Megan's Home Haven

If see yourself as an electrical DIYer and handle a few electrical installations around the home, you have probably heard about Part P electrical regulations. Even though you are aware of regulation, you are no doubt troubled by what exactly Part P Approved Electrician means and you are definitely wondering about the possible affect that this regulation will have on your DIY work!

To put it simply, Part P Approved means that the home handyman who has the intention to fit a new electrical fitting in their home, whether it is installing a new electrical outlet, an electric shower or a new light fitting is required to meet the policies which have been predetermined by the Building Regulations. Simply put the novice electrician is required to submit plans for their electrical intentions to their council and when the task is finished, an approved city inspector is sent out to test and sign off the job. This is what Part P Approved means for the property owner.

Should the property owner opt to hand over any electrical work to a competent electrician, the Part P makes provisions for such professionals. The stipulations of Part P requires that the appointed electrician submits a self-certification certificate to the property owner in 30 days and is required to submit the same certificate to the relevant authorities.

Part P Approved and electricians

Part P Approved may have little or even no effect on the homeowner, but for electricians, Part P may lead to extra costs and added stress. In a bid to save on time and on money and for the electrician to steer clear of a council building control officer’s inspection, meeting the requirements of Part P will mean that they have to sign up with one of five government-approved capable person’s schemes. Membership fees to these privately administered schemes are far from affordable and annual fees are charged at about £500 and more fees will need to be paid once job have been completed.

What’s the purpose of Part P Approved?

Like most other policies, Part P Approved was created to monitor or standardise building workers who do not rewire homes, but make use of the existing electrical supply, to install electrical items, such as appliances, burglar alarms, heating systems and light fittings. Many electrical contractors are disillusioned by the fact that Part P tends to groups all electrical contractors in one cluster and this forces the qualified electrician to pay a high price to obtain approval on their work or to meet the requirements of Part P Approved!

Part P is not applicable when electrical replacements are made, and these replacements include, swapping a damaged electrical light fitting.  When Part P was launched in January 2005, any other type of electrical work needs to be inspected by approved building control officers.

Part P Approved – will it work?

Most regulations are seen in two lights – some believe it will work and others feel it is not going to be a success. Many believe that there are homeowners and even the industry’s cowboys who will choose to ignore the rules and others feels that real professionals (or the good guys) in the industry will be forced to foot the bill for Part P Approved as they are the one’s coughing up the exorbitant membership fees and all additional costs.

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