Hair salon maintenance

Ezdezat

Hi folks,

Not sure if this is the correct thread but I'll give it a go. I own a hair salon which my girlfriend runs day to day, we're open about 5 months. So far we've needed electricians a few times to put in sockets etc, and there have been a few issues with the hot water system - thermostats needing replacement etc. The biggest problem is that if the hot water system or a trip switch is going on a busy Saturday, its an absolute nightmare (as happened last week!), and we need someone out sharp.

Everything is working right now, but I'd like to engage an electrical contractor for the long term, that does maintenance, emergency call outs, etc. We don't mind paying for emergency call outs, we just want someone reliable and the job done right. We've been dealing with sparks recommended by friends etc., but the problem is when you ring a guy working or doing nixers for himself, he might be on holidays, unavailable, busy, or just plain unreliable. At this stage we've been through 3 sparks! Ideally a small company with a few guys on the books, so that there's always someone available, would be perfect.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

Ezdezat

Forgot to mention, salon is located in swords, co. Dublin...

brightspark

Did you consider having a list of a few electricians so that if one is busy you could call the next. I'm open to correction but I'd expect with a small company there is still the possibility of them all being busy on one site, or all on holidays together.

Not a direct answer to your question, but have you considered building some sort of redundancy into your heating system so that if an element or stat fails you can still have hot water. After all even if you had an electrician on standby waiting outside the salon an element will still require some time to replace.

Also have your sockets on separate trip switches (RCBOs) as much as practical anyway, that way if you have a faulty hair dryer etc you don't have everything going off and it will be easier for you or your partner to determine what caused the trip.

Ezdezat

Thanks for the reply and info. That's actually a pretty good idea which to be honest I hadn't thought of - the list of electricians! Part of the problem is I'm working in my own job and am not there, it's all young girls in the shop and panic stations when something goes wrong.
Still have to find some though. Two we've used previously are working full time so aren't really an option, and the most recent guy I'm at the end of my tether with - good sparks but 3 times now he just hasn't shown up.

I would hope that in a small company they would stagger holidays - but yeah it's a possibility they could all be on jobs.

What do you mean by redundancy - i guess some kind of backup? The system is basically a water tank with an immersion, and an in-line water heater which kicks in when the tank gets cold. To be honest the tank is too small, so we're more reliant on the in-line heater than we should be. We will eventually try to get a better system but it's a bit down the road.

Cheers.

brightspark

Yes by redundancy I meant a backup.

Don't know the plumbing arrangement, but perhaps adding a second tank and leaving your existing tank is a possibility?

There are a couple of property maintenance companies/agencies I've seen on recruitment pages that seem to offer call outs etc., not sure of the quality though as the pay on offer generally isn't that high.


Find at least one electrician to do Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) for you lots of electrical items and lots of water could be dangerous.

Get someone to teach you how to properly visually inspect hairdryers etc., not only will removing a damaged dryer from use prevent a potential shock, it will also help prevent trips during the day.

Ezdezat

Tks for the info, i was actually considering having an electric shower put in over one of the basins, so that if the water went, at least they'd have that as a backup.

I'll try to find a small local contractor i think, to come out and price a backup, and PAT testing, as you say get a list of electricians for emergencies.

If anyone knows of anyone decent near the Swords area, pls let me know!