Should you be using tradesmen during the coronavirus pandemic?

If you’re wondering if you should be using tradesmen during the current coronavirus pandemic, we’ve put together some vital considerations to help you assess the level of urgency and associated risks.

Using tradesmen such as electricians, plumbers or handymen is no problem under usual circumstances, but since the lockdown measures introduced to help minimise the spread of coronavirus, nothing is quite ‘business as usual’.

With government guidelines asking people to prevent unnecessary contact with people outside of their household – among other social restrictions – it’s clear that only genuinely essential work should really be undertaken at this time.

Essential and non-essential tradesmen services

Because there’s a risk of contracting the virus with any kind of social contact, the key consideration before using a tradesman in your home or business is whether or not the work is urgently essential, or whether it’s something that can viably wait.

For example, if you’ve recently moved and had plans for a lighting upgrade in your kitchen, this isn’t essential – it’s cosmetic. However, if you’re mid-renovation project and need services connecting to make your property habitable e.g. a functioning bathroom or kitchen, then this could reasonably be classed as essential.

Any issues that could cause a potential risk to health and safety, or anything that prevents you from living in reasonable conditions, could also be deemed as urgent work.

Things to ask your tradesmen before booking in urgent work

If you think your work is urgent and you need to get a tradesman in, there are a few things you should ask before you book any physical appointment:

1.  Do they have any symptoms of coronavirus? Even if they report just one very mild symptom, do not go ahead with your appointment.
2.  Can you troubleshoot my problem over the phone/video call to assess the problem and your need to visit the property/premises?
3.  What measures do you have in place to help minimise risk to all parties during your visit?

Tradesmen appointments made before coronavirus

If you already had work booked in prior to the lockdown, you’ve probably already contacted or been contacted by your tradesperson to discuss the situation.

Where possible, it’s best to try and postpone the work until such a time that lockdown restrictions start to be relaxed. If you’ve signed a contract, paid a deposit and/or committed to timeframes, make sure you discuss any potential penalties and rescheduling factors so that everyone knows where they stand, and what the plan is once things start adjusting back to normal.

If the work is considered to be essential, make sure you ask questions one and three from the section above – and if you have any vulnerable or ‘shielded’ people in your household, ensure that the maximum protective measures are taken if you really can’t avoid the appointment going ahead.

Our emergency electrical services during coronavirus

Our NAPIT registered emergency electricians in Leeds are now available to carry out critical, essential electrical works locally, such as the repair of electrical faults and the provision of landlord EICR certificates.

Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for genuine electrical emergencies, we promise that in order to protect you and our workers, we’ll adhere to the following safety measures while the coronavirus risk remains:

•  We will try to find the fault and offer advice over the phone or other electronic channels where possible to prevent unnecessary visits.
•  Full social distancing measures – our tradesmen will ask you to leave the room while any works are carried out, and will keep a strict 2+ meters away from all occupiers at all times.
•  We’ll wear PPE and use hand sanitiser.
•  We will (graciously) refuse any offers of drinks and food.
•  We will conduct CRITICAL electrical repairs and services only.

We ask in return that you do not request a visit from one of our emergency electricians if any member of your household is displaying any coronvirus symptoms at any level.

So if you’re not sure about using tradesmen while the coronavirus continues to be a threat to public health, please use this information as a guide – and if you require any emergency electrical work in the Leeds area at this time, please call us on 0113 257 2678 and one of our electricians will be happy to see how they can help.

Non-essential electrical work now permitted – coronavirus update

Since the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK in March 2020, followed by a ‘lockdown’ and strict social distancing guidelines, non-essential electrical work was halted – and we’ve been doing our best to keep you up-to-date with any changes affecting our electrical services ever since.

During the government’s announcement on Sunday 10^th May, they stated that the public should head back to work ‘if unable to work from home’, but there has been some confusion in regards to what kind of work that encompasses.

Non-essential home improvements works can restart

As registered members of NAPIT, we’ve had some clarification of what the changing coronavirus guidelines mean. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have this week confirmed that home improvement works, including electrical services, can now recommence.

However, with the pandemic far from over, there are still some protective restrictions in place. Therefore, if you need help from one of our registered electricians, we’re happy to come to you providing:

•  Nobody in your household is shielding due to a pre-existing, high risk condition
•  Nobody in your household is isolating due to showing coronavirus symptoms

The only exception in the above circumstances is if the electrical works are of an essential nature, whereby lack of action will endanger the residents of the property.

Keeping you safe during electrical works

In addition to the above, we’ll also require all parties to take further precautions to ensure the safety of your family and our electricians:

•  We’ll carry out a full risk assessment prior to any work commencing
•  We will ask you to keep at least 2m away from our workers, and will request that you leave the room while work is undertaken
•  We will follow strict sanitisation methods, and use protective PPE were appropriate

It’s worth noting that the new guidance may also be impacted by further instruction issued by governments of devolved nations. Therefore, if you reside in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland and wish to have work carried out, you should check their individual government guidelines for further information.

If you require emergency or non-essential electrical works in Leeds or anywhere in West Yorkshire, please call us on 0113 257 2678 for an informal chat and we’ll be pleased to help.

Image Courtesy of Amy Radford Photography

Your local commercial electricians – past, present and future

Working as local electricians in Leeds and Yorkshire (and often beyond!) it’s been a genuine pleasure, and we’re really proud of the journey we’ve been on since our inception in 2017.

Now, as we find the business button paused due to the coronavirus pandemic, we thought it would be as good a time as any to take a look back on the past year.

A year in the life of our commercial electricians

From our humble beginnings as a newly launched electrical contracting company, we’ve been fortunate to have picked up a lot of valued clients along the way.

As you may know we have two divisions at Hi-Spec. We have our controls division that focuses primarily on BMS installations, then our commercial electrical division that provides various services from lighting installations, to EV charging installs and round-the-clock maintenance.

Past BMS and commercial electrical projects

Over the course of the last 12 months, we’ve worked with many control houses to deliver consistently high quality electrical installation services. It’s been great building relationships in the BMS industry and I have gotten to know many new faces along the way. Our electrical team have been the perfect fit for controls companies looking for electricians with the experience and the know how to prepare the install ready for commissioning.

Our BMS install team have enjoyed helping with a number of projects here in Leeds and up and down the country, including installations at:

• Bronte Care Home in Keighley
• Tiger Trailers in Winsford
• Allerton School in Leeds
• Upton School in Chester
• National Grid

We’ve also found plenty to keep our commercial electricians busy too, with local projects and installs up and down the country – most notably with the brand new 02 store installation in Team Valley, Gateshead. With one of their new 02 flagship stores being opened here

We continue to offer our maintenance services to BAK and their 02 stores across the UK and are honoured to be one of their trusted providers.

Client connections

We’ve also done our fair share of entertaining over the past year, inviting a variety of our clients to join us at our VIP table in the Leeds Lounge at Elland Road, home to Leeds United FC – you know what they say about all work and no play!

With free food and beer flowing, it’s given us the chance to pay something back to the very people that have helped us make such a success of the last 12 months, finishing the day with a beautiful view of the match from our seats in the upper east stand. We’d enjoyed a great season up to the changes caused by current events, watching the ‘mighty whites’ pressing hard for promotion.

It’s also been great to work with many local independent businesses throughout Leeds and the West Yorkshire region, providing local electrical services while building some brilliant business relationships to boot.

Where we are now

As we write this, all of our commercial electricians and BMS specialists are currently taking government advice and staying at home to help the UK change the coronavirus curve.

While we’re unable to service our clients at this time, we’re putting together a range of helpful resources – so please keep checking our blog for updates, information and advice.

Looking to the future

Nothing last forever, and while we’re all a little stuck right now, we’re always here to offer advice and we’re happy to discuss booking in any future work you may wish to start planning – obviously with a view to flexible scheduling to the event of changing coronavirus guidelines.

If you’re a landlord affected by the new EICR regulations and need to book in an inspection for future months, just get in touch.

We’ll be back in operation to start another fantastic year as soon as things have returned to normal, and in the meantime we’d like to wish you all well and hope you’re able to prosper when we come through the other side.

We’re also hopeful that once the season starts again, Leeds United will have that final push and be back to the promised land playing the big boys – perhaps if your reading this then maybe in the future we will be sat at the same table and a nice cold beer to hand enjoying premiership football at Elland Road. So here’s to success and a bright future ahead!

Do your electrics keep tripping? Here are the most common causes…

Do the electrics keep tripping in your home or business? Do you have intermittent or occasional electric trips and are wondering what causes them?

Can’t reset the RCD?

Haven’t got any power?

If your electrics keep tripping or you’re having a problem with your power, don’t call an emergency electrician just yet!

Now before any of my qualified electrical friends on here want to comment on earth leakage or current imbalances just remember.

That is NOT the purpose of this blog! This is just a simple non-technical guide for homeowners and landlords with no electrical experience to try and spot the problem on their own! Please leave the gun in the holster for now- Thanks!

Here are the seven most common causes of electric trips, and some things you can try to fix the problem yourself.

Seven common causes of electric trips at home or work

When electrics keep tripping it can drive you a little crazy – so check all of the following to see if you can identify the cause and prevent further annoying trips!

1 – Check your kettle

It might seem unlikely, but kettles are a common culprit when it comes to electric trips and can cause you to lose most of the power in your home.

Unplug your kettle from the socket and try to reset the RCD. If the power comes back on just plug your kettle back in and hopefully you can go back to making those little cups of heaven again. If you’ve got the power back on, you plug the kettle back in and it trips the RCD again, you’re probably better off just throwing it away and buying another. It’s simply not worth the cost or hassle of trying to fix it compared to buying a new one.

2 – Outside lights

Another common cause of tripping electrics is water getting into your outside lights. If you’ve had a particularly heavy rainfall you may find water has wriggled its way into the light fitting and caused the RCD to trip.

You may need to check inside the light fitting and see what’s happening in there – watch out for any spiders or creepy crawlies that may have a cosy little bed inside! Don’t attempt this job unless you’re confident and competent, one of our electricians is just a phone call away if needed.

3 – Extension leads

Yep plugging in a million and one plugs into an extension lead can cause the electrics in your home or office to trip. Not only that, unless you’re looking to make an insurance claim then we wouldn’t recommend overloading your sockets, as you’re increasing the chances of setting fire to your home. THINK! If it looks like the spaghetti junction or you’re thinking there may be too many plugged in, you’re probably right!

4 – Garage or outbuildings

Just like your outside lights, the power supply in your garage or other outbuildings are also susceptible to water – and if it gets in, this causes the power to trip in your home and not just your garage! Once it’s all had a chance to dry out, hopefully it will go back to normal, so hang tight and be patient. Oh, and get that leaky roof fixed!

5 – Dodgy wiring

Have you become a bit of a have-a-go sparky? Wiring up that snazzy new chandelier yourself to save on costs might seem like a good idea at the time, but in the long run this can cause you no end of trouble. Incorrect wiring of your lights, sockets, cookers and the like can cause your electrics to keep tripping, leaving you frustrated – best to hand this job over to the professionals, hey?!

6 – Home DIY

Remember that cute picture of the kids you proudly displayed on the wall last week? Well those cheeky little devils could well be the cause of your electrical nightmares!

When you’re drilling and hanging those family photos or funky new shelves on the wall, you need to be extra careful to avoid hitting a hidden electrical cable. While you’d probably imagine that an electrical trip would happen immediately, that’s not always the case. Sometimes it might take a while, so if you’ve recently hung that picture up, you might be able to blame the kids!

7 – Appliances

Now before you say we covered this in the first point, just hear us out! Yes, your kettle is an appliance, and yes, you should unplug that first and see if the RCD re-sets…

But if this doesn’t work, then it may be a different appliance. Your kettle is usually the main culprit but if on this occasion it’s not, you may need to take more drastic measures.

You’ll need to go around the house and unplug everything. Yes, everything. Your TV, your hair straighteners, your washing machine etc. Once everything is unplugged, go and re-set the RCD. If it re-sets then you know one of those appliances is causing the tripping.

Now, go around and start plugging them back in one-by-one. Use each one and keep going until one of them triggers the RCD. Then voila! You have your culprit! Still no joy? If you’re 100% sure that you unplugged everything but the RCD still won’t re-set, then you know its most likely one of the other reasons we’ve outlined above – except for number one, of course!

So if your electrics keep tripping, try these simple steps and hopefully you’ll be able to get your power back on so you can veg out in front of your favourite TV show – but if you need help with electric trips and you’re not confident in carrying out any of the above steps, please call us or your local electrician.

Update on EICR regulations for landlords during the coronavirus pandemic

As of July 2020, new EICR regulations for landlords come into effect – but with the world currently in the clutches of the coronavirus pandemic, what does this mean for private landlords and their legislative obligations?

As a member of NAPIT and a provider of EICRs (electrical safety certificates), we’ve received updated guidance for EICR regulations in regards to the coronavirus situation, so here’s all the information you need to ensure your compliance…

What are the EICR regulations? 

Landlords must abide by the new EICR regulations, which require them to:

• Have the electrical installations in their properties inspected and tested by a person who is qualified and competent, at least every five years;
• Provide a copy of the report (known as the Electrical Safety Condition Report or EICR) to their tenants, and to the local authority if requested.
• If the EICR requires investigative or remedial works (e.g. the report has C1, C2 or FI codes), landlords will have to carry this out within 28 days.

These regulations apply in England to:

(a) All new specified tenancies from 1st July 2020; and

(b) All existing specified tenancies from 1st April 2021

Do EICR regulations stand during the coronavirus pandemic?

The guidance we’ve received makes it clear that landlords should make every effort to abide by the electrical safety regulations and meet the deadline for new specified tenancies from 1st July onwards.

The guidance released by MHCLG over the weekend confirms that the new regulations for mandatory electrical safety checks in the private rented sector will still go ahead as planned. However, it also makes it clear that if a landlord can show they have taken all reasonable steps to comply with their duty under the regulations, they’re not in breach of the duty.

We’re hoping to be operational again at the start of May – although we will always work in-line with current government guidance to ensure we don’t risk the safety and wellbeing of our customers. If you need any help with complying with EICR regulations, please contact us and our electricians will be happy to help.

Your basic electrical safety checklist

As experienced domestic and commercial electricians, one of the most common things we’re asked is whether or not a client’s electrics are safe – so we thought we’d put together a basic electrical safety checklist that you can run through yourself.

With around 20,000 electrical house fires in the UK every year, it’s only natural that people are worried about the safety of their electrics. So how safe are yours?

The answer isn’t always clear cut, but our electrical safety checklist will provide some helpful guidance so you can check for common and easily identifiable issues.

Electrical safety guide – things to check

Now remember this is just a simple guide in simple terms, so if you’re in any way worried about your electrical installation, please contact a local registered electrician straight away.

1. No electrical safety certificate – Do you have a copy of an electrical certificate for your home? If you don’t have an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) or an Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC), you might want to seriously consider getting one. An electrical certificate is an important document that will tell you the condition of your installation and whether or not any work needs doing to bring it up to the correct safety standards.
2. Fishy smell – If you smell something rather fishy coming from one of your sockets or your switches, it’s a clear sign that the cable behind it is beginning to melt.
3. Dodgy DIY – Do you suspect dodgy DIY in your home? Or have you attempted your own DIY? While it can be tempting to think that wiring up that new light is easy, please remember that paying a qualified electrician will reduce that risk of an electric mishap in your home. The last thing you want is having the kids or grandkids flicking a switch and – god forbid – getting a shock. Where possible, please leave it to the professionals.
4. Not enough socket outlets for demand – Is there a lack of sockets in your home and you find yourself having to use extension leads? Please be careful when plugging too many appliances into extension leads, as over-loading is a common cause of electrical fires. If you feel there are one too many sockets plugged in to an extension, call your local electrician and ask them to add some new sockets to your existing circuit.
5. Loose or cracked sockets and switches – Do you have any cracked sockets or switches? Or perhaps a socket hanging off the wall? Be extremely careful if you do, as any chance of touching any exposed conductors can prove fatal. For a simple call out you can get these replaced easily.
6. Buzzing sounds – Does there appear to be a busy bee flying around but you can’t seem to locate it? Chances are it could be a socket or a light fitting with a loose connection. This can result in electric shock, so listen up and get it checked out.
7. Damaged or frayed cables – Have you noticed any damaged or frayed cables? If the answer is yes, why risk it? If it’s an appliance such as a kettle or a toaster, please unplug it immediately. If it’s a fixed appliance, such as a heater that’s hardwired into a spur and you can’t unplug it, call your electrician immediately. Unsafe electrics are just not worth the risk.



8. Old consumer units (fuse boxes) – How does your consumer unit (fuse board) look? An old board or unit doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s unsafe, but electrical standards and regulations how moved on leaps and bounds over the last few years and you can ALWAYS be safer. If you notice anything untoward about your fuse board, be sure to get an electrician to take a look. A common way of bringing your electrics up to standard is upgrading your consumer unit to introduce RCD protection. This is a life saver when it comes to electrical faults. If you’re not RCD protected yet, we highly recommend that you get this sorted!
9. Sockets located at low level and in skirting boards – This could indicate that your installation happened before the 1960s, and that the cables could be lead and suffering from deterioration. Again, an old installation doesn’t automatically mean that it’s unsafe, but all electrical installs deteriorate over time and we’d strongly advise an EICR to check this over.
10. Incorrect breaker sizes – Now this is something that the average Joe can’t check, but it needs including as having the incorrect breaker size is a big no-no when it comes to your electrics. One to ask your electrician to check next time they’re at your property.
11. Adapters plugged into other adapters – Again this is not part of your electrical install but many homeowners and tenants seem to think it’s ok to plug an adapter into another adapter just to gain that extra socket. Please don’t do this – it really CAN and does cause fires.
12. No certificate provided with your installation – Have you had an electrician in your home to wire a new circuit but they didn’t provide you with a certificate? If so, alarm bells should be ringing – and not fire alarms, at this point at least! While we appreciate that tradesman are quite often under pressure to put in the cheapest possible price to get the job, you have to remember that the cheapest price generally equates to the cheapest quality of workmanship, and the likelihood is that corners will be cut – and with electricians, one of those corners will be the certification. ALWAYS ensure you get a certificate with your install. If they don’t provide you with a certificate, then who else knows what other corners they will have cut?! Remember cheap doesn’t usually mean good!
13. Circuits not labelled – Have you ever had an electrical issue and needed to turn the power off, only to find your circuits aren’t labelled? It really is a good idea to have your circuits clearly marked up in case of emergency, and to enable you to safely isolate a particular circuit if needed? You could attempt this by yourself, or call a qualified electrician.
14. No earthing – Earthing is a very important part of your installation. If you suspect that your home has no earthing in place, or has an unsecure earth cable, please contact your local electrician. We can’t stress enough how important it is to have the correct earthing arrangements in place.
15. Outdoor power – Do you have an outdoor socket? Is it RCD protected? If the answer to the latter is no then you MUST either STOP USING IT or get an electrician to install RCD protection. You should never use outdoor power without this.
16. Broken plugs – Is the plug that you’re using damaged? Can you see any exposed wiring or copper? Is the wiring loose beneath the plug? If so, please stop using it immediately. Be careful before unplugging, as you may be exposed to live conductors and make sure the plug is switched off before unplugging otherwise you run the risk of electric shock.
17. Regular breaker or RCD trips – Do the breakers or RCDs in your home keep tripping? If they do, this is a sure fire sign that there’s a deeper issue and you should get it checked out – you can also read our guide to electrical tripping here.
18. Flickering lights – do your lights flicker? It could be something simple, such as the lamp becoming loose and it just needs tightening up, or it could be a sign that you have a loose connection. If you do attempt to check for a loose connection yourself, please ensure you’re competent to do so.
19. Discolouring of your sockets, switches and fittings – If you notice any discolouring e.g. a browning of any of your equipment, this is a sure sign of burning. It could either be the item you have plugged in, or it could be the socket itself.



20. Inadequate protection for outdoor cables – Have you got cables outdoors? Do they have adequate protection? If you have power to, say, a garage outside, then the cable should ideally be in armoured cable or in some form of containment. If you have outdoor cables without containment but in a grey PVC material or something similar, you need to seriously consider whether this is safe or not – in honesty, it probably isn’t.

We hope this electrical safety checklist will help you to gauge whether or not your electrics are unsafe in any way and always be sure to check with your local registered electrician if you have any concerns with your electrics – if you’re in Leeds or West Yorkshire, we’re just a phone call away!