper and pulled out all the cupboards.