One EICR cost for a flat or a house.

Who needs a condition report

If you let a home in England, the law says the wiring has to be inspected and tested at least every 5 years, or sooner if the last report sets an earlier date. That covers private and social landlords.

When a report on a let property comes back unsatisfactory, the landlord has 28 days to get the work done, or less if the report says so.

Homeowners ask for them too. Buyers and sellers want to see what state the wiring is in, and so does anyone with an older house who wants to know where it stands before spending money on it.

You'll also hear it called an electrical safety certificate, or a landlord certificate. It's the same inspection.

On the day

I do the inspection and test myself. On a house or a flat that takes a couple of hours.

I hold the City & Guilds 2391-52 Inspection and Testing (initial and periodic) qualification.

The price is for one fuse board. A second board, or more circuits than the price allows, is quoted.

What you get is a technical report of several pages. Its summary page gives the overall outcome, satisfactory or unsatisfactory, and a plain-English summary of the findings comes with it.

What the codes on an EICR mean

Each thing I find gets a code.

C1 means danger is present now. A C2 is potentially dangerous. C3 means an improvement is recommended, and a C3 on its own doesn't fail the report. FI means something needs further investigation before I can say whether it's safe.

Any C1, C2 or FI makes the report unsatisfactory.

If the report finds something

I won't push work on you. I don't need the work, I've plenty of it. If something needs attention I'll put it forward and price it, so you don't pay for one visit now and another six months later to put right what could have been done the first time.

We quote any remedial work in advance and carry it out for the price we quoted. You decide whether it goes ahead.

I'll do the work as cost-effectively as I can, but I won't cheap out on the parts or the service.

Small fixes, where a socket or a light is swapped like for like on the supply that's already there, are on the price list as small jobs.

Any remedial work I do carries the same workmanship guarantee as any other job.

If you're wondering whether the house needs a rewire, the report is where to start. I won't call it either way until I've carried out a report or inspected the wiring, and if it passes as satisfactory, it doesn't need rewiring.

Commercial premises and farm buildings

I do condition reports for shops, cafés, guesthouses and small industrial units too, along with their emergency lighting tests and yearly fire alarm inspections.

On a farm building I inspect to Section 705 of the wiring regulations, which covers agricultural premises. We price it per building or board, up to 12 circuits each, and the report comes with a summary you can hand straight to your insurer.

Before I come out

The price assumes I can get at the fuse board and at the sockets and switches. I'll need safe access to each room I'm testing, and a supply I can switch off.

If you need me to work round furniture, fixtures or stock, tell me before I start rather than on the day.

Condition reports on the Yorkshire coast

I'm based in Bridlington and do condition reports from Hull to Scarborough, for landlords, homeowners, buyers and sellers.

From Bridlington, Scarborough is about 35 minutes' drive off-peak and Hull about 55.