This is the document for work that has just been done, and it is the one most often missing when a house is sold. The person who carried out the work certifies the design, the construction and the inspection and testing of THAT work, attaches a schedule of the circuits and a schedule of test results, and hands it over. It says nothing about the rest of the installation, which is what a condition report is for, and it is not a receipt: an invoice is not a certificate, however itemised.
What is on it, and the two schedules that matter
The front page records the client, the installation, the extent of the work, the standard it was designed and tested to, any departures, and the signatures for design, construction and inspection and testing, which may be one person or three. Behind it sit the schedule of inspections and the schedule of test results, with a line for every circuit and a column for every measurement. A certificate with no schedules evidences nothing, and that is the commonest defect: a signed front page handed over on the day with the tests promised to follow and never sent.
Where notification comes in, and what the householder should receive
In England and Wales certain domestic work is notifiable under the building regulations, and an installer registered with a competent person scheme self certifies it, which produces a building regulations compliance certificate from the scheme in addition to the installation certificate. Those are two different documents and a buyer's solicitor usually asks for both. Where the installer is not registered, the work has to be notified to building control before it starts and inspected, which costs more and takes longer, so the question to ask before the work is which route is being used.
An electrical installation certificate cost is part of the job, not an extra
The certificate is the evidence that the work was designed, built and tested properly, so its cost is the testing time and the paperwork inside the price of the work. Where a separate charge appears it is usually one of three things: a minor works certificate for a small addition quoted on its own, testing an installation somebody else wired, which is a real and larger job because nothing can be assumed, or reissuing a lost certificate, which an installer can do from their own records and may charge for. Anybody offering a certificate without doing the testing is selling paper.
What to do when the certificate is missing
You cannot have one issued retrospectively by somebody who did not do the work, and this is where most people get stuck. What can be done is a condition report on the installation as it now stands, which gives an assessment and a schedule of results, and where the work was notifiable and never notified, a regularisation application to building control. On a sale the practical answer is usually the condition report plus a note of what is known, because it evidences the present condition, which is what a buyer's surveyor actually asked about.
Questions people ask about new electrical installation certificate
How much does an electrical certificate cost on its own?
It depends which document, and the honest ranking is by how much testing it needs. A minor works certificate for one added circuit is the smallest. An installation certificate for new work sits inside the price of that work. A condition report on an existing installation is priced on the circuit count and is the one people are usually quoting when they give a standalone figure. Ask what the price includes: the number of circuits assumed, whether the schedules are provided, and whether remedial work and a re inspection are inside the number or outside it.
How much is an electrical safety certificate UK wide for a rented house?
It is a condition report rather than an installation certificate, and it is priced on the installation rather than the tenancy: the number of circuits, whether the board is accessible, whether there is an outbuilding or an extension, and the travel. The two things that move the total afterwards are remedial work, which is quoted separately and is where an unsatisfactory report becomes expensive, and a second visit to confirm the remedial work in writing, which the regulations require and some quotes leave out.
Is an installation certificate the same as a satisfactory condition report?
No, and a letting agent asking for one will not accept the other. An installation certificate certifies work that was just carried out and covers only that work. A condition report assesses an existing installation as a whole and says satisfactory or unsatisfactory with coded observations. New wiring in a flat produces the first; the five yearly duty in a rented home is discharged by the second. A property with a recent installation certificate for a kitchen and no condition report has evidence about the kitchen and nothing about the house.
What is a fair electrical certificate price, and for which document?
Ask which of the four the price is for, because they are different amounts of work. A minor works certificate on a small addition is the least. An installation certificate for new work is inside the price of that work. A condition report is priced on the circuit count and is the standalone figure most people are quoting. And an appliance register is priced per item with a minimum visit. The follow up question matters more than the number: does it include the schedules, any remedial work, and the written confirmation that the remedial work is done.
How much is an electrical certificate, in one line per document?
A minor works certificate for a single addition is the smallest and is usually part of the job. An installation certificate for new work sits inside the price of that work and should never be a separate line. A condition report on an existing installation is the standalone purchase and is priced on circuits rather than rooms. An appliance register is priced per item with a minimum visit. If a quote says certificate with no document named, ask which, because the same word covers a job of twenty minutes and a job of half a day.
Is an electrical completion certificate a real document?
It is a phrase rather than a form, and it usually means one of two real documents. On notifiable domestic work the installer's competent person scheme issues a building regulations compliance certificate after the work is registered, which is what a solicitor means by completion. On the electrical side the real document is the installation certificate with its schedules. Where a builder promises a completion certificate at the end of a job, ask which of the two they mean and who issues it, because the scheme certificate comes from the scheme rather than from the builder and takes days rather than minutes.