What a missing main earthing terminal does and does not mean

• Main earthing terminal

  The terminal where the earthing conductor and the protective conductors are connected. A report that says it is missing is about that terminal.

• Earthing conductor

  The conductor between the installation and the means of earthing. It is not the terminal, and it is not a bonding conductor.

• Protective conductors

  The conductors that connect exposed conductive parts back to the earthing arrangement. A loose one is its own observation.

• Main protective bonding

  Main protective bonding connects extraneous-conductive-parts, such as qualifying metallic incoming services, to the main earthing terminal. It is not the main earthing terminal, and a missing bond is not proof that the terminal is missing.

• Earth bar

  A consumer-unit earth bar can be where protective conductors land. It is not, by that fact alone, the main earthing terminal.

• Consumer unit

  The board may be where people look first. The terminal can be elsewhere. A crowded board is not a missing terminal.

• Supply arrangement

  The way the supply is earthed is a different question from whether the terminal is present and connected. Do not collapse them into one line.

Send the sentence on the schedule, the location, and any photograph the inspector has already taken. Do not decide a code from the heading. The classification depends on what was found, where it was, and the risk the inspector recorded.

There is no universal repair price. A quotation needs the observation, not the phrase missing MET. If the report asks for further investigation, that investigation is not a completed repair.

The condition matters because a terminal that is present but disconnected is not the same finding as a terminal that cannot be found, and neither is the same as a bonding conductor that stops at a pipe. Location, what is connected, and the risk the inspector recorded are what the classification uses. The heading missing MET does not supply those facts. Do not treat the words as a repair instruction, and do not disconnect earthing to look for the terminal.

Bonding observations stay on the missing bonding page. Remedial work, once the observation is clear, is on the remedial page.