Who checks cable sizing on a Qardho electrical build?

Cable sizing only holds up when someone checks it. The calculation takes minutes, but the buried cable lasts decades, and nobody sees it again once the wall is closed. Where site supervision is thin, the load schedule may never be checked against the drum that arrives, so undersized conductor can be pulled and plastered over.

What does cable sizing supervision have to do with Qardho?

Sizing sets the conductor cross section from the load current, the run length, the installation method and the ambient temperature, then the volt drop is checked against the project specification. Long runs from a street supply or generator to a rear block can add distance quickly, and the current a cable can carry falls as the ambient temperature rises. Ask the project engineer for the design ambient temperature for the site and the maximum volt drop allowed on each circuit, and confirm both against the specification rather than assuming a figure. Cable sizing is only as reliable as the supervision checking it: a supervisor who never sees the load schedule cannot tell whether the cable on site matches it, and that holds on any build where the check is skipped.

Where can the gap let bad work through?

It can slip in at three points: the schedule, the drum and the terminations. The electrician sizes from an equipment list drawn up before the client added a pump or an air conditioning unit, so the connected load grows while the cable stays the same. The drum arrives with the size printed on the outer sheath, which can be read and checked in seconds, but no one photographs it. Terminations get made at speed, with strands nicked or lugs compressed with the wrong die. A cable that is too small for its load warms in normal service, and the heat shows first at the joints and the breaker terminals. General practice is to check the drum label against the schedule, keep a photo of both, and confirm torque or crimp tooling with the engineer before the circuit is made live.

How do you catch it before the wall closes?

Walk the route and measure it. A tape run along the actual path often differs from the drawing, and the difference matters on volt drop. Then open the schedule and match each circuit to the cable in the tray. Ask for the insulation resistance and continuity test record for each circuit, with the readings written next to the circuit reference, and ask who carried them out and with which instrument. If a contractor cannot produce a schedule or a test record, that is the finding, not a reason to argue. Where you need local limits, ask the municipal engineer's office whether any inspection or approval step applies to the electrical installation before handover, and get the answer in writing.

A short list for the next site visit:

• Load schedule, dated and signed, matching the built layout
• Drum label photo against the scheduled cross section for each circuit
• Measured route length against the drawing length
• Insulation resistance and continuity readings for every circuit

What to do next

Ask the electrical contractor for the load schedule, the measured route lengths and the test records for one completed circuit, and check them against the cable actually installed. If any item is missing, put the request in writing and agree a date to close it out before the next circuit is energised.