EICR Remedial Works Without the Chaos: Turning Failed Reports into a Clear, Costed Plan

If you manage a commercial or multi-site estate, you have probably lived this scene.

The EICR lands in your inbox. Forty plus pages. Codes everywhere. C1, C2, C3, FI. Circuits you have never heard of. Photos of consumer units that may or may not be in the building you are sitting in.

Attached is a quote for remedial works. It is large enough to make your budget twitch. You have to explain it to a non-technical director and fit it around other life safety priorities.

The problem is not just the cost. It is the lack of a clear route from “failed report” to “fully compliant installation”.

This article sets out a calmer way forward.

What an EICR is really telling you

An Electrical Installation Condition Report is not your enemy. It is a health check.

Done properly, it tells you:

• Where your electrical installation is unsafe and needs immediate action

• Where it does not comply with current standards but is not yet critical

• Where you should plan upgrades as part of normal lifecycle works

The codes matter:

• C1 means “danger present” and requires immediate action.

• C2 means “potentially dangerous” and requires urgent remedial work.

• C3 means “improvement recommended”.

• FI means “further investigation required”.

If your report simply dumps a list of observations without grouping or plain English explanations, then the first step is not to panic. The first step is to interpret.

Why EICR remedial works feel chaotic

From conversations with FMs and compliance managers, the same frustrations keep coming up:

• “I get a report and a lump sum remedial quote with no priorities.”

• “There is no clear link between the codes, the photos and the costs.”

• “I do not know which items are genuine safety issues and which are nice to have upgrades.”

• “Different contractors say different things about the same installation.”

Behind those frustrations are some common structural issues:

• Testing and remedials are often treated as a single transaction.

• There is little separation between the role of the independent tester and the contractor who carries out the works.

• Reports are produced in a format that suits engineers, not busy FMs who need to make risk based decisions.

The result is a sense of chaos. It feels like you have a problem, but not a plan.

Step one: separate testing from decision making

The first step in bringing order is to recognise that fixed wire testing and remedial planning are different stages.

• The fixed wire testing produces data.

• The remedial process turns that data into actions.

If possible, you want your testing carried out by competent engineers who are comfortable explaining their findings in plain English. You also want the option to review remedial scopes separately, so you can challenge, phase or re tender if needed.

Ask for:

• A clear schedule of observations, linked to circuits and locations.

• Codes for each item, with short explanations.

• Photos that are labelled and cross referenced to the schedule.

This gives you a foundation for decisions.

Step two: build a risk based remedial matrix

Next, you need to move from a flat list to a risk based matrix. In practice, that means grouping items into tiers:

Tier 1 – Immediate life safety risk

• All C1 items.

• Any C2 items that present an obvious risk of electric shock or fire.

Tier 2 – Serious but manageable risk

• Remaining C2 items.

• FI items once investigated.

  
  

Tier 3 – Compliance and resilience improvements

• C3 items that can be bundled into planned works.

• Upgrades that support business continuity or future projects.

For each tier, you can then ask three simple questions:

• What is the risk if we do nothing for 3, 6 or 12 months.

• What would a reasonable person expect us to do.

• Can we combine any items with other planned works to reduce disruption.

This is the point where good contractors are worth their fee. They help you see which issues are genuinely urgent and which can be safely scheduled.

Step three: create a phased, costed plan

Once you have a tiered list, you can start to shape a programme:

• Phase 1

  
  

  • Address all C1 items and the highest risk C2 items as soon as reasonably practical.

  • Focus on locations where an incident would have severe consequences, such as plant rooms, escape routes and critical systems.

• Phase 2

  
  

  • Plan the remaining C2 and FI items over the next one to two budget cycles.

  • Combine works with other maintenance tasks to minimise downtime.

• Phase 3

  
  

  • Integrate C3 items into your normal capital renewals and energy efficiency projects.

At this stage, cost transparency is crucial. A good provider will give you a breakdown that allows you to see:

• Cost per building or per distribution board

• Cost per tier of remedial work

• Opportunities to gain economies of scale across your portfolio

This is how you move from “forty pages of bad news” to a clear, board ready plan.

Communication: translating engineer language into board language

One of the biggest hidden tasks for FMs is translation.

Engineers talk about RCDs, bonded services and disconnection times. Directors talk about risk, liability and budgets.

When you prepare your internal briefing, try to frame EICR remedial works in terms that answer three board level questions:

1. What is our current risk exposure.

   
   

   • Summarise the number of C1 and serious C2 items and the types of risk they represent.

2. What is the plan and time frame to reduce that risk.

   
   

   • Present your phased programme, with dates and milestones.

3. What investment is required and what happens if we do nothing.

   
   

   • Set out the costs per phase and the likely consequences of inaction, including potential enforcement, insurance implications and business interruption.

You can then use the detailed schedules and reports as supporting evidence, not as the main narrative.

How Protest ES Ltd approaches EICR remedial works

For Protest ES Ltd clients, we try to remove as much of the chaos as possible.

A typical engagement will include:

• Fixed wire testing carried out by experienced engineers who understand complex commercial and industrial sites.

• Clear, structured reports that separate observations, codes and locations.

• A tiered remedial proposal that distinguishes between urgent safety issues and planned improvements.

• Delivery of electrical remedial repairs in phases that suit your operational constraints.

Where clients have multiple sites, we also help them build a portfolio level view of compliance dates and risk so that decisions are not made in isolation, building by building.

The deeper win: confidence instead of constant firefighting

EICR remedial works will never be exciting. They are rarely visible improvements. They often compete with more glamorous projects for limited budget.

But they do something very important for facilities managers, heads of estates and directors.

They turn an area of hidden, technical risk into a controlled programme.

Instead of worrying about “what we do not know behind those boards”, you have a list, a plan and a timetable. That is often the difference between feeling like you are constantly firefighting and feeling like you are genuinely in control of your estate.