A PIR alone should cost about £80, my previous company charged £75 but they were doing a lot of them for one client, so maybe thats why they were quite cheap. I also suppose it depends on how long an electrician is in your property for, a periodic inspection should take about 4 hours or so if done properly.

As for getting any issues sorted in a given time, it depends how dangerous to yourself, others around you and to your property, it is.

Like i said, my previous company were doing a lot for one client, they had 40 sparks on the books just from exeter down to cornwall, (never mind the others covering from scotland through to the south) so they could do a lot with one hit. Different if your a one man band TT, you wouldnt be expected to do that many a day, plus you wouldnt be expected to win such a contract if its just you and a few others (im assuming it is just you and maybe a few more in your business? Im going on the questions you ask regarding your work on here thats all so please dont take any offence as im not being like anything)

Im just speaking from my background, ive always worked for large companies and only know what they charge. I dont PIR from my van, I spend as long as it takes, even if they do try to apply pressure. 4 hours is seen as the minimum across the board, but like you say it depends on the size and state of the property, could be more, could be less.

Im now assuming there is more writing involved with just filling out a 6 page periodic inspection cert? I think i briefly saw the top man for the nic (tony something) carry out one on their dvd. If i remember rightly, he did plan drawings of the property etc... I suppose if you wanna do that then it will take bloody ages to fill one in.

There is far too much confusion in the PIR market, among both clients and sparks.

Most domestic properties will never, ever have a full periodic inspection and test carried out. If they did, most would fail, but these failures are almost always obvious in the early stages of the visual inspection - old cable, bodged alterations, incorrect application of protective measures, etc. - rendering the testing pretty well pointless.

Now, there's a lot of resistance to the use of visual-only reporting, but I, for one, see real potential in their application, both for clients and for sparks.

A visual inspection report, for £80, would serve the needs of both parties in most cases. Almost nobody in that market is prepared to cough up the real cost of carrying out a full I & T, but for a professional assessment of the general condition this is far better value for money than you get from a surveyor and far more cost-effective.

Think of it as actually getting paid for a pre-quote survey!

There is much to be done to educate the public in this respect, but insisting on a full PIR (say. £250) which invariably results in an unsatisfactory assessment, will not help the process.

For house purchases, all surveyors recommend an electrical inspection, so why not offer one? There is a market out there for a basic inspection, but not for an expensive, complicated (and usually pointless) service which results in the same overall assessment.

You must make it clear what you are offering (and not offering) and this must also be clearly stated on the report. You must also be impartial and to that end you should insist on payment up-front (like surveyors do). If the visual inspection is satisfactory (it almost always won't be!) you need to also make it clear that there may be latent defects that a visual-only won't reveal.

But, providing you know what you are doing, treat your clients needs with respect and carry out your work diligently, this is a potential growth area for sparks who are fully competent with regards to their knowledge of the regs.

I am a fan of visual condition reports, but these are not recognised by many who are requesting the periodic inspection (housing associations, sheltered housing, insurance companies etc).

Agree with the comments concerning the validity of VIRs, but I also find that a full PIR can save much time and money if the quote for the remedial works is successful. You know exactly what goes where and how healthy or otherwise each cct is before you start. Your quote can be much more accurate if you have 90% of your materials list drawn up before you start the job.

A good example might be low IR readings, shared neutrals etc on an existing C/U which has to be changed.

TT