Inspection report

[ians]

I have an interesting situation. A company has carried out an inspection report and sent the report with an invoice for the inspection. We have bit of a problem. I carried out an inspection report to verify the report, only to find there are plenty of faults identified which are not listed in the report. I thought thats easy, i carry out all the repairs as per the list and get the company back to sign over the COC. Then they take responsibility for the electrical installation, i get paid they get paid and everyone is happy. Not so simple, the company which has done the inspection has a note printed in bold letters..."We do not do re-inspections if the remedial work required is completed by another electrical company"

So what now, should the customer pay for an incomplete inspection or pay for the report and pay me as well?

[AndyD]

I can kinda see where they're coming from with the no reinspecting thing, in theory their time on site would be much higher to inspect someone elses remedial work rather than just certifying their own.

I'm always suspicious of the customers motives when they get multiple inspections, either they don't trust the original sparky in which case why did they use him in the first place or they don't like the list of remedial work he's highlighted so they're fishing with other contractors for a shorter or cheaper list. I think a lot of these types of problems occur because contractors tend to do inspections at a cheap rate or as a 'loss leader' because they're banking on getting the lucrative remedial work so the door is wide open for customers to go on fishing expeditons with multiple contractors when they need a certificate.

[bones]

I had a COC done and the people that did the inspection did such a shitty job clearing everything that needed fixing. So now I am struck with bills upon bills trying to sort this shit out. Fucking assholes if you ask me. COC is worth nothing.

Not a single plug in the house was grounded how the hell do they miss that?

total cost for all repairs R30k

The shitheads that did the COC claims that anything could have changed after the COC was done. Like I would go and disconnect shit for the fun of it just so that I can fork out R30K to have it fixed.

I recommend pay them their money fix what you can get the professionals when you need them and get another company to do a second COC call it a lesson learned.

[ians]

The inspection report should be carried out in a manner which makes it possible for anyone to read and understand and generate a quote. Once all the repairs are carried out up to standard there should be no surprises for the customers the inspector who carried out the inspection should be able to charge a re inspection fee for the portion of work done.

The point i am trying to make, if you charge for an inspection report, you need to do it properly.

[Leecatt]

There should never be a necessity for re-inspection. This is because the company that gets awarded the repair work must write a certificate based upon their own work done
Any inspections that are carried out prior to the remedial work being done, by however many companies do inspections, must be paid for before list of work to be done is revealed.

[ACEsterhuizen]

What will the correct course of action be if a customer, who employs their own electricians, requests an inspection report but insist that they will do all the remedial work themselves? Surely a re-inspection, with costs is in order?

[Leecatt]

What will the correct course of action be if a customer, who employs their own electricians, requests an inspection report but insist that they will do all the remedial work themselves? Surely a re-inspection, with costs is in order?

No, not accorcing to the OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT, 1993 ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION REGULATIONS, a copy of which is freely available from here

Allow me to explain with quotes from the regulations.

First of all, no person in South Africa may undertake to do work as an electrical contractor unless they are duly authorised to do so and registered in accordance with the law.
"Electrical contractor
6. (1) No person may do electrical installation work as an electrical contractor unless that person has been registered as an electrical contractor in terms of these Regulations."

Electrical installation work is defined in the regulations as follows;
"installation work" means
(a) the installation, extension, modification or repair of an electrical installation;
(b) the connection of machinery at the supply terminals of such machinery; or
(e) the inspection, testing and verification of electrical installations for the purpose of issuing a certificate of compliance;

Secondly, if your electricians were registered, then they would have be required to issue a certificate for the work they have done.
Issuing of certificate of compliance
9. (4) Any person who undertakes to do electrical installation work shall ensure that a valid certificate of compliance is issued for that work.

As you can see from this the electrician who does the inspection is responsible for the repairs and the subsequent issue of the certificate.

[ians]

So let me understand this,

IF a customer decides he doesnt want the same company which carries out the test to do the repairs...this would be the procedure:

Step 1
If an inspector carries out an inspection report it should be his responsibility to issue a COC for the part of the electrical installation which he has tested and is compliant.

Step 2
If he finds faults in the installation, he should attach a faults list with his compliance certificate for the parts of the installation which doesnt comply.

Step 3
The electrical contractor which then carries out the repairs as per the list which was created by the inspector (because the inspectors charges for his inspection) will then issue a second COC for the work as per the list.

Just imagine the chaos in an already chaotic industry.

[Leecatt]

So let me understand this, if an inspector carries out an inspection report it is his responsibility to issue a COC for the part of the electrical installation which is compliant and it would be up to the owner to either use the same company to complete the repairs to the installation or if he chooses to use another contractor that electrical contractor could issue a COC for the repairs as per the fault list and then issue a COC for only the repairs carried out?

You cannot issue a certificate for a portion of an electrical installation, as explained in Section 9 of the regulations.

[ians]

Who ever carries out the initial inspection should be responsible for the final COC. Please dont tell me that it shouldnt be the inspectors responsibility for the repairs because his company didnt do the repairs, if he is inspecting and existing electrical installation he didnt carry out the electrical installation to start with. This could get interesting

[ians]

You cannot issue a certificate for a portion of an electrical installation, as explained in Section 9 of the regulations.

So whoever starts testing should have to finish testing.

[ians]

Issuing of certificate of compliance
9. (4) Any person who undertakes to do electrical installation work shall ensure that a valid certificate of compliance is issued for that work

but here it clearly states my point.

[skatingsparks]

You cannot issue a certificate for a portion of an electrical installation, as explained in Section 9 of the regulations.

I sign off the portion that i detail in section 3 of the COC?

[Leecatt]

Try reading section 9 in its entirety. You cannot just pick out the parts you want to read.

[ians]

We discussing inspection reports and the repairs required as a result of the inspection report. An inspection report for an installation which you didn't install.

The certificate required if you do work on a site is another whole discussion which we can go into another time.