So called handy men !!!

086lavey

Got a phone call saturday evening , and it went some thing like this , " i was out power washing saturday and my power kept tripping on me in the shed , so i asked a neighbour to have a look at it , (Que the handy man ) he said he would bypass the rcd for me , but now nothing is working in my shed , would you have a look at it for me " i said ok , will call monday some time for a look , and this is what i came across , my eyes nearly fell out of my head :eek:!!! could not believe what i was seeing , in all my years working as a electrician , i never seen any thing like it
Another case of why you should always get a competent registered electrician to do any work big or small !!

M cebee

looks a bit odd alright:)

indie armada

im not a sparks but im really struggling to figure out what the lad was trying to do.
is that one of those double poled mcb type jb's. i wonder what happened when he threw up the trip, is he still alive?
thats shockin bad.

Davy

indie armada wrote: »

im not a sparks but im really struggling to figure out what the lad was trying to do.
is that one of those double poled mcb type jb's. i wonder what happened when he threw up the trip, is he still alive?
thats shockin bad.

If he closed the mcb, it would trip as it would be a direct short if im reading it correctly. It being open would have power flowing ok, but no protection would be on the circuits. Its acting like a connector block

ntpm

indie armada wrote: »

im not a sparks but im really struggling to figure out what the lad was trying to do.
is that one of those double poled mcb type jb's. i wonder what happened when he threw up the trip, is he still alive?
thats shockin bad.

That's definetly dodgy.

When he tried to to switch on mcb he was probably lucky that the fuse/mcb or rcd/rcbo in the main consumer unit tripped....depending on what the shed was wired to.
Either way there must have been a flash or bang and he probably blew up an appliance orlights/ bulbs in the shed...

Bruthal

Whats wrong with that??:D


Have to admit, i think that would outdo most if not all i ever seen in cowboy land.

Bruthal

ntpm wrote: »

That's definetly dodgy.
Either way there must have been a flash or bang and he probably blew up an appliance orlights/ bulbs in the shed...

Yea i seen exactly that happen alright, bulb actually popped the glass part right out of the BC when a short occured in a socket.

Bruthal

086lavey wrote: »

Got a phone call saturday evening , and it went some thing like this , " i was out power washing saturday and my power kept tripping on me in the shed , so i asked a neighbour to have a look at it , (Que the handy man ) he said he would bypass the rcd for me , but now nothing is working in my shed , would you have a look at it for me " i said ok , will call monday some time for a look , and this is what i came across , my eyes nearly fell out of my head :eek:!!! could not believe what i was seeing , in all my years working as a electrician , i never seen any thing like it
Another case of why you should always get a competent registered electrician to do any work big or small !!

Them photos should be put up as a sticky to show `handyman` work in action.

Buford T Justice

robbie7730 wrote: »

Them photos should be put up as a sticky to show `handyman` work in action.

Not all handymen are morons you know, but some are. Some of us are competent at their work.

Bruthal

Fingers McGee wrote: »

Not all handymen are morons you know, but some are. Some of us are competent at their work.

True, but some would say handymen should`t be doing electrical work such as DB or sub boards. Would the above photos not indicate why competent electricians should be used. I see your point though.

Stoner

the thing that gets me most about that is that he never even cleaned up after himself, those webs look shocking, a jobs not finished till you've cleaned up.

Bruthal

I think the spiders and all left when they seen the job.

M cebee

handymen can't do electrical work properly- how can they? -they've no proper training

and don't realise they're making mistakes -due to lack of knowledge

sure most sparkies can't even do electrical work!

Joey the lips

It all my years of plumbing and heating i have seen many different shortcuts. I have learned that despite what is right if the fitter is nice and the customer gets no trouble the customer will usually rec him for any work....

This should not be the case but it is...


I have also learned to appreciate that while basic plumbing can by DIYED and even complicated plumbing attempted....

Gas is illegal and people are aware of this because of the explosion risk...

The penality for electrical should fit the seriousness then less people would be attempting it.

Carpenter

LOL
You get this in all trades over the years I have seen some rubbish 1 day I got a call to look at a door when I got there it was upside down the poor people think they are saving a few bob but in the long run it will cost them .
A friend of mine asked me to look at a job he was getting done the roof had just gone on but when I got there the ridge was going to end up over the window level (up stairs) he asked me what should he do I said stop the job and we will look at the ENTIRE site there were prob,s after prob,s this ended up in court and after years of fighting it was all pulled down so @ the end of the day they lost about 25k all to save some money.
Now some handymen are good but the savings are small because these men know that they are good and charge the going rate IMO.

Bruthal

Joey the lips wrote: »

I have learned that despite what is right if the fitter is nice and the customer gets no trouble the customer will usually rec him for any work....

No doubt about that, and thats obviously the case in the OP photos here.
If that `fix`had worked without tripping anything, the customer probably would of been happy with the job in this case too. Even though it still would of been dangerous with RCD bypassed and the board in a mess.

Kashkai

I wonder about the IQ of the guy who asked the "handyman" (and as a real handyman myself, I take exception to that ), to do this work and when he saw the result, didn't immediately hit yer man over the head with a pickaxe.

Saying that though, as the victim of an ECSSA registered "qualified electrician", I'd take the quality of my own work over that muppet's anyday. Following my own remediation works, at least now I have confidence that my lights will work when swtiched on, the sockets will work when items are plugged in, the faceplates won't pull off as they did when held on with caulk, the cooker and shower switches are now properly wired etc etc etc.

Yes electricty is dangerous
Yes you should not attempt to do anything electrical if you aren't absolutely sure of what you're doing
Yes you should call in a pro if he knows what he's doing

But as I said before, some of those 'pros' don't know what they're doing.

Bruthal

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

I wonder about the IQ of the guy who asked the "handyman" (and as a real handyman myself, I take exception to that ), to do this work and when he saw the result, didn't immediately hit yer man over the head with a pickaxe.

Saying that though, as the victim of an ECSSA registered "qualified electrician", I'd take the quality of my own work over that muppet's anyday. Following my own remediation works, at least now I have confidence that my lights will work when swtiched on, the sockets will work when items are plugged in, the faceplates won't pull off as they did when held on with caulk, the cooker and shower switches are now properly wired etc etc etc.

Yes electricty is dangerous
Yes you should not attempt to do anything electrical if you aren't absolutely sure of what you're doing
Yes you should call in a pro if he knows what he's doing

But as I said before, some of those 'pros' don't know what they're doing.

That type of thing in houses could be due to having to wire a new build house in a day, and then second fix in a day, all driven by the "housing boom" and greed. Even with competent lads they would not have been done with the care and attention required. And also add in the 1st year apprentices that might of been second fixing. No time to fix any problems. The caulk thing for example usually happens when the back box threads are stripped, so just do a quick fix. No replacing box etc. Get it done as fast as possible, doing it right is secondary.

Kashkai

I understand what you're saying Robbie as I had relations who were carpenters and had to do some many roofs, stud walls, hang doors etc etc a day/a week to get paid.

However, my house was a one off new build and there was a gap of 4 months between first fix and second fix so plenty of time to do it right. I had retention held back so I got the sparks (and plumber, and carpenter and roofer etc ) to come back to fix problems within the retention timeframe. However, my electrical problems recoccured after when the retention was handed over and the sparks wouldn't even answer his phone to me at that stage. It wasn't a case of him being under pressure to complete the job in a certain timeframe, it was just shoddy work from a guy who didn't give a sh1te. Neither did his ECSSA overlords for that matter either.

M cebee

that's the way a lot of contractors operated during the boom

1st and 2nd fixes done in a day apiece with a crew of 2 or 3

no time to go back over anything

handydandy

M cebee wrote: »

handymen can't do electrical work properly- how can they? -they've no proper training

and don't realise they're making mistakes -due to lack of knowledge

Did you ever think that some handymen are actually qualified electricians! and are also pretty good at other trades that they have learnt over the years.

2011

Did you ever think that some handymen are actually qualified electricians!

Yes.
Generally when someone that happens to be a qualified electrician carries out electrical work they refer to themselves as an "electrician", not a "handyman" even if they have other skills.

ntpm

handyman wrote: »

Did you ever think that some handymen are actually qualified electricians! and are also pretty good at other trades that they have learnt over the years.

I am not a "Handy Man"... I am a "Multi Skilled" Technician.
My training incorporated heating, plumbing, electrical and HVAC.
Also I have worked for various Trade based companies.

I have to regulary under go retesting and renew my training/qualifications to current regulations etc. This is why i am deemed a "Competent Person".

I do not understand why some tradesmen think because they have completed an apprentiship ( possibly many years ago) that no one else can re-train and learn a new trade.

2011

I am not a "Handy Man"... I am a "Multi Skilled" Technician.
My training incorporated heating, plumbing, electrical and HVAC.
Also I have worked for various Trade based companies.

I am sure you are very good at what you do.

However, if you are working with mains voltage you should have the correct insurance, test equipment and be able to issue the appropriate ETCI certificate for the work you do. If not you should not be doing it, simple as.

ntpm

Totally agree nobody should carry out work unless trained and insured.


For the record. Fully trained and insured.
Trained to carryout testing to ETCI and 17th Edition.
Registered GAS , and OIL .

2011

So you have training, you have insurance and you know how to test, all you need is to be in a position to actually issue the appropiate ETCI certificate. Then you are 100% legit.
Close but no cigar!

"For the record" I am not in a position to certify either.

Bruthal

I always think the phrase `fully trained`makes it sound like an army man, could we say we are fully trained after the 4 year apprenticeship? We are qualified after the 4 years, and probably have all the actual intended training we will get, but there is still a huge learning process ahead, even though it may not be official training. The apprenticeship is like the training course, after that its experience and more learning.

Id have to say of 2011`s comment, a qualified electrician would not refer to himself as a handyman while doing electrical work, is 100% spot on.
A handyman might say he was an electrician though.

2011

I always think the phrase `fully trained`makes it sound like an army man, could we say we are fully trained after the 4 year apprenticeship?

No we couldn't, every day is a school day

In terms of training/experience it is hard to define, my understudying is that what is required is that the person is "competent"