Electrical Surveying

It can be difficult to know if you need an electrical survey. You can’t see electrical energy, which makes it hard to know if there’s a problem.

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

1. You’re buying a new property

If you’re thinking about buying a new property, it’s a good idea to check what condition its electrical installation is in. You can’t always trust what the seller tells you, as they may be trying to hide something.

You can check the electrics by asking an electrician to perform a visual survey, or carry one out yourself.

But visual checks aren’t particularly thorough and may miss major problems. If you want to be sure about the condition of a property’s electrics, it’s best to ask an electrician to perform an electrical survey.

2. You’re a landlord

The law says that landlords are responsible for making sure that their rental properties meet electrical safety standards. So if you’re a landlord, it’s a good idea to get an electrical survey done every so often. This will let you know if there are any parts of a property’s electrical installation that need fixing, and act as proof that you have checked its condition.

3. Your electrics aren’t working properly

If you notice that your electrics aren’t working properly, you may want to have an electrical survey conducted before you commit to getting any work done.
rewiring
Typical indicators that you may need electrical work doing include:

  • Fuses tripping frequently
  • Buzzing coming from your customer unit (fuse box)
  • Flickering lights
  • Arcing (sparking) when you plug in appliances

An electrician will carry out a survey by checking to see whether there are any problems that need fixing. They can tell you what you need to get fixed, and if you pick them to do the work they may 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 thinking about taking legal action, you can ask another electrician to carry out a survey for you. They will create a report that states whether or not the work meets safety standards. This is often known as an expert witness report.

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

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

Price

Approx. £120-180

Completion time

4-8 hours