Who would have thought that exactly one year to the day after joining the NSI I would be doing a presentation to a room full of installers alongside my old boss from the SSAIB Geoff Tate? It’s funny how life goes.
The whole idea of public presentations is a new field for me and I am beginning to enjoy it. The event was for Fleetwood Police who have been advising the public to have an alarm fitted by a recognised company, only to find that recognised companies in that area are in short supply. So, in an attempt to rectify this shortfall both the NSI and the SSAIB were asked to “present their case” to an invited audience of local installers.
Several interesting points came out of this “meeting” that show a lack of understanding on the part of the average installer as to what the inspectorates are all about, how they work, to what end they are aiming and, ultimately, who they work for. Very sadly, the one question never raised was “What benefit is there in it for me?” No one asked, “How can I use recognition to improve my standards, get a better reputation, sell more systems, make more money?”Surely those are the first questions you should be asking?
Think of your profits first
You may think it sounds a bit like a con-man to ask about profits and ‘What’s in it for me?’ first. (Many small installers are convinced that their first loyalty is to the customer.) But one of the main requirements of this industry is that a company should be able to service its systems and to look after its paying customers and you cannot look after your customers if you do not make enough profit. So, in the best interest of your customer, make sure you make a reasonable profit.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) and ACPO both think along these lines because it is written into the new UKAS sector scheme that a company should be “viable” and the inspectorates must try to ensure this. This was brought up when one installer asked me very pointedly: “Why do NACOSS want to know how much I have in the bank – the whole idea stinks”. The answer here is that NACOSS is totally uninterested in how much you have in the bank. They want to see your accounts to prove that your company is viable.
I can sympathise with him. From his angle it must appear intrusive and totally unnecessary, but let’s look at the situation. As an installer you may have GB pound 20,000 in the bank, the bank manager thinks you are wonderful. You can go out and buy your wife a new little runabout, have a two week holiday in Las Vegas and still have enough left to line the wallet of your local bookie. However, you may owe the suppliers GB pound 40,000 so your company is dead in the water, you are just not viable. if your company was a limited company then you would be trading illegally, you are stuffed, broke and living on borrowed time, yet your bank statement shows you to be a rich man.
Now let’s look at it from the other side. You are GB pound 20,000 overdrawn, you have just paid off your suppliers so your bank statements look a complete disaster and your bank manager is threatening to bounce your cheques and is reluctant to even talk to you let alone lend you some more. Yet you have just completed a job for the local council to fit CCTV cameras throughout the town and put in a bill for GB pound 40,000 which will be paid at the end of the month. The local council cannot go bust, your cash is safe, and it is just taking time to worm its way through the council payments mill. Your company looks to be in dire straits yet in reality you are rolling towards making a nice fat profit.
From the inspectorate point of view there is only one way to confirm that your company is a viable going concern and that is to get a trained accountant to have a look at your accounts … and it has to be two consecutive years because that is the minimum time span that will prove continuity.
Bank references can also be misleading: If you have cash in the bank then the bank manager will probably keep out of your hair because he probably has no idea how much you owe. It’s only when you start going overdrawn or wanting loans and handouts that the bank manager starts to ask questions – and what does he ask for? Your last two years accounts. Need I say more?
The subject of Codes of Practice also cropped up. There has been a theory for some years now that we have a British Standard (BS4737) that tells us all we need to know about installation. On the face of it this is true. However, it tells us little or nothing about company management and the Insurance companies (and now the police) are keen to establish that your company is run along good management lines – which is why the NACOSS Codes of Practice were introduced all those years ago, and why the industry has now been drawn into the ISO 9000 quality management scheme, But there is still a lot of misunderstanding about this and I, myself, have been a victim of this for many years.
You must be financially viable
The current situation is relatively simple: UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) inspects all other inspection bodies in all industries. Its job is to make sure we (the inspectorates) inspect you fully and correctly. UKAS, in turn answers to the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry). UKAS works to a different set of standards to the people who do the actual work on the shop floor.
For our industry BS EN 45011 is called up for product certification and BS EN 45012 for Quality Management certification. These are what are known as “broad spectrum” standards, designed to be used by any and all industries and they lay down the basic essentials. Therefore, to make them suitable for a specific industry we have to get a committee of experts to fine-tune them.
The fine-tuning has been done by the ABI and ACPO, they have written a Sector Scheme which lays down the extra requirements that the installers have to work to and the inspectorates have to inspect to.
If you look in the sector scheme document you will find that as well as working to all the familiar British Standards and Codes of Practice they have made vetting to BS 7858 mandatory. You have to “have financial stability to trade, at present and in the future”. Efficacy insurance now comes in as an ACPO, and not just inspectorate, requirement. “Documented procedures” is another new requirement, as are suitable premises. So the computer on the dining room table has to find a new home. There are many more requirements, but it is true to say that the object is to find good companies and heave out the poor. As I explained to the installers, there is money to be made and credibility to be had by complying and being inspected. And speaking of money, one lad asked “Why do I have to pay your fees?” I got the impression he was comparing the inspectorates with the NIC-EIC (National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting) who, apparently, work out a bit cheaper.
The answer to his question is “No, you don’t”. No one is forcing you to join an inspectorate and pay their “hefty” fees. No one is forcing you to open the door to police response. No one is forcing you to open the door to lucrative insurance work , and no one is forcing you to gain credibility in the eyes of the public. You have a perfect right to carry on scratching about at the bottom of the credibility heap installing cheap systems for the rest of your career, and God bless you for it. Our fathers and grandfathers fought the last war so that you could have a perfect right to make a complete ball of cotton of your life. (Cue violins and orchestra, put on the dog collar, climb the pulpit and and prepare to preach the rights and wrongs of humanity.)
The answer here is to look at a like-for-like situation, the NIC-EIC do a very good job. They (and the ECA) have helped to raise the standard of electrical installations enormously for many years now. But, do they look at the viability of a company, do they look at the vetting of staff, do they keep track of false alarm management and do they check your management capability as required by the ABI/ACPO Sector Scheme? The answer has got to be No … because when you fit an alarm and say, “It has been fitted by a NIC-EIC registered company” the police will still not issue a URN and the insurers will still ask for NACOSS.
The NIC-EIC is looking from a totally different angle to the security inspectorates. If we work on the theory that the NIC-EIC is cheaper because they have a much simpler scope and that NACOSS is dearer because they have to cover a much wider area, we then have to draw the conclusion that you get what you pay for and both are equal in value for money.
Alarm inspectorates have to look at a whole raft of things that the NIC-EIC don’t need to so perhaps a comparison between the two is unfair. If you want to join them, you have my blessing, your systems will be electrically safe and well installed … just don’t bother asking for a URN.
Beware of the cheap option
Let’s look from another angle, the industry recognised price for alarming a 3 bedroom semi is around the GB pound 350- GB pound 450 mark, yet there are lads out there that are charging only GB pound 199. Anyone who has been in the alarm business for more than five minutes will tell you that you need to be pulling in something like GB pound 200 per day to cover your overheads and wages and make a reasonable profit … so how come the GB pound 199 price tag? Easy – cut corners or your wage. At this point I could climb into my pulpit and start preaching the “fair prices for all” gospel, instead I ask the question “Can you, the very same guys who complain about the cheapo cowboys, seriously expect the inspectorates that give you your credibility to cut corners and do it on the cheap?”
Beware of anything that is cheap or too easy. John Ruskin once said “There is hardly anything in the world today that some man can’t make just a little worse and sell just a bit cheaper. The people who buy on price alone are this man’s lawful prey.” Ruskin lived from 1819 – 1900 … Some things haven’t changed much have they?
If you are wondering about the religious references creeping in it is because I am now “the Reverend Mike Lynskey”. Let me explain …
You may remember that last year pop singer George Michael got himself ordained at one of those religious groups in America and performed a wedding service for some friends. It was a One Day Wonder in the tabloids. It also attracted the attention of Jimmy Torrence, of The Alarm Engineer, Manchester. Jimmy has a good grasp of the ironic so he searched the web until he found the group and discovered that you can get yourself “reverended” over the web … so he did! He did the same for me, and I have a certificate to prove it. But hang on a bit … does being a “rev” mean I have to give up strong drink and foul language, and does it mean that I have to forego my appreciation of the female form and that vile rock and roll music? Jimmy … we need to talk!
