Standards and Demands of the Electrician

A recent survey has found that almost a quarter of the country has employed an electrician in the last two years, while another survey has found that only 0.2% of complaints by consumers to the Governments advice service Consumer Direct were about electricians.

I have always had a bee in my bonnet about the low entry level required to set up an electrical business. Its so easy in this country to advertise yourself as an electrician and be set loose on the unsuspecting public. Thankfully over the last few years though trade organizations such as SELECT have been more proactive in the public domain in driving the message that it is best to choose an electrician that is part of organization such as SELECT.

So does these stats above prove that the message by SELECT is getting through to the public - well in some ways yes i think it is, but there is a long way to go. Personally I believe there are far too many easy opportunities for the public to openly buy electrical items that they have no knowledge of installing themselves but you just know they will try - this issue though is for another blogpost, so lets look back at some of the stats found in the surveys above.

1.5 million complaints were made to Consumer Direct last year on a whole range of topics, but top of the list with 74,000 ( 4% of the 1.5 million ) complaints were for "Home and Maintenance Installations". Drilling down the data though of the 74,000 complaints in this sector Electrical Services and Installations was 8th on the list with only 2,997 complaints. Other trades in the list were Plumbers(6,661), Bathroom fittings(6,117), Roofing(4,610), Central heating installation and maintenance(6,995), Fitted kitchens(12,819), Tarmac and paving(4,448) and General Building Work(17,503). So of all the complaints to Cosumer Direct, only 0.2 % were about electricians and 4% were in the Home and Maintenance Installations sector.

Another survey by YouGov has found almost 25% have employed the services of an electrician in the last two years just behind Plumbers, with builders on 16%. 1 in 5 people had difficulty in finding skilled tradesman in the last two years.

2997 complaints about electricians is still far too many though and thats why as part of our own drive we will always be focused on Customer Satisfaction coupled with High Standards of Electrical Work and that will continue to be our motto in 2008.