How to find and check a reliable electrician in the UK

1. Ask which scheme the business belongs to and for its registration details.
2. Search the NICEIC or NAPIT directory, or the relevant operator named on GOV.UK's scheme list.
3. Check that the result matches the business sending the quote and covers the work proposed.
4. If a name differs or no result appears, ask the operator to clarify before relying on the claimed registration.

Search live at the time of booking. A logo, saved card photo or an old register result does not establish current membership. Check insurance cover for the actual work and ask for its current evidence; do not infer it from registration.

In England, Part P concerns electrical safety in dwellings. For work requiring building regulations notification, an appropriately registered competent person can self-certify within their scheme's scope; otherwise building control arrangements are needed. Ask how notification will be handled before work starts. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own building control rules: confirm the route for the property's jurisdiction.

Building regulations compliance documentation and the electrical installation or minor works certificate are different records. Ask which applies to your scope, who issues it and when you receive it. An EICR reports an installation's condition; it does not replace certification for new installation work.

• Work: the symptom or change required, fittings and locations; investigation where the cause is unknown.
• Property: home, rented home or business premises; occupied areas and relevant existing reports.
• Photos: visible fittings from a safe position, without opening electrical equipment.
• Access: agreed hours, parking, keys or escort contact and restrictions.
• Interruption: equipment that cannot lose power and the person who can agree isolation.
• Decisions: work approver, confirmed payer and who receives completion documents.

Say what you have observed without diagnosing it. “The socket stopped working after the room was painted” is useful; “replace the socket” may skip a fault elsewhere. Do not recreate a shock, overheating or tripping fault for a quotation photo.

Read labour, materials, cable routes, access equipment, testing, documents and making good together. Ask whether plaster repairs and final decoration are included. For exploratory fault finding, agree the charging basis, a limit and who approves further work.

Fictional comparison: one offer for an extra socket includes the cable route, a specified fitting, testing and wall repair. Another prices the fitting only. Ask for the missing scope before comparing totals. A socket replacement, additional point and new circuit are different jobs: use the socket installation scope guide and quote comparison checklist.

Agree start and return visits, payment terms and how changes are approved. For EICR observations, send the complete report and use our remedial work quote brief.

Before the visit, agree who receives the work summary and the relevant certificates or test records. At handover, compare the completed scope with the accepted quote and record unfinished items. Keep the quote, approved changes, invoice and electrical documents together.

If a certificate or item is missing, ask the contractor directly with the quote reference and record the response. If necessary, use the scheme operator's complaint route. An invoice, review or reassuring message is not the electrical completion evidence you agreed.

Tell us the electrical job you need doing. Include the property use and anything affecting access or testing.