EICR in Sturry

Periodic inspection and testing in Sturry — what most people just call an EICR. The work covers a visual inspection of the consumer unit and accessible accessories, dead and live testing on every circuit, and a written report with each observation coded against BS 7671. Common drivers in Canterbury: a 5-yearly landlord check, a pre-sale or pre-purchase EICR, an insurer asking for current documentation, or a homeowner whose installation hasn’t been tested in a decade.

What EICR actually is

An EICR is a formal inspection and test of the fixed wiring in a property — the consumer unit, every circuit running off it, every accessible socket, switch, and light fitting. The output is a written report with observation codes against anything that’s not satisfactory: C1 for immediate danger, C2 for potentially dangerous (also a fail), C3 for improvement recommended, FI for further investigation required. A satisfactory report has no C1 or C2 observations. A property with C3 observations alone still passes. The report is what landlords need for the PRS regulations, what surveyors check on sale, and what insurers reference when validating a claim.

When you need EICR in Sturry

Different reasons for different property types. Rented property in Sturry runs on the 2020 PRS regulations — five years between inspections, plus a fresh report at the start of each new tenancy. The certificate is supplied to tenants and to the local authority on request. Owner-occupied property doesn’t have a statutory cycle. IET guidance is 10 years for domestic, but plenty of homeowners inspect more frequently — usually around major life events like buying, selling, or renovating. Insurance renewals also trigger it, especially on older properties or where there’s been a previous claim.

Standards and what compliance looks like

The two regulatory references that matter on a Sturry EICR are BS 7671 (the technical standard the inspection works to) and, for rental property, the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 (the law requiring landlords to have a current report). The current edition of BS 7671 is the 18th Edition with Amendment 2 (2022). Reports reference the edition in force at the date of inspection. The PRS regulations require the certificate to be supplied to tenants within 28 days of the inspection and to Canterbury City Council on request within 7 days.

Fittings and where they go

Inspection scope is “what’s accessible without destruction” — we don’t lift floorboards or break into walls. The consumer unit comes off, every socket and switch plate is checked visually, every light fitting that’s reachable is inspected, and we go into lofts, cellars, outbuildings, and meter cupboards where they exist. For the hidden parts of the installation — buried cables, junctions inside walls — the live testing catches structural faults via insulation resistance (low values mean cable damage or moisture ingress) and earth fault loop impedance (high values mean a poor earth path). The combination of visual and test results is what builds the picture of installation condition.

Testing schedule and remedials

All testing uses calibrated multifunction test equipment — insulation resistance, earth fault loop impedance, RCD operation, and continuity all measured against the BS 7671 pass criteria for each test. Calibration certificates are available on request; the equipment is calibrated annually to UKAS standards. On site, the work runs circuit by circuit. Each is isolated, dead-tested, restored, and live-tested before moving on. The customer is kept informed of what’s being tested and any brief power-downs are flagged in advance. Our standard practice is to leave the consumer unit and accessories exactly as we found them once testing is complete.

Why Sturry property owners book CJA Electrical

Three things matter on EICR work and they all sit on the inspector: technical accuracy (the right observations coded correctly), report quality (clearly written, properly formatted to BS 7671 Appendix 6), and turnaround (the report in your hands inside 48 hours, not a week later). All three are why Canterbury clients keep coming back. On the practical side: same-day quote, scheduled inspection inside the working week, PDF report direct to your inbox or your agent’s, and remedial work quoted line-by-line against the report so you can decide what to action.

How the work runs

The flow is simple. First contact (phone, email, or WhatsApp) to confirm the property size, circuit count, and rough timing. A quote — fixed price for most Sturry domestic EICRs, given on the call. A scheduled inspection visit, typically inside the working week. The written report supplied as a PDF inside 48 hours of testing completing. If anything is unsatisfactory, remedial work is quoted separately. Once remedials are done, the affected circuits are re-tested and a fresh, satisfactory certificate is issued. Most landlord and pre-sale jobs run start-to-finish in a working week; commercial and larger residential might take a fortnight including remedials.

What affects the price

Pricing is transparent: a fixed price for the inspection and report, separate quoting for remedials. The fixed price is set on a brief scoping call about the property — rough age, number of consumer units, circuit count if known, occupancy. Most Sturry domestic EICRs are quoted on that call alone. Larger properties — anything with multiple consumer units, significant outbuildings, three-phase commercial supply — get a capped quote after a quick site visit. The cap means you have certainty on the maximum cost going in, even if the on-site time runs slightly longer than expected.

FAQs

Can you do remedial work on the same visit?

Sometimes — minor remedials (replacing a damaged socket face, tightening a loose connection, fitting a missing blanking plate) can be done on the inspection visit if time and parts allow. Larger remedial work (consumer unit replacement, recircuiting, additional RCD protection) is quoted separately and scheduled as a follow-up.

Will the inspection damage anything?

No. The tests are non-destructive. Insulation resistance and earth fault loop are low-current measurements that don’t stress the installation. Most of the on-site work is visual inspection plus brief electrical testing on each circuit. The only disruption is the short power-downs during dead testing.

How quickly can I get a report after the inspection?

PDF inside 48 hours of testing completing. We can usually turn it around faster (same evening, next morning) if there’s a deadline — landlord renewal, sale exchange, insurance renewal — and we just need to know the deadline up front.

What if I disagree with an observation on the report?

Talk to us. Each observation has reasoning behind the coding — usually clear regulatory references — and we’ll walk through any specific item if you want to understand the call. Genuine reconsideration on borderline calls is fine; we don’t dig in for the sake of it.

Does an EICR cover gas, water, or appliances?

No. The EICR is a fixed-wiring inspection only — the consumer unit and circuits, plus accessories like sockets and switches. Gas certification is a Gas Safe registered engineer’s job; water leak detection is a plumber’s; appliance testing (PAT testing) is a separate service. We can refer to trusted local trades for any of those.