UK Telephone extension and works

[perchanski]

Hi All
Currently just starting up again in the telephone home/office cabling arena. I am currently still employed, ( for at least another year ) but want to get a little portfolio going for my start up. My main works will be locally advertised work, so its going to be extensions for sky, shifts ect.
With regard to BT charging £120 for customer own faults on their cabling, is it true that if i invoice a customer and prove the fault to BT, the can claim this back from them?
looking forward to it all again, have been out of the loop for a few years on basic telephony, does anyone use/have a BT Hawk as part of their tools ?
All advice welcome/ plus if you dont mind what kind of costs does anyone charge/expect to pay for these services
Thanks

 

[tdmneil]

In a word no, if there is a fault on the line before the NTE BT will obviously fix this- that is why there is a test point at the NTE (behind the faceplate). You can invoice your customer for a wiring check by testing at the NTE to prove whether the fault is on their wiring which is what BT expects the customer to do anyway. Also,, I'd say you're possibly wasting your time, there's probably a bit of business in domestic wiring, but really people aren't going to want to pay any more than £60, which is not worth the time and outlay, unless you can do a min of 3 a day. Also, don't know why you'd need a Hawk for extn wiring as unless you are working officialy for Openreach you are not allowed or authorised legally to work from the NTE in to the network, which also includes moving/shifting an NTE. The real money used to be in business telecom wiring, but as all new installs will be in at least CAT5 and most businesses will be upgrading to IP telephony over the next few years- voice wiring is pretty much dead in the water these days. I'd suggest getting into CAT5/6 cabling and fibre cabling, that's where the future and the money is!
Best of luck