4 Times When you Might Need an Electrical Survey

An electrical survey will tell you about the health of the electrical installation in a house. If you employ the service of an electrician to survey an installation, they’ll inspect it, test it if required, and produce an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report).

It can be difficult to know if you require an electrical review. You can’t see electricity, rendering it hard to learn if there’s a problem.

An electrical survey is useful in several situations. We’ve come up with 4 examples of times you may want an electrical survey to help you understand when you need to call an electrician.

1. YOU’RE INVESTING IN A NEW PROPERTY

If you’re thinking about buying a new property, it’s smart to check what condition its electric installation is in. You can’t always trust what previous owner lets you know, as they may be trying to hide something.

You can check the electrics by asking an electrician to execute a visual survey, or carry one out yourself.electrical survey
But visual inspections aren’t particularly thorough and may miss major problems. If you wish to be certain about the condition of a property’s electrics, it’s best to ask an electrician to execute an electrical survey.

2. YOU’RE A LANDLORD

The law says that landlords are responsible for ensuring that their rental properties meet electrical safety standards. So if you’re a landlord, it’s smart to get an electrical survey done every so often. This enables you to know if there are any elements of a property’s electric installation that need fixing, and act as proof that you have examined its condition.

3. YOUR ELECTRICS AREN’T WORKING PROPERLY

If you observe that your electrics aren’t working properly, you might want to have an electrical survey conducted before you commit to getting any work done.

Typical indicators that you may need electric powered work doing include:

  • Fuses tripping frequently
  • Buzzing coming from your customer unit (fuse box)
  • Flickering lights
  • Arcing (sparking) when you connect appliances
  • An electrician will perform a survey by checking to see whether there are any issues that need fixing. They are able to tell you what you ought to get fixed, and if you select them to do the work they could do your survey for free.

4. YOU’RE UNHAPPY WITH AN ELECTRICIAN’S WORK

If you’re not 100% satisfied with an electrician’s work and are considering taking legal action, you can ask another electrician to carry out a survey for you. They’ll create a written report that expresses whether or not the work meets safety standards. This is often called an expert witness report.

An expert witness survey is useful as proof of poor workmanship, and can also stop you worrying. It is because the electrician doing the survey enables you to know if your electrics aren’t safe so you can get them fixed. You can ask them to do the repair for you, or get prices from other electricians to get the work done.

So if you’re in any of these situations, it could be a good idea to ask an electrician to carry out an electrical survey for you. To find a registered electrician, fill in our online form. We’ll put you in touch with up to 4 electricians in your local area.

Evy Coe

Evy works for Quotatis as a Content Marketing Executive. She loves to write about interior design and help homeowners with their DIY projects.