Toit ElectricalElectrician · Vaal Triangle
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Certificate of Compliance single-phase homes · Vaal Triangle, Sasolburg and beyond · R3 000

Electrical Certificate of Compliance, Vanderbijlpark and the Vaal.

A Certificate of Compliance says your wiring is safe. By law only a registered person may issue one, and only after he has inspected and tested the house himself. Your certificate is inspected, tested and signed by a registered person, with the test report attached, and I do any electrical work the house needs to pass. Every circuit gets inspected and tested, and you get the certificate and the test report. R3 000 for the first DB board.

Book a CoC inspection Send your suburb and how many DB boards the property has. You'll get a written price back.
Call Danie — 072 839 6259He answers this phone himself.
R3 000 for the first DB board Certificate + test report with real readings Repairs quoted separately, never sneaked in
Start here what the paper actually says

What a CoC is.
And what it isn't.

A Certificate of Compliance is a signed statement that the fixed wiring in your house met the national wiring standard on the day it was inspected and tested.

It covers your side of the meter. The board, the wiring in the walls and the roof, the plugs, the lights, the geyser, the stove, the earthing. It does not cover the municipality's cable or your meter. Those belong to the supplier.

It is not a guarantee. It is not a warranty on your appliances. It does not promise that nothing will ever trip again. It says the installation was safe and compliant on that date, tested by a person who is registered to say so.

The law also says the certificate must come with a test report showing the readings. A certificate on its own is half a job.

Nobody may certify a house he hasn't tested. Nobody. That is the whole point of the document.
South African electrical law
Who may sign it and who may not

Only a registered person may issue it.

The regulation is short about this. No person other than a registered person may issue a certificate of compliance. And he may only issue it for work he inspected, tested and had general control over.

That is why your certificate is inspected, tested and signed by a registered person, with the test report attached, and I do the electrical work the house needs to pass. Nobody signs a certificate for a house he has not been inside.

A red seal trade certificate is a different thing again. It says I am a qualified artisan, which I am, and it is what 30 years of this trade is written on. It is not the same paper as the registration that lets a man certify your house, and I keep the two claims apart, because they are two different documents.

1

man doing the testing — the one who signs

30

years in the trade behind the repairs

Three-phase or commercial property? Not a problem. Just tell me what the property is and I'll sort it out.
Check us. Phone the Department of Employment and Labour on 051 505 6371 and ask them to confirm registration number. Then do the same with everyone else you are considering.
The inspection a proper inspection of every circuit

What actually happens
in your house.

Nothing here is a secret. If you want to walk with us and watch, you are welcome. Most people do for the first ten minutes and then go and make coffee.

  1. The DB board comes open first.

    Burn marks, loose wires, rust, wrong-size breakers, mystery switches, missing labels, hand-made joins. Half of what a house fails on is visible in the first five minutes.

  2. Every circuit gets walked.

    Every plug, every switch, every light, the geyser, the stove, the outside plugs, the pool and borehole if there are any, and the roof space. What is earthed and what is bonded gets checked.

  3. The tests are run with an instrument.

    Earth continuity — is the earth really connected all the way to that plug? Insulation resistance — is the wiring leaking? Earth-leakage trip test — does the unit trip at 30 mA, and how fast? Polarity — is live actually on live? Bonding — are the metal water pipes and the geyser tied to earth properly?

    Every reading gets written down. They go on your test report.
  4. You get the paperwork, or you get the list.

    If it passes, the certificate and the test report are emailed to you. If it fails, you get an itemised repair quote and you decide. Nothing gets fixed without your go-ahead in writing.

Fifteen minutes is not an inspection. If someone arrives, glances at the board and hands you a certificate, you have bought a piece of paper — and the legal risk that comes with it.
The deliverable what lands in your inbox

Two documents.
Both of them yours.

Your conveyancer wants the certificate. Your bank wants the certificate. Your insurer, one day, may want the test report as well. You get both as a PDF, and I keep a copy.

A genuine certificate carries the registered person's name, his registration number, his signature, a unique certificate number, a description of the installation that was inspected, the date, and the standard it was checked against. If any of that is missing from a certificate someone hands you, ask why.

I email it to you, and to your agent and conveyancer if you give me their addresses. One less thing on your list.

Get my CoC priceNo callout fee to quote.
Certificate of Compliance — what you receivethe national wiring standard
Physical inspection of every circuitIncluded
Earth continuity testIncluded
Insulation resistance testIncluded
Earth-leakage trip test at 30 mAIncluded
Polarity check on socket outletsIncluded
Earthing and bonding checkIncluded
Test report with the actual readingsAttached
Registered person's name, number and signatureAlways
Emailed to you, agent and conveyancerIncluded
Repairs needed to passQuoted separately
Price, first DB board (additional boards quoted)R3 000
Three-phase and commercial suppliesDone too
A certificate without an inspectionNever
Prices published, so you can compare

What a CoC costs.

One price, published, so you can hold it against anyone else's. It covers the inspection, the tests, the test report and the certificate for a standard single-phase home. Repairs are never hidden inside it.

Single-phase home · Vaal Triangle, Sasolburg and beyond

Certificate of Compliance

A proper inspection of every circuit, the instrument tests, the test report with the real readings, and the certificate itself. The price is the same whether the house has two bedrooms or five, because what takes the time is the board and the circuits, not the beds. If the property has more than one DB board, the additional boards are quoted before we start.

R3 000for the first DB board · additional boards quoted One price
If something must be fixed

Remedial work

Quoted separately, itemised, before I touch anything. You see the price per item and you choose. The usual ones are an earth leakage unit, a circuit breaker, a broken plug point, and sometimes a full board replacement with the certificate included. Each is priced for your house once I have seen it, and written down before any work starts.

You decidewritten quote first · no work without your go-ahead
Estate agents & sellers

Selling your house?

The electrical CoC the conveyancer needs, done properly, with the test report. If the property has an electric fence, that certificate is separate, and it gets sorted out too.

CoC R3 000for the first DB board For sellers & agents
What moves the price up. More than one DB board. A second dwelling on the stand. A three-phase supply. Or a house where the wiring has been extended by hand over forty years, so the repairs list is long. You are told before we start, not after.
The warning read this before you buy the cheap one

The R500 CoC will cost you the house sale.

Certificates are sold online for R500 with nobody setting foot in the house. It is a real product on real websites. It is also the fastest way to lose money on your sale.

The Department of Employment and Labour has warned the public about fake electrical contractors, including one caught with a fraudulent registration certificate who did bad work and issued a false certificate. The Electrical Contractors' Association records the same fraud from the other side: people using a real electrician's registration details to certify houses he never saw.

Here is what it costs you. The buyer's electrician finds the faults. The sale stalls at the conveyancer. You pay for the repairs anyway, at short notice, at somebody else's price. And you are the one who held a certificate that was not worth the ink.

Check anyone you hire — including us. Phone the Department of Employment and Labour on 051 505 6371 and ask them to confirm registration number. It takes one phone call. Any honest electrician hands you the number before you ask.
How to spot a fake certificateRed flags
Nobody came to the houseFake
Price far below every other quoteRed flag
No test report attachedRed flag
No registration number on the certificateRed flag
No unique certificate numberRed flag
The number cannot be confirmed by the DoELWalk away
"Signed off" by someone who did not do the workAn offence
Inspection finished in 15 minutesNot an inspection
Wat ek gewoonlik kry the usual findings in Vaal houses

What I normally find.

Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging are full of solid Iscor-era houses with fifty years of small changes in them. Most of what fails a CoC is on this list, and most of it is not expensive.

Most common

Earth leakage that won't trip

The unit is there, but it has aged and no longer trips at 30 mA. It only shows up on a proper trip test. A new unit is quoted before it goes in.

Very common

No earth on the plug circuits

Older houses with the earth broken somewhere in the chain, or an added plug wired without one. Found by an earth continuity test, not by looking.

Common

Missing bonding

Metal water pipes and the geyser not bonded to earth. Cheap to fix, and it is the thing that makes a fault dangerous instead of annoying.

Common

Old rubber or lead-covered cable

Wiring from the fifties and sixties in the roof, gone brittle. Insulation resistance shows it up. Sometimes it is one section, sometimes the whole roof.

Common

An unlabelled, overfull board

Nobody knows what any switch does. Wrong-size breakers, hand-made joins, no space left. A board replacement is quoted, with the certificate included.

Common

A geyser with no isolator

Or wired straight through, or with a thermostat bypassed to stop it tripping. That is a fire waiting for a cold night.

Regular

Weekend extensions

A plug run out to the lapa, the pool pump or the garage in flex, buried in the ground or stapled along a wall. Good idea, wrong cable, not compliant.

Regular

Broken plugs and switches

Cracked covers, loose sockets, a switch that gets warm. Small money, and quick to do while I am there.

The two-year rule stated correctly, for once

Your CoC does not expire.

This is the most repeated wrong fact in South African property. Agents say it, websites say it, and it is not what the regulation says.

the law says a property may not change ownership on a certificate older than two years. That is a rule about transfer, not an expiry date. If you are not selling, your certificate does not go stale on its second birthday.

There is a second half that people forget. Any electrical work done since the certificate was issued needs its own certificate. So a certificate that is one year old, on a house that got a new DB board six months ago, is not enough on its own.

In practice, if you are selling: certificate older than two years, or work done since — book a new one. If neither applies, you may already be sorted. Send me a photo of the certificate and I will tell you straight, for nothing.

"The user or lessor may not allow a change of ownership if the certificate of compliance is older than two years."
South African electrical law

The electric fence certificate works differently again. It does not expire either, and it transfers with the property — but it also may not be older than two years at the change of ownership. Two separate certificates, two sets of regulations, two different inspections.

How electric fence certificates work →

Insurance why the test report matters later

Your insurer will ask for this one day.

Insurers commonly ask for a valid Certificate of Compliance when they assess electrical or fire damage. The country's biggest insurer asks for a certificate from a Department of Employment and Labour registered electrician, confirming it meets the national wiring standard.

Insurers also say plainly that they do not cover faulty equipment, defective design or a non-compliant installation. That is where an uninspected R500 certificate stops being a saving and starts being a problem.

I will not tell you that a certificate gets your claim paid. No honest electrician can promise that, and anyone who does is guessing with your money. What I do is make sure the paperwork you hold is the paperwork they ask for, with real readings behind it.

Careful with this one. A CoC covers the installation as it was on the inspection date. It is not cover, and it is not a promise about the future. Keep it with your policy documents, and get a new one when you have work done.
Appliances damaged after an outage? The certificate is one thing. Surge protection at the board is another, and most Vaal homes still have none. I fit it myself, and I can usually price it from a photo of your open board.
For estate agents & conveyancers one number to phone

Agents: I don't hold up your transfer.

You have a diary full of registrations and four trades to chase for every one of them. I can only fix a quarter of that problem. I fix that quarter properly.

  1. You always know where it stands.

    I tell you when I can get to the property, and I tell you the day the inspection is done. The certificate and test report go to you, the seller and the conveyancer.

  2. One number for the electrical side.

    Send me the address and the seller's number and I deal with the seller directly. You are not the middleman for every question about a plug point.

  3. More than one property a month?

    Tell me your volume and you get a written rate for your listings, and one monthly invoice instead of ten.

  4. Straight answers on failures.

    If a house fails, you get the itemised list, not a vague phone call. You can have the seller's conversation early, instead of two days before registration.

I'd rather give your seller bad news on day one than give your conveyancer bad news on day thirty. No transfer breaks on my paperwork.
Danie du Toit · Vanderbijlpark
WhatsApp me a listing Address, how many DB boards, and when the seller is available. That is all I need.
Next the two things sellers ask about after the CoC
Sellers & estate agents

Selling your house?

What a sale actually needs: the electrical CoC with its test report, emailed to your conveyancer. An electric fence, if there is one, is a separate certificate and that gets sorted out too.

CoC R3 000for the first DB board For sellers & agents Install · repair · certificate

Electric fencing

Your fence needs its own certificate, and only a registered Electric Fence System Installer may issue it. I install and repair to the electric-fence standard, and if you need the certificate, that gets sorted out too.

Electric fencing
Straight answers the eight questions I get every week

Before you phone.

Does a Certificate of Compliance expire after two years?
No. That is a myth. A CoC does not expire. What regulation 7(5) says is that a property may not change ownership on a certificate older than two years. It is a rule about transfer. On top of that, any electrical work done since the certificate was issued needs its own certificate. So: selling, and the paper is older than two years or you have had work done — you need a new one.
Who signs my CoC?
A registered person inspects, tests and signs the certificate, and I do any electrical repairs needed to pass. Their name and registration number are printed on it, so you can check them with the Department yourself. Three-phase and commercial properties are done too. Just tell me what the property is.
What does an electrical CoC cost?
R3 000 for the first DB board. If the property has more than one board, the extra boards are quoted before we start. That price covers the inspection, the tests, the test report and the certificate. Repairs needed to pass are quoted separately, item by item, before anything is touched. It is for standard single-phase homes and excludes materials for repairs.
How long does the inspection take?
As long as a proper inspection of every circuit takes. A townhouse with one board is quicker than a big stand with outbuildings, a cottage, a pool and a borehole. Somebody needs to be home to open every room and the roof space. If a man is finished in fifteen minutes, he has not tested your house — he has looked at your board.
What happens if my house fails?
You get a written, itemised list of what must be fixed, with a price beside each item. Then you choose: I fix it, or somebody else does, or you do the small ones yourself and it gets retested. No certificate can be issued until the faults are repaired and retested — that is the whole meaning of the document. There is no version of this where it gets signed anyway.
Who pays for the CoC — buyer or seller?
The seller is responsible for the compliance certificates, and the cost usually comes out of the sale proceeds. The bank financing your buyer's bond normally wants the electrical certificate before the loan is granted, and the conveyancer wants the full set before registration. Get it done early. A failed inspection two days before registration is an expensive week.
Is the electric fence certificate part of the CoC?
No. The electric fence certificate is a separate certificate with its own inspection, and by law only a registered Electric Fence System Installer may issue it. I install and repair fencing to the electric-fence standard, and if you need the certificate, that gets sorted out too. The mains supply feeding your energiser is electrical work and falls under the electrical certificate. The fence certificate doesn't expire, but a property can't transfer on one older than two years.
When do I get the certificate?
Once the inspection is passed, as a PDF, emailed to you and to whoever else you name — agent, conveyancer, bank. If repairs were needed, the paperwork follows the repairs and the retest. I will not give you a date I cannot keep, but you will always know where it stands.

Book the inspection.
Sell the house.

Tell me the suburb and how many DB boards the property has. You will get a written price back, and I will tell you when I can come.

Book my CoC inspection
072 839 6259