- Coming up on this week's news,
the fixed price contract is dead
and the culprit is inflation
with the copper cable in the conservatory.
Electricians increasingly offer payment plans
to struggling homeowners and forget the van.
Electrical contractors are increasingly turning
to E-bikes to get around.
Welcome to "Electrical News Weekly"
in association with Scame.
Whether you're listening in the van, on site,
or down at the wholesale counter,
I'm Joe Robinson and I've been through
the best of the electrical industry news
to save you the trouble.
And as always, if you think you've spotted
the two words that I've been challenged
to slip into this week's show,
comment with them below for the chance to win a prize.
So, you price a big job.
You win the contract, you're on site a year later
and then you discover
that the cost of materials that you originally
quoted has gone through the roof and your carefully
crafted estimate has been blown to smithereens.
For instance, look at copper.
A couple of years ago, it doubled in price
and since last July, it has gone up 25%.
One of the recent victims of the soaring value
of the metal was M&E specialist Lauren Stewart.
It was slapped with a huge bill for the three
and a half miles of heavy duty, high voltage cabling it used
on the new Sky Studios in Elstree Hartfordshire.
Fortunately for them, the developer, legal
in general stepped in to help
and everyone on site shared the pain.
But increasingly, industry experts
and subcontractors trade bodies are forecasting
that the fixed price contract is dead
and electrical contractors are asking their lawyers to
put inflation clauses in their contracts.
This means that the main contractor
and the client will also share the risk
of price hikes, the ECA's legal.
Legal, Rob Driscoll tells us
that the risk sharing isn't done by choice.
He says certain trades like electrical contractors
simply can't hold their prices when inflation is rampant.
Just like in the 1970s or so, I'm told electricians working
on domestic jobs are also getting financially
creative to weather the tough times.
It's been revealed that a fifth
of them now allow customers to pay for work in installments.
Younger sparks are leading the trend
and are performing a bit of a nutmeg
on their competitors as they are more
than twice as likely to accept staggered payments.
As the older generation, a third
of millennials allow installments compared
to just 14% of over 55s.
But Iron Munari direct Boss
Dominic Sanford says tradespeople should take extreme care
about going down this route.
He says there's always the danger
that you could miss out on the full amount due
to awkward customers or administration errors.
But perhaps the most financially savvy idea we've come
across recently is the electrical contractor
who swapped his van for an e-bike.
It's proving a whole lot cheaper and quicker
and his customers love it.
Aaron Fleming Saheed set up Cycling Sparks in 2017
and he now has a whole squadron of e-bikes whizzing
across the capitol.
The electrician came up with the idea while working
on the American Embassy in Vauxhall London.
He was late to site every day because of delays.
So he bought a cargo bike which could handle 15 kilos
of tools and materials, and he's never looked back.
It was so easy.
His first thought was, "why is nobody else doing this?"
He even traveled over a hundred miles
away to Bristol to do a job for a friend.
Now he has multiple electricians working
for him after getting a grant
for more bikes from the energy saving trust
he says his decision was vindicated with the expansion
of the ultra low emission zone that the congestion charge
parking fines and red routes are making Central
London increasingly difficult for the trades.
But Fleming Saheed says
that what really encourages him is the smile
on his customer's faces when he turns up
Also, hoping to put a smile
on people's faces is a sister firm to Virgin Media
which is offering EV charge points to business customers
for free, Liberty Charge installs its charges
alongside Virgin's new and existing infrastructure.
The company plans to make its money back
in a profit sharing deal
with the site owner charging a fee to use the charges.
This payment is split
between the business and the ChargePoint operator.
Virgin isn't the only one making money from charges.
A rising number of homeowners are using apps to rent
out their parking space and their charges.
Some are even making a thousand pounds a month.
The reason, there simply aren't enough public charge
points available, and many drivers think they're expensive.
The average cost of a public charging station is 60p
per kilowatt hour, whereas a private homeowner
will typically charge around 40p.
So in congested cities such as London and Brighton
EV drivers are prepared to pay
up to 40 pounds a day to park and top up their batteries.
In product news this month
Atkore has unveiled a range of PVC coated steel conduit
and accessories in bright colors.
The firm says it's the only color conduit
on the market that's certified by the ETL test house.
It can have practical uses for circuit identification.
The firm suggests red can be used for emergency circuits
and yellow can be used for high voltage, for instance.
But Atkore also has creative and fun applications.
Instead of trying to hide conduit, make a feature
of it by choosing a bold color like orange.
And finally, contractors are being warned
about an unusual electrical hazard prowling the UK, cat wee.
Bridgeport electrician Ricky Stubbs raised the alarm
after a callout to a house last week over a power cut.
The homeowner wasn't kitten around.
These are getting worse, right?
Stubbs arrived to find a blackened
and burned out electrical socket
but some moisture surrounding the scene.
Gave him pause for thought.
He used his apparently formidable power of smell to identify
that the nasty ammonia style stench was an exact match
for feline urine.
Stubbs says it could have been a cat-astrophy
as the wee could easily have caused a fire.
The plug up was completely destroyed and melted,
exposing live parts.
Luckily, the Fuse board did its work
and the power was turned off
which prevented further damage.
Stubb says he has come across a few strange things
in 20 years on the tools, but this was a fur-st
really I'm gonna have to have words with the script writer.
Now, just before we get to your favorite bit
of the show where I reveal last week's challenge
words and winners, we want to thank our premium partners.
We couldn't make the news without you.
First up, for all your circuit protection needs
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It's Lewden Palazzoli, and the best thing to come out
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the home of EV Ultra
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and one of the biggest lighting companies
in the world because their capital is always Dublin.
It's Irish lighting manufacturer, Robus, home
of great quality and innovative lighting products.
Big thanks to you all.
We'd really appreciate your ongoing support for the news.
If you think you know the words that I've smuggled
into this week's show, pop your guess
into the comments and we'll dig out a goodie bag prize
to the first to get the right answers.
Last week's words were kosher and quasimoto
and the first person to get it right was Oriel Zob
who I believe is not a first time winner.
So Joe 2.0 will no doubt be on his toes
in the post room to get your prize sent out.
Make sure you click the link
in the show notes to claim your prize,
coming up across all our social media platforms.
This week we'll be dropping a review
of some really innovative linear light fittings
from BG Lucico to help you switch
up your commercial lighting installations.
And it's a live stream week, and we've got special guests
from MK Honeywell joining us in the studio.
So make sure you're tuned in
from 8:00 PM GMT to catch all the fun
with Gary, Gordon and the gang.
Thanks for listening to this episode
of Electrical News Weekly in association with Scame.
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Thanks for listening, and until next time
have a great week.
Stay safe out there.
And remember, there's no such thing
as a top calibrated arm.