Always get a fixed price if possible! Granted some jobs will throw up the unexpected after you have started, but the experienced tradesman should know this and account for it. If he does not even know his hourly rate - make sure he stays well away.
Find someone else. The best tradesmen rarely need to advertise and word-of-mouth is the best recommendation, so ask around.

Cheers

I think this guy came recommended by someone or other.

Ah well.

Thanks for the advice. :)

My brother (who is a licensed electrician in this country) says he's be more than happy to come over and fix everything for FREE. You just need to pay his airfare and buy the parts.

Now, seriously. PLEASE get someone to do the work for you. If the insulation on the wires melted, you've got some hot spots - fires, just waiting to happen. Yes, the overhead lights don't matter, but the fact that you've got sockets that don't work matters a great deal.

Edited at 2009-10-09 01:26 pm (UTC)

If only your brother were already over here ..... :)

I think the wiring is OK. People have looked at it and told us so. It's just the lighting on the ground floor. Several people have investigated it now- and none of them has a clue what the problem is.

What halfmoon_mollie said. You've got fires waiting to happen. My dad also had electrician certification (although he ended up working in the sheet metal trade as back then that was union and paid more and he was also a certified sheet metal mechanic). He used to say that overhead lights were a waste of time and energy except in shops and offices but that non-working sockets were hazardous indeed.

The sockets are fine. It's just the lights- and no-one can tell us what the problem is. It's enough to make me want to go study to be an electrician myself.

There is that kid in Africa who taught him self physics and electricity so he could build his own windmill...

(But I'd never attempt it.)

I did physics up to "O" level, then gave it up, rejoicing. i could kick myself now for not having learned more.

We've now got all the sockets working fine. The lights don't even blow when they're turned on usually. They wait until they've all been turned off and we're in bed and then you hear the bang.

Worried about you two....I wish SOMEONE could diagnose and fix it.

Thanks- but we're fine. Life goes on with or without ceiling lights.

My kitchen ceiling light has stopped functioning. I'm tired of it and its moods. So, I got battery operated "moon" lights:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=120781

:)

I've had the same reaction as you.

Exactly.

I remembered yeterday that we had a tall standard lamp in the attic, so I fetched it down and dusted it off.