Mass regulation equals more employment

[flanajb]

I was thinking to myself how so many things these days are regulated. eg

Fit a wood burner == HETAS
Fit a window == FENSA
Fit a gas boiler == Gas Safe
Electrical work == ?

But then I realised that by having all of this regulation keeps people in jobs ?

 

[tsb]

And stops the diy'er from doing anything on their own house

 

[flanajb]

And stops the diy'er from doing anything on their own house

Exactly. You earn your wage and then have to spend more of it paying so called qualified people to do the jobs that you could do yourself. As a result you are paying for others to earn a living.

 

[Digit]

Yep! More chiefs than Indians.

Roy.

 

[tsb]

Yep, got to agree with Roy.
Dame, I've brought the subject back to the Public sector!

 

[TrimTheKing]

...paying so called qualified people to do the jobs that you could do yourself.

And saves insurance firms pots of cash spent repairing the houses of the clowns who 'don't' know what they're doing, thus costing us all more in premiums.

Just playing a bit of Devils Advocate, and can see both sides in many cases.

Cheers
Mark

 

[Digit]

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... -w&cad=rja

What makes me smile about this list is attempting to understand what exactly some of these jobs are!

eg.
“will have overall responsibility for the integrity and coherence of the change projects allocated within the Customer Access Programme.”

Integrity, = honesty. Good, I like that.
Coherence, = sticking together.
Change projects, = painting the town hall a different colour perhaps.
Customer Access Programme, = Door keeper?
Do these people speak like this at home I wonder?

Roy.

 

[Digit]

Long live DIY SOS Mark!

Roy.

 

[Jacob]

It's been this way for thousands of years. There has always been "unemployment" i.e. too many people for the work needed. They have to be mopped up - war is one way, religion is another (all those priests and nuns :roll: ), bureaucracy is the modern way. It's just a fact of life, 90% of the work people do is totally pointless.

 

[Digit]

too many people for the work needed.

Not according to the 'Intelligent' EU, they say that Europe requires more immigrants. Don't tell me that there's something that you and our overlord disagree on Jacob.
The end is nigh!

Roy.

 

[Mark A]

I was thinking to myself how so many things these days are regulated. eg

Fit a wood burner == HETAS
Fit a window == FENSA
Fit a gas boiler == Gas Safe
Electrical work == ?

But then I realised that by having all of this regulation keeps people in jobs ?

You can do it yourself, but you have to get building regs involved, which can be as costly as paying a qualified person to do it (one example is our wood burner - building regs wanted £300 to inspect the work if we did it ourselves, plus the £70 for a scaffold tower because it would be me going 28ft up a ladder and I don't really like doing it, though I have a few times)

The plumber who installed our heating system when we renovated our house was an absolute to55er, yet was fully "qualified" - meaning he paid for the course and signed the paperwork. In total he caused around £400 of water damage with 7 leaks, damaged radiators and would have jeopardised the integrity of the house by notching the underside of the floor joists if we hadn't have queried it. Unfortunately money was tight, as you can expect with a complete renovation, and he was the best quote we had so took a chance but then were stung.

Mark

 

[DIY Stew]

...paying so called qualified people to do the jobs that you could do yourself.

And saves insurance firms pots of cash spent repairing the houses of the clowns who 'don't' know what they're doing, thus costing us all more in premiums.

Just playing a bit of Devils Advocate, and can see both sides in many cases.

Cheers
Mark

I used to work with a chap who was a very confident DIY'er, he laid underfloor heating in his conservatory and had an electrician friend wire it up after he laid floor tiles on top, he cant use heating because it keeps tripping out!

He now with a couple of other work colleagues buys properties to do up and rent out, to save money HE wants to fit and service gas boilers in their properties, after all you can smell a gas leak and locate it Fairy Liquid (his words, not mine).

Stew

 

[RogerS]

I think it keeps the regulatory bodies, like Fensa, in work. There has always been sparkies and plumbers. Many of the regs (and I'm thinking about Part P in particular) have been brought into effect by lobbyists and vested interests...viz Fensa and the daft WER scheme for windows.

 

[flanajb]

It's been this way for thousands of years. There has always been "unemployment" i.e. too many people for the work needed. They have to be mopped up - war is one way, religion is another (all those priests and nuns :roll: ), bureaucracy is the modern way. It's just a fact of life, 90% of the work people do is totally pointless.

You have hit the nail on the head. When I was born in 1972 there were 3.5 billion people on the plant. 39 years later and that figure has doubled to 7 billion

We were discussing this at work the other day and came to the conclusion that the planet is doomed. Chris Packham stated this a few months ago on TV, but I got the impression that the presenters thought his views were too extreme. The conversation needs having, but no one wants to have it.

 

[RogerS]

I've been saying tht for ages....too many people on this planet and especially too many people in this tiny island called the UK.

 

[wobblycogs]

Couldn't agree more. We desperately need to reduce the total population or at least stop it growing any larger than it already is. The reality though is that we will certainly top 10 billion and probably quite a lot more than that. I see the world a bit like your car. You wouldn't drive it around red lined all the time because it would break down, likewise we shouldn't be living at the very limit of the resources the Earth can provide for us.

When I moved into our current house I went on a box ticking course to get Part P registered so I can now sign off my own domestic electrical work without inspection. The course itself was surprisingly detailed and really hammered home what you needed to know. The written "test" at the end was a complete joke though. It comprised 20 (IIRC) multi-choice questions that someone with half a brain could guess - amazingly someone failed. After the test I looked around at the other people on the course and I would probably only have trusted half the people there not to burn my house down.

One of the guys that passed was so bad he tripped the main circuit breaker for the lab by wiring live to earth on the morning of the test - he was only wiring up a light and switch! This guy could register with a professional body and start work on your house the next day.

 

[Dibs-h]

When I moved into our current house I went on a box ticking course to get Part P registered so I can now sign off my own domestic electrical work without inspection. The course itself was surprisingly detailed and really hammered home what you needed to know.

Out of curiosity how long was it & what did it cost?

Cheers

Dibs

 

[wobblycogs]

It was 10 days with each day being a minimum of 8 hours combining teaching and practical. I forget exactly what the cost was, £850 rings a bell, but they are currently doing the course for £1100.

The course covered all the standard domestic circuits placing emphasis on testing. They also went to great lengths to hammer home what the licence doesn't permit you to do - the most common things being three-phase work and test+inspection of others work.

I don't know if we necessarily saved that much money over getting a sparky in as I had to buy a meter as well which costs a bit. What it has meant though is that I've been able to do a room at a time as we've done the house up which has been a real god send.

 

[tomatwark]

You do not need FENSA to have a window fitted.

This was a advertising ploy by FENSA which a lot of people fell for.

Providing your windows meet the regulations regarding heat loss and fire escape you do not have a problem.

A certain company who does BOGOF's on windows fitted some for my father in law. they DO NOT meet any fire regulation going.

I am not saying all FENSA installers are con artists but if you get one who says it is the law tell them to PINEAPPLE OFF.

Tom

 

[Mark A]

You do not need FENSA to have a window fitted.

This was a advertising ploy by FENSA which a lot of people fell for.

Providing your windows meet the regulations regarding heat loss and fire escape you do not have a problem.

A certain company who does BOGOF's on windows fitted some for my father in law. they DO NOT meet any fire regulation going.

I am not saying all FENSA installers are con artists but if you get one who says it is the law tell them to PINEAPPLE OFF.

Tom

I thought that building regs had to be notified if a window was fitted by a non-FENSA installer?