Now the weather has warmed up, many householders turned to DIY projects, without knowing the dangers and it could end up costing them more then they think.
As a local electrician in Worcester and a member of the NICEIC, as well as being registered with Trustmark and Which Trusted trader, it was great to see a new awareness by NICEIC Called ban the Bravado, please click here to view it.
It gives some fantastic stats to how much some DIY projects can end up costing, if you don’t respect the dangers or are not qualified to do the job, one particular stat, actually gives you a figure over £1100 on average to put it right and safe.
So I here you ask electrics looks easy, it will only take me 5 mins, I am not paying that amount of money to do a 20 min job, but the difference is that Electrician has over 25 years experience and know’s what he is doing, let me put it another way, let’s look into a few other professional jobs, Dentist, Car mechanic or even a photographer, let’s start with a Dentist, we pop along knowing we having a check up by an expert, more than likely its going to end with a filling, we get to the reception desk and it’s cost £100, not in the chair for more than half an hour, do we question it, no because a Dentist is an expert in their field, we pay it and enjoy the rest of the day.
Next scenario, its time to take our pride and joy car to for its MOT, we drop it off in the morning and collect it later on, with more than we expected bill, but we don’t question it, because being safe in our cars is so important and we know that our local garage is an expert in their field, so we pay the bill and move on , the same could also be said for a photographer, especially a wedding one, its our special day and we are sat down several weeks after the big day and we look at the fantastic photo’s and there is some special ones there, but its going to cost a little more, but do we haggle with the photographer, no we know he is an expert in his field and photo;s to match, so we pay the bill and move on.
With the above all said and done, we totally think differently when it comes to our homes, I am no different, I used to think the same, it looks easy, but when comes to it, it may look easy, but thats because the years of experience makes it looks easy, but in my industry I see it all the time, Dave from down the pub was having a chat about a local electrician’s price for fitting a couple of lights, so Dave said I can do it for £20, no problem when can you come round?
Dave did pop round and those lights look nice, but several months later the home owner was changing a bulb, and got a shock of one of the lights, it turns out that the lights were made of metal and the house was built before 1966, there is no earth in the lighting circuit back then and it hasn’t been rewired, so not only did a wire come loose and touch the metal casing of the light, there was no earth there so the electricity just went through the homeowner, luckily they just fell off the ladder and had a limp for few days, this time they were lucky.
The difference being if a proper qualified electrician registered with the NICEIC or similar body was doing it they would of tested to see if there was an earth, they would of never wired it up, instead they would of suggested either a lighting circuit rewire or a plastic or double insulated light fitting to be fitted, was that £20 worth it in the end.
As the title says, we should always look at safety over cost, because your life is worth more than £20.