Been handed a report you cannot read? Send it over, or call 029 2068 9339

An occupied healthcare building with its lighting installation.

Service 06 / 06 EICR & electrical testing

EICR Testing in Cardiff & South Wales

An EICR is an Electrical Installation Condition Report: a periodic inspection and test of the fixed wiring already in a building, judged against BS 7671, the UK wiring regulations. We carry them out on rented homes, owner-occupied houses, shops, offices, schools, factories and social housing across Cardiff, South Wales and the South West. Everything we find is coded, anything dangerous is made safe before we leave, and the report is explained to you rather than posted at you.

Go straight to your situation: landlords · homeowners · commercial & industrial

Working to

  • NICEIC Approved
  • BS 7671
  • Qualified Supervisor sign-off
  • Wales & England landlord rules
  • DBS-checked engineers
  • Since 1987

01 What it is

A report on what is already there.

Most people book one because somebody has asked them for it, and are never told what it actually involves. Here is the whole thing, in the order it happens.

A report, not a certificate

An EICR is an Electrical Installation Condition Report. An engineer inspects and tests the fixed electrical installation of a building that already exists — the consumer unit or the distribution boards, the circuits running out of them, the earthing and bonding, and the accessories on the ends — and writes up its condition. The whole report then comes back as satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

The word people reach for is "certificate", and we know exactly what they mean, so nobody gets corrected on the phone. The distinction is still worth having. A certificate is issued for work that has just been done: an Electrical Installation Certificate for a new installation or an alteration, a Minor Works Certificate for something smaller. This is a report on something already in place, and it describes a condition on the day it was done rather than promising anything about the day after. If a letting agent, an insurer or a local authority has asked you for a landlord safety certificate, an EICR is almost always the document they want.

What it is measured against

BS 7671 — the IET Wiring Regulations, the British Standard every electrical installation in the UK is judged by. One thing that is rarely explained and causes a great deal of unnecessary worry: an existing installation is not required to be rebuilt every time the standard is updated. Where an older installation differs from the current edition, that is recorded as a departure and usually coded as an improvement, not as a danger — unless it genuinely presents a risk, in which case it is coded as one. An old installation is not the same thing as an unsafe one, and we will say so in writing if that is what we find.

What the engineer actually does

It starts as a visual inspection: the board and its protective devices, the state of the enclosure, labelling, signs of overheating, damage, corrosion or work somebody has added since. Then the testing, and this is the part that needs the power off for a while. With the installation isolated we measure the continuity of the protective conductors and the ring final circuits, the insulation resistance of the cables, and polarity — that live, neutral and earth are where they are supposed to be. With the supply back on we measure earth fault loop impedance, which tells us whether a fault would actually operate the protective device quickly enough, and we test the RCDs and RCBOs for trip time rather than just pressing the button on the front.

Accessories are inspected with the covers off on a sample of the installation rather than every single one, which is what the standard expects on a periodic inspection. How large that sample is, and anything we could not get to, is agreed with you before we start and written on the front of the report as the extent and limitations. Nobody should be reading that page for the first time after the job.

How long it takes

It is governed by the number of circuits and distribution boards, not by floor area, which is why a cluttered two-bedroom flat can take longer than a tidy warehouse. A small flat on one board with a handful of circuits is the quickest thing we do. A three or four bedroom house with an older board, an extension and a garage supply takes appreciably longer. An office or a shop depends on how many boards there are and what hangs off them, and a factory, school or block with several boards is normally phased across more than one visit so that the place keeps running. The honest answer for your property comes with the quote, because we will have asked you the questions that decide it.

The other thing that decides the day is isolation. Parts of the test can only be done with the power off, and on an occupied building the negotiation about when that happens usually shapes the visit more than the testing does.

An EICR is

An inspection and test of the fixed wiring already installed, written up with a coded observation against anything wrong, an overall satisfactory or unsatisfactory outcome, and a recommended date for the next one.

An EICR is not

A certificate for new work, a test of your appliances, a guarantee that nothing will fail afterwards, or a pass that lasts forever. It reports a condition on the day, and it does not cover anything plugged in.

What gets inspected and tested

Every EICR, every property

01

The board itself

The consumer unit or distribution board: main switch, protective devices, RCDs and RCBOs, the condition of the enclosure, and whether the circuit labelling still describes what is actually connected. Very often it does not.

Visual inspection

02

Earthing & bonding

The main earthing conductor and the main protective bonding to the incoming gas and water services and to structural steel where it is present. This is one of the most common things we find missing, and one of the most important.

Inspected & measured

03

Continuity of protective conductors

That every circuit's earth is continuous and connected end to end, and that ring final circuits are genuinely still rings rather than two spurs with a break somewhere in the middle.

Dead test

04

Insulation resistance

The condition of the cable insulation between the conductors and to earth. This is where deteriorating old cable, water in an outbuilding supply or a nail through a cable shows itself.

Dead test

05

Polarity

That live, neutral and earth are where they should be — at the board, at the accessories and at the lampholders. A reversed polarity is invisible until somebody changes a bulb.

Dead & live

06

Earth fault loop impedance

Whether a fault on a circuit would actually operate its protective device fast enough. A circuit can look perfect and still fail this, which is exactly why the testing is done with instruments rather than by eye.

Live test

07

RCD & RCBO operation

Trip times measured at the required currents, not just the test button pressed. A device that trips, but trips slowly, is not doing the job it is there for.

Live test

08

Accessories & alterations

Sockets, switches, light fittings and outlets opened on an agreed sample: signs of overheating, damage, loose terminals, and work that has been added since the installation was built. Extensions and kitchens are where most of it lives.

Sampled & agreed

Inside a UK consumer unit: RCBOs on the busbar, brown and blue conductors, and the incoming supply clamped at the gland.

02 The codes

C1, C2, C3, FI. What they actually mean.

Every fault found on an EICR is given one of four codes, and the codes are what decide the outcome. If you take one thing from this page, take this — it is the part that people are most often left to work out on their own.

C1

Danger present

There is a risk of injury now, to somebody in the building today. Exposed live parts behind a broken accessory, a missing earth on something metal, a burnt-out connection still in service. We make C1 items safe before we leave, as standard, on every EICR we do — it is not an extra and it is not a quote. You are told about it on the day, not in a report a week later.

Made safe on the spot

C2

Potentially dangerous

Not dangerous while everything else holds, but dangerous the moment something else fails. No RCD protection on a circuit that needs it, missing bonding to the incoming gas or water, a damaged cable nobody has touched yet. This is the code that appears most often, and it is the one that needs putting right.

Report unsatisfactory

C3

Improvement recommended

Not dangerous, and not a fail. Something that would be done differently if the installation were being built today — a board without a spare way, an older arrangement that has been superseded. You do not have to do anything about a C3. A satisfactory report with a page of C3s on it is a normal, healthy outcome for an older building.

Does not fail the report

FI

Further investigation required

Something we found that we could not get to the bottom of on the day: a reading that does not add up, a circuit that disappears into a wall, a board that could not be isolated while the building was in use. It is not vagueness — it is a refusal to guess about something that matters.

Report unsatisfactory

Outcome one

Satisfactory

No C1, no C2 and no FI. There may still be C3s on it, and on anything other than a new installation there usually are. A satisfactory report means the installation is safe for continued use, and it carries a recommended date for the next inspection. That is the document a letting agent, an insurer or a local authority is asking for.

Outcome two

Unsatisfactory

Any C1, any C2 or any FI makes the whole report unsatisfactory. One item is enough. It does not mean the building is about to burn down, and it is not a judgement on you — on an installation that has been added to over thirty years it is a common outcome. It means there is a defined list of things to deal with, and once they are dealt with the installation can be re-tested and the report closed out.

The other words on the front page

The codes get all the attention, but the front page of a report carries four other things that decide what it is actually worth. If somebody has sent you a report, these are the parts to read before the observations.

Extent
Which parts of the installation the report covers. A report on one flat's board is not a report on the block's landlord supply, and a report that quietly excludes half a site is not the report you were asked for.
Limitations
Anything the engineer could not do, and why: circuits that could not be isolated, areas that were locked, a ceiling void with no access. Agreed with you beforehand, not invented afterwards.
Sampling
How much of the installation was opened up. A periodic inspection samples rather than dismantling everything, so the proportion matters and should be stated.
Departures
Where an older installation differs from the current edition of BS 7671. A departure is not automatically a fault — it is a record that the installation was built to what applied at the time.
Next inspection
The recommended date for the next one. It is a recommendation from the engineer based on the building, its use and its condition, not a fixed rule for every property.

03 Who it's for

Three ways people arrive at this page.

The test is the same one in all three cases. What differs is why you need it, who is asking for it, and how the visit has to be arranged. Find yourself below.

Landlords & letting agents

Route 01 — rented property

If you let property, this is not optional and it is not advisory. In Wales a valid EICR is required for private and social rented property alike, renewed at least every five years, with a copy to the contract-holder. The requirement came in on 1 December 2022, when the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 took effect. In England, private rented property has needed one since 2020 under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 — again at least every five years, with a copy to the tenant and a copy to the local authority if they ask for it. We test rented property under both sets of rules, so a portfolio that straddles the bridge does not need two contractors.

01

Wales — private and social

A valid report has to be in place at all times, not merely obtained once. A lapsed one is no better than none, and the contract-holder is entitled to a copy. The rule applies to housing associations and councils exactly as it applies to a single buy-to-let.

Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016

02

England — private rented

At least every five years, a copy to the tenant, and a copy to the local authority on request. We cover the South West of England as well as Wales, and we issue the report in a form you can forward to either without editing it first.

Private Rented Sector Regulations 2020

03

Portfolios, reminders and records

Every property on one schedule, renewal reminders before your reports run out, and void turnarounds slotted in while the place is empty and the power can go off without an argument. For contract clients the reports and the next due dates sit in the CJS client portal.

Reminders & portfolio scheduling

Homeowners

Route 02 — your own house

Nobody is going to make you have one on the house you live in. There are four points at which it is genuinely worth the money rather than worth the worry, and the fear that stops most people booking — what if it fails and I am landed with a bill I cannot control? — is answered further down the page, in what happens if something is found. The short version: we make anything dangerous safe on the day, we price the rest separately, and you are free to have anyone do it.

01

Buying or selling

A survey will often note the electrics and recommend a report without saying anything useful about them. For a buyer it is the cheapest way to find out what you are taking on before you are committed. For a seller it takes an unknown off the table before it becomes something to negotiate over.

Before you exchange

02

An older installation, or no record of the last test

If nobody can remember a test, or the paperwork went with the previous owner, you are guessing. A board with rewireable fuses, a plastic enclosure, or no RCD protection on socket circuits is worth looking at whatever the date on it says.

Age is a prompt, not a verdict

03

Before you commit to a rewire

"You need a rewire" is said a great deal more often than it is true. A report tells you which circuits are genuinely at the end of their life and which are perfectly sound, so the money goes on the parts that need it rather than on all of it at once.

Evidence before expense

Commercial & industrial

Route 03 — fixed wire testing

Fixed wire testing is the same inspection and test under the name the trade uses on commercial and industrial sites. The difference is never the test — it is the logistics, the scale and who is going to read the result. Insurers, auditors, incoming tenants and health-and-safety files all want the same thing: a complete, legible, signed report with the extent stated and the observations priced. Shops, offices, schools, care settings, industrial units, agricultural buildings and social housing stock are all routine work for us.

01

Phased testing, so you keep trading

We break a site into sections and take the boards one at a time, agreed with you in advance. Tills, kitchens, cold stores, server rooms and production lines get planned around rather than switched off, and you know which part of the building is affected on which day.

Section by section

02

Out of hours and weekends

Where isolating during the working day would cost you more than the test is worth, we plan the visit outside it — evenings, weekends, shutdown weeks. Planned out-of-hours visits are ordinary work for us, not a favour.

Planned, not reactive

03

Reporting an insurer or auditor will accept

A full schedule of test results, every observation coded and located, extent and limitations on the front, signed off by a Qualified Supervisor, with a recommended next inspection date. Remedials priced against each item, so the board paper more or less writes itself.

Signed by a Qualified Supervisor

If the testing is one part of a wider obligation — emergency lighting, fire alarm servicing, PAT testing, thermal imaging of boards and switchgear, reactive cover when something fails — it usually belongs inside a planned programme rather than being bought a test at a time. That is set out on the maintenance & compliance page, along with the client portal and the response times that come with a contract. Where the report turns into real work — board changes, rewiring, new circuits — that sits on electrical & data installations.

CJS Electrical engineers working on a commercial installation at the RNLI station in Porthcawl.

04 If something is found

An EICR is not a sales visit.

The suspicion is fair and it is common: the company doing the test is the company quoting for the repairs. Here is exactly how we handle that, and it is the same for a one-bedroom flat as it is for a factory.

On the day

Anything dangerous is made safe before we leave

A C1 — danger present means somebody could be hurt today. We do not write it down and drive off. We make it safe on the spot, as standard, on every EICR we carry out, and we tell you what we have done and why before we go. Where making it safe is a small job — isolating a circuit, capping off, removing a dangerous accessory — that is part of the visit. If it needs more than that, we tell you what it involves and what it costs before we do it.

Afterwards, entirely your call

The repairs are a separate decision

Everything else — the C2s, the FIs, and any C3 you decide is worth doing — is priced separately, line by line, with no pressure and no deadline attached. You are free to take that list to any competent contractor. We would rather you had a report you trust than a job you felt pushed into, and we will say so on the doorstep.

Why we keep the two apart

An inspection is only worth having if the person doing it has no reason to find more than is there. Coding is a matter of judgement in places, and judgement is worth nothing if it is being paid by the item. So the test is quoted as the test, the remedial work is quoted afterwards as its own piece of work, and the two are never bundled into one number that hides which is which.

In practice that means you get a report with a list of observations against it and a separate, itemised price for putting them right. Take that price and compare it. Show it to someone else. Do half of it now and half in the spring. It is your building.

If you do want us to do it

Most people do, because we are already there, we know the installation, and the list came out of our own testing. We are happy to carry out the remedial work — from a bonding conductor and an RCD upgrade through to a board change or rewiring a circuit — and it is priced as a job of its own with the items broken out so you can see what each one costs.

Where we do the remedial work, the re-test and the updated report are included at no extra charge. That is the part that catches people out elsewhere: the repairs get done and then there is a second bill to have the installation re-tested and the report reissued. Not with us. You end up with a satisfactory report and the evidence to prove it, and you have paid for the test once.

Reports somebody else issued

We take on remedial work from other contractors' reports as a matter of course, and we are not precious about it. Send us the report, whoever wrote it. We will price the C1, C2 and FI items line by line, tell you honestly if we think something has been coded harshly, make safe anything that is genuinely dangerous, and re-test what we have worked on so the report can be closed out. If the original contractor is no longer trading, or you simply do not want them back, that is a good enough reason and you do not have to explain it.

What we will not do

We will not tell you an installation needs a full rewire because that is a bigger job than the one in front of us. We will not code an item C2 to create work. And we will not chase you about a list of C3s. If the honest answer is that your installation is old but sound and needs two small things doing, that is what the report will say and that is what we will tell you at the door.

05 What drives the price

Why nobody can price this off a web page.

You will find headline figures for an EICR all over the internet. They are guesses about somebody else's building. Here is what actually moves the number, so that when we do quote you can see where it came from.

01

How many circuits

This is the big one. Every circuit is inspected and tested individually and its readings written up individually, so the number of ways on the board sets the work far more directly than the size of the property does.

The main driver

02

How many boards

One consumer unit in a hallway is one thing. A main switch panel, three sub-boards and a supply to an outbuilding is another, and a commercial site with distribution spread across several floors is another again.

Distribution boards

03

Size and age of the property

Size matters mainly because it usually means more circuits. Age matters because an installation that has been extended, altered and added to over decades takes longer to trace than one that was put in at once and documented.

Extended and altered

04

Access

Boards behind stock, in locked plant rooms, above a suspended ceiling or up a ladder. Loft spaces, crawl spaces and outbuildings. If we need a key, an escort or equipment to reach something, it is better known beforehand than found on the day.

Getting to the work

05

Whether it is occupied

An empty property between tenancies is the easiest and cheapest situation there is. A family at home, a shop trading or a production line running all mean working around people, and that changes both the timing and the method.

Voids are simplest

06

How much has to be isolated

Parts of the test need the power off. If that can happen in one go, it is straightforward. If it has to be broken into sections, done out of hours, or worked around critical equipment that cannot lose supply, the visit is shaped by that.

Isolation planning

07

How many properties

A portfolio scheduled together is not the same as a single call-out, because the travelling and the setting-up are shared. Landlords and housing providers with several addresses should tell us the number early — it changes the shape of the quote.

Portfolio & multi-site

08

What is already known

Existing drawings, a previous report, a schedule of the boards, or simply someone on site who knows where everything is. All of it takes time out of the job, and we would rather have it than charge you for finding it.

Bring the paperwork

What we do

We quote per property, after a short conversation

A few questions — what sort of building, roughly how many circuits and boards, whether it is occupied, when the power can go off, how many properties — and you get a written price for that property. For anything large or awkward we would rather come and look first. Quotes and surveys for quoted work are free, and the price we give is the price we work to.

What we do not do

No headline figure, no surprise on the invoice

We do not advertise a number that only applies to a one-bedroom flat with six circuits and then rebuild it on the doorstep. Remedial work, if you want us to do it, is quoted separately and afterwards — never rolled into the test so that you cannot tell which is which.

One thing worth saying plainly, because it is easy to misunderstand: quotes and site surveys for quoted work are free, but fault call-outs are chargeable. If you ring us because something has stopped working and you want an engineer to come and find out why, that is a chargeable visit and we will tell you so before we set off. An EICR is quoted work. A dead socket at nine on a Tuesday morning is not.

06 How it runs

Five steps, and you can stop at three.

Steps four and five only happen if you want them to. Plenty of jobs finish at step three with a satisfactory report and nothing else to do.

01

Book it

Tell us the property, roughly what is there and when the power can be off. We reply within one working day with a written price for that property and a date. For a portfolio or a large site we will ask a few more questions, or come and look first. If you are a landlord with a deadline coming up, say so — it changes how we schedule it.

Written price · reply within one working day

02

The inspection and test

We agree the extent and any limitations with you before a cover comes off, so nothing on the front page of the report is a surprise. Then the visual inspection, the dead tests with the installation isolated, and the live tests with the supply back on. On an occupied or trading building we work in sections so you lose as little as possible. Anything coded C1 is made safe before we leave.

DBS-checked engineers · RAMS on commercial sites

03

The report, explained

You get the full report — schedule of inspections, schedule of test results, every observation with its code and location, the extent and limitations, the overall outcome and a recommended next inspection date — signed off by a Qualified Supervisor. And you get somebody talking you through it, so you know what each observation means and which items actually matter. If it is satisfactory and there is nothing to do, that is the end of it.

Signed by a Qualified Supervisor

04

Remedials — only if you want them

If the report is unsatisfactory you get an itemised price for putting the observations right, line by line. Take it away. Compare it. Use somebody else if you prefer — we mean that, and it does not change how we treat you. If you do want us to do the work, we book it in and get on with it, and we tell you which items are urgent and which can wait.

Priced separately · no pressure

05

Re-test and close out

Once the work is done the affected circuits are re-tested and the report updated so it reads satisfactory, with the certification for the remedial work itself alongside it. Where we carried out the remedial work, the re-test and the updated report are included at no extra charge. You finish with a clean position, the evidence to show anybody who asks, and a date in the diary for the next one.

Included where we do the work

A CJS Electrical engineer working on an installation inside an occupied building.

07 Also covered

The other tests on the same calendar.

The EICR is the one people know about. It is rarely the only periodic test a building owes, and the others tend to fall due at awkward intervals of their own.

01

Emergency lighting testing

Emergency lighting has its own regime under BS 5266: a short function test at monthly intervals and a full-duration test annually, both recorded. It is the test most often forgotten, because the lights look fine until the day the power goes off and they do not last. We test, record and repair it, and we can do it on the same visit as your EICR where that suits.

BS 5266 · see maintenance & compliance

02

Fire alarm testing & servicing

A weekly user test on a rotating call point, plus servicing by a competent engineer at the interval BS 5839 sets for the system. We hold BAFE SP203-1 across all four modules, and we service and take over systems installed by other companies as well as our own.

BS 5839 · BAFE SP203-1

03

Putting them on one schedule

Where all three fall due at different times, the sensible answer is one programme rather than three separate purchases. Fixed wire testing, emergency lighting, fire alarm servicing and PAT testing on one calendar, with the records in one place and reminders before things expire.

Planned programme

Fire alarm and security systems have a page of their own — design, installation, commissioning, servicing and taking over other people's systems — on fire & security systems. Planned programmes, response times for contract clients and the client portal are on maintenance & compliance. If you are testing before or after other work — an EV charge point or a solar array both put new load and new equipment on an existing installation — it is worth knowing the condition of what they are being connected to first.

08 Why CJS

Who is coming to your door.

Inspection and testing is a trade where the paperwork is only as good as the person who signed it. It is worth knowing who that is before you let them into an occupied property.

Accreditation

NICEIC Approved Contractor

Assessed against BS 7671, the UK wiring regulations, by the leading certification body for the industry — and assessed on our actual work, in the field, not on a form we filled in.

Sign-off

A Qualified Supervisor signs the testing

Inspection and testing is signed off by a Qualified Supervisor. Your report carries a named, accountable signature rather than a company stamp.

Insurance

£10m public, £10m employer's liability

Cover of £10m public liability and £10m employer's liability. Certificates of insurance are available on request.

People

DBS-checked, directly employed engineers

Our own directly employed engineers do the electrical work, and they are DBS-checked — which matters when you are sending somebody into an occupied home, a school or a care setting.

On site

RAMS as standard on commercial work

Risk assessments and method statements as standard on commercial jobs, and an isolation plan agreed with you before anything is switched off.

Track record

Family-run since 1987

Nearly four decades testing across Wales — commercial, industrial, agricultural, education, social housing and domestic. Still here when the next one falls due in five years.

CJS Electrical vehicles parked outside the yard in Cardiff.

09 Questions

EICR questions, answered straight.

We quote per property rather than publishing a figure, because a figure on a web page is a guess about somebody else's building. What actually moves it is the number of circuits and the number of distribution boards, since every circuit is tested and written up individually; the size and age of the property, because an installation that has been extended and altered over decades takes longer to trace; access, meaning locked plant rooms, boards behind stock or above ceilings; whether the property is occupied, since an empty one between tenancies is the simplest situation there is; how much has to be isolated and when the power can be off; and how many properties you have, because a portfolio scheduled together is not the same as a single call-out. Tell us those things in a short conversation and you get a written price for your property. Quotes and surveys for quoted work are free. Fault call-outs, where you want an engineer to come and find out why something has stopped working, are chargeable and we will say so before we set off.

Somebody needs to let us in and be reachable, but you do not have to stand over us, and for a rented property it is usually the tenant or the agent rather than the landlord. Yes, the power has to go off for part of it. Some of the testing can only be done with the installation isolated, and there is no way round that. On a house it is normally one continuous stretch rather than the whole day, and we tell you before we start how long we expect to need. On an occupied commercial building we break the site into sections and take the boards one at a time so that only part of the building is affected at once, and where losing supply during trading hours would cost more than the test is worth we plan the visit out of hours instead. If something genuinely cannot be switched off, such as a server room or a cold store, say so at the quoting stage and it gets designed into how the visit runs rather than becoming an argument on the day. Our engineers are DBS-checked, which matters when the property is occupied.

Less worried than the word sounds. Any single C1, C2 or FI observation makes the whole report unsatisfactory, so one item on a list of eighty circuits is enough to do it. On an installation that has been added to over thirty years it is a common outcome rather than a disaster. What matters is which code the items carry. A C1 means danger present, and on our reports anything coded C1 has already been made safe before we left the property, as standard. Where making safe is a small job it is part of the visit; if it needs more than that we tell you what it involves and what it costs first. A C2 means potentially dangerous, which needs putting right but is not an emergency tonight. An FI means we found something we could not resolve on the day and would not guess about. C3 items are improvements and do not fail the report at all. So the practical position is a defined list of things to deal with, not a condemned building. Put the C1, C2 and FI items right, have the installation re-tested, and the report closes out as satisfactory.

No, and we mean that. The remedial work is priced separately from the test, line by line, and you are free to take that list to any competent contractor. We keep the two apart on purpose: an inspection is only worth having if the person carrying it out has no reason to find more than is actually there. We are happy to do the work if you want us to, and most people do, because we are already there and the list came out of our own testing. If you do have us do it, the re-test and the updated report afterwards are included at no extra charge, which is the part that catches people out elsewhere. We also take on remedial work from reports other contractors issued, including where the original firm has stopped trading or you simply do not want them back. Send us the report, whoever wrote it, and we will price the items and tell you honestly if we think anything on it has been coded harshly.

They are close, but they are not identical and they arrived at different times. In Wales, since 1 December 2022 when the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 took effect, a valid EICR is required for rented property and the rule covers private and social landlords alike, with a copy going to the contract-holder and renewal at least every five years. In England, private rented property has needed one since 2020 under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, again at least every five years, with a copy to the tenant and a copy to the local authority if they ask for it. The practical points to hold on to are that a lapsed report is no better than none, and that the terminology differs across the border, so a Welsh tenancy has a contract-holder where an English one has a tenant. We test rented property under both, and we cover the South West of England as well as Wales, so a portfolio that straddles the bridge does not need two contractors. For portfolios we schedule the properties together and send renewal reminders before the reports expire.

There is no legal requirement on an owner-occupied house, so this is a judgement rather than an obligation. As a buyer it is usually worth it, particularly where the survey has noted the electrics without saying anything useful about them, because it is the cheapest way to find out what you are taking on while you still have room to negotiate. As a seller it takes an unknown off the table before somebody else turns it into a bargaining point. It is also the right thing to do before committing to a rewire, because a report tells you which circuits are genuinely at the end of their life and which are perfectly sound, and "you need a rewire" is said a great deal more often than it is true. Note that an EICR covers the fixed wiring of the property, not the appliances plugged into it, and it describes the condition on the day it was carried out rather than guaranteeing anything afterwards.

Yes, and it is how most of our commercial fixed wire testing is done. We break the site into sections and take the distribution boards one at a time on a schedule agreed with you in advance, so you know which part of the building is affected on which day and nothing is a surprise to your staff or your customers. Where isolating during the working day would cost you more than the test is worth, we plan the visit outside it — evenings, weekends or a shutdown week — and planned out-of-hours visits are ordinary work for us rather than a favour. Critical equipment that cannot lose supply gets designed around at the quoting stage. On larger sites the testing is often phased across more than one visit, which also spreads the disruption. Risk assessments and method statements come as standard on commercial jobs, and the report you get at the end is a full schedule of test results with every observation coded and located, signed off by a Qualified Supervisor, in the form an insurer or an auditor expects to see.

Yes, and combining them usually saves a visit. Emergency lighting has its own regime under BS 5266 — a short function test at monthly intervals and a full-duration test annually, both recorded — and it is the one most often forgotten, because the fittings look fine right up until the power goes off and they do not last the distance. Fire alarms need a weekly user test on a rotating call point plus servicing by a competent engineer at the interval BS 5839 sets for the system; we hold BAFE SP203-1 across all four modules and we take over and service systems other companies installed. Where all of these fall due at different points in the year, the sensible answer is one planned programme rather than three separate purchases, with the records in one place and reminders before anything expires. That is set out on our maintenance and compliance page, and fire and security systems have a page of their own.

10 Get a quote

Get a quote for your EICR.

Tell us about the property — or send us the report you are already holding — and we will reply within one working day with a written price. Quotes and surveys for quoted work cost you nothing, and the price is worked out for your property rather than lifted off a list.

01 About you
02 The property

UK format, for example CF14 0SH. Automatically capitalised.

A portfolio of rented properties, or several buildings on one site? Give us your own address here and list the properties in the message — we will schedule them together on one account and remind you before the reports expire.

03 Property type
Is this a home or a business?
04 What you need
05 Detail

Anything that helps us price it — what sort of property it is, roughly how many circuits and distribution boards, when the last test was done if you know, whether it is occupied, when the power could be switched off, and how many properties you have.

06 Confirm

We never sell your details.

Tick the human check to enable this button.

029 2068 9339 Get a quote