Poorly designed or executed electrical work can be expensive even when it is not specifically dangerous. Your installation may not be fit for purpose and may soon require upgrading, replacement or troublesome re-routing. While a company’s public liability insurance offers some protection from poor workmanship, it won’t compensate you when your installation is misguided in principle.

Two things can help you decide if you’re dealing with the right professionals; their experience and their accreditation.

Experience

The length of time over which a firm has been in business is not the whole story. A better indicator of experience is the breadth of work they undertake. A company with a successful track record of working on a wide range of different electrical contracts will certainly have broader experience to draw on than one that has been working in a niche.

Because so many modern operations and facilities draw upon the same electricity supplies, there are many circumstances in which one can have consequences for the others. There are also many opportunities to benefit from centralising electrical control, to make overall energy savings, for example. In either of these circumstances, being competent in all those interlinked electrical operations can be an enormous advantage.

Look for a company experienced in designing and executing data and telephony projects, shop fitting, industrial machinery and automation, HVAC installation, security alarms and fire safety equipment, CCTV, solar panels and generators.

Accreditation

There are several professional bodies for the electrical contracting industry but the best established is the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting (NICEIC), whose roots go back to 1923.

Membership of NICEIC guarantees that all work will comply with the best industry standards (such as BS 7671 and IET wiring regulations). Local authorities do not deal with contractors lacking accreditation, nor should you.

Remember that your greatest concern is getting your design fundamentally wrong. Whenever possible, call in your contractor at the design stage and capitalise on their experience to help you plan the whole project.