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Rewiring a house, cost advice please

davidwalker2
I would be very grateful for some advice about the cost of rewiring a house. I have a builder’s contract electrician quote a price of £6700 for the rewire of a house I have purchased in Devon.  It is terraced, has two bedrooms, lounge, kitchen/family room, loo, two en-suite bathrooms and includes a new cu.  Does this sound about right?  The builder is not taking a cut, he is happy to get paid for the work he is doing.

David
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  • 0
    Seems a bit steep to me for a modest house!


    Why do you want to have it rewired please?
  • 0
    Hi Chris, that was my initial reaction, but it is many years since I have had work like this done, and in London not Devon.  The house was built in 1964, and the wiring might be described as "curious".  The cu has been replaced at some time (may be a 16th edition split box) with a RCD on the power side and the main switch replaced by a second RCD adn has a tested label from 2008..  All the power sockets are surface  mounted, many look as if they started out as singles flush in the skirting board and have been extended above the skirts with a double socket.


    David
  • 0
    Could well be a reasonable price, especially if they are registered for VAT.
  • 0
    That seems expensive, but I haven't seen the property and what problems the contractor may have identified, it would do no harm to get three quotes as a comparison!
  • 0
    Difficult to say without further details.

    For example, the number of lighting points and types of lighting? Switching points, are you fitting high end downlights in each room? LED lamps? outbuilding supply? garage supply? Any armoured cable runs to garden electrics? Electric vehicle supply?

    Metal finished accessories? Shower circuits? Cooker circuits? Any self-contained elements of the property?

    It is surprising how it all mounts up, even for a modest property.
  • 0
    Does sound a little on the expensive side to be honest but it entirely depends on what the electrician has quoted for.


    If the price includes 'making good' then I'd say its a more realistic figure as otherwise you'd be paying an electrician for the wiring part of the work and then separately paying maybe a carpenter and plaster etc to come along after to make good.
  • 0
    As Lisa says above it depends what the contractor is being asked to do. If means moving furniture, lifting carpets and floor coverings, lifting floor boards or sheet boards, chasing out and making good, digging a trench to a garden building and running out 60m of SWA to a consumer unit and final circuits, 40 down lighters and 50 sockets, separate circuits for oven and hob etc then not a bad price.
  • 0
    simply you get what you pay for. If you want a race to the bottom, fair enough. As on the old forum, there is this immediate presumption that Electricians are expensive, so you go for the cheap "headline price" and complain of Badger work later.  However, with say " proper plumbers" , they are not so likely to engage in this race to the bottom, so more uniform in price .  

    This is a "rewire". Not an off the shelf product like, say, a 1st and 2nd fix of a new build working to a fixed spec.
  • 0
    Just leaving this here... 

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  • 0

    John Peckham:

    As Lisa says above it depends what the contractor is being asked to do. If means moving furniture, lifting carpets and floor coverings, lifting floor boards or sheet boards, chasing out and making good, digging a trench to a garden building and running out 60m of SWA to a consumer unit and final circuits, 40 down lighters and 50 sockets, separate circuits for oven and hob etc then not a bad price.




    Indeed! How long is a piece of string?


    At one end of the spectrum you may have a building which is unoccupied, has been gutted, and in reality is similar to a new build.


    At the other is an occupied home with furniture and carpets, etc. as John says; make before break, and you have to replace the boards and tidy up each day; oh yes, and you cannot isolate everything (except when the dogs are taken for a walk) 'cos the broadband must stay on. ?


    Somewhere in the middle is an unoccupied house with capping over the old cables so that the new ones can be drawn in without much bother.


    £9k - VAT = £7.5k.


    Difficult to see more than £1k of materials - it's not a mansion = £6.5k.


    @ £30/hr that's 217 hours or about 5½ week's work.

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