To get a professional rather than let my brother

[pennyprincess]

rewire my new house.

Ok so the story, sorry it is a long one! I have just moved into a new house that needs a full rewire.

Years ago my brother trained as an industrail electrician, but he has been out the game for years doing other types of work. With the economic downturn he has lost his job and is trying to set up as a electrician doing small jobs (fitting showers, new sockets etc).

He is down on his luck and needs a break. And he really wants to do this rewire for us and will charge a fraction of market price.

BUT I am just not sure he is up to the job. I dont think he would do anything unsafe but it is a period house and I am just worried about the mess he will make. He also has a tendency to make everything about himself.
(An example would be I asked him to babysit when I was ill. He came round with his dog. His wet dog. The house therefore stunk of the dog. He then cooked the most disgusting smelling curry in my kitchen. He was only babysitting for a couple in the afternoon, I cant understand why he had to cook a curry at my house. I had bread etc in - he could have just had a sandwich if hungry. He then left all the dishes for sick me to do.

He makes a mess wherever he goes and is also very slap dash with things. BUT he WILL take major offence if I dont have him to do the job. His feeling will be hurt and he will sulk.

[pennyprincess]

Apoligises posted this twice by mistake.

[duplotogo]

No YANBU, anyway if you want to sell your house one day you need a proper certificate for electrical work these days so your brother can't do it.

[pluperfect]

He won't get far in setting up his own business if he is slapdash, and the fact that he can't even get a family member to jump at the chance of his doing needed work says it all, really. Very harsh, but only a preview of the reaction he is going to get if he goes into business working for strangers.

[imahappycamper]

I make it a rule never to ask people I know to do jobs. If it all goes pear shaped you are better off with a professional who you don't kow.
I learnt my lesson when someone we know laid our drive (didn't do a great job) and then kept telling us we still owed him money. We had paid by cheque so had proof of what we had paid and when it was cashed, but it all got very difficult.

[BetsyBoop]

I he is not NICEIC etc registered (and can therefore self certify the work) you need building regs approval these days.

If you don't get the work properly certified it will probably cause problems when you come to sell.

Maybe asking him how he is going to take care of the regs will be enough to put him off ?

(If he is working I take it he's read up on the current regs for domestic wiring, there have been loads of changes in recent years & what was ok a few years ago isn't any longer)

[mowbraygirl]

YANBU Don't let him. We always make it a rule never to employ relatives or someone we know as we have heard so many stories of things going pear shaped and it all ends up with a lot of bad feeling.

We had our house rewired 4 years ago and are very pleased with it, was by a local fully qualified electrician. Since then they have tightened up the rules and regulations even more as I know our electrician has had to do more courses and they cost a minimum of £100 a time.

Fully qualified electricians will be insured in case there is a problem. Also, they will issue you with a certificate which as has been said you nee if you ever sell your house.

I have just asked my SIL (Alarm engineer) and he says industrial wiring and domestic wiring are a lot different.

[NetworkGuy]

YANBU - as others have said, regulations have changed. While the electrical work ones have perhaps gone a touch too far, for rewiring a house you need to be sure it's being done right. Big difference between me making a mistake with wiring a light and someone making a mistake with a ring mains, or power to an electric cooker!

[ChippingIn]

YANBU - as others have said, you will need it certified if you want to sell and tell people it has been done (and it's a huge bonus to buy a house that's already been done - so you would want to tell people...).

Selling/legalities aside, your brother doesn't sound like the sort I would want messing with the electrics to be honest!! You'd never forgive yourself if he did something wrong and it hurt (or worse) one of your children...

If it was a bit of plastering/tiling etc - I'd give him a chance - but no, not rewiring the house!!