An electrical survey can come in handy in a number of situations. You might need an electrician to carry out an electrical survey as an expert witness, or to check whether you need any work done in your home.

But what kinds of situations might make you ask whether you need an electrical survey? We try to explain here.

If you’re not sure whether you need work done

Sometimes it’s difficult to tell whether you need electrical work done. You can’t see electricity, so it makes it difficult to know if there’s a problem.

Common signs that you might need electrical work done include:

• Fuses tripping regularly
• Buzzing coming from your consumer unit (fuse box)
• Flickering lights
• Arcing (sparking) when you plug in appliances

If you notice any of these signs, you might want to have an electrical survey done before you commit to having any work done.

An electrician will conduct a survey by checking to see whether there are any problems that need fixing. They can advise you on what you should get fixed and if you choose them to do the work they may not charge you for the survey.

An electrician can do an electrical survey after you’ve had work done

If you’re not completely satisfied with some work that an electrician did for you, you can ask another electrician to do a survey for you. They might call this an expert witness report.

If you’re considering taking legal action against an electrician, another electrician can check the work they did. They will prepare a report that states whether or not the work is satisfactory.

An expert witness survey is useful to provide evidence, but also to give you peace of mind. The electrician will tell you if the work is not safe so you can get it repaired. You could ask them to repair it for you, or get quotes from other electricians to get the work done.

As long as your electrician has a guarantee for their work, you should get the work rectified for free.