re-wiring whole house - how much ??

fluffpot

try joining which? I think you can do a month for free as a trial. You can then access Which? Local where members make recommendations for local tradespeople and post comments. I'm not linked to which?, in fact I'm not even a member,but I'm an electrician who has been recommended on the site and my customers say it's a useful on

baldelectrician

fluffpot wrote: »

try joining which? I think you can do a month for free as a trial. You can then access Which? Local where members make recommendations for local tradespeople and post comments. I'm not linked to which?, in fact I'm not even a member,but I'm an electrician who has been recommended on the site and my customers say it's a useful on

I don't really use rated people / myhammer / mybuilder as they all want to charge upto £5 for a small lead

I have had a few jobs through Which Local where members post about local traders. Word of mouth where nobody pays for reviews- all in very good for both parties

ecko_2

As an earlier post stated about the costs of potential work, I can't believe how cheap they are. I am a qualified electrician and am amazed that electricians can make any money at these prices, as the parts on a full rewire off a reasonable sized terraced house can potentially come to £900.00. Quite often more with the work done to the correct specification. If you contact an electrician for a rewire you need to understand that there are rules that we are governed by and have to abide by. For instance all houses HAVE to have an integrated fire alarm fitted at the rewire stage this is law. All rooms with two doors i.e. two entrances/exits need two way light switches, so that the lights can be switched from both points, again this is law. Plus there are many other things that need to be done as a standard spec on a rewire, its just the law, and these things can't be done for free. Just read the 17th edition regulation book (if any you can its like reading the telephone directory, and it costs £70.00).

Are any of these quotes posted for flushed in work or surface with the house/flat made good afterwards? And how many of you are getting exactly what you want in your house, or are you being told the 'regs say no' to keep the price profitable for the electrician?
This is a physically demanding job that requires a certain amount of mental aptitude. It can potentially take four years to get qualified for. The qualification is generally not free. And an electrician starting out can have an initial outlay of anything up to £20,000, on a van test gear tools and NIC approval. I think that after that you would have to appreciate that we will charge more than the minimum wage. Consider this when you get your quote.

To sum up you need a qualified electrician who also knows and understands the 17th edition regs book well. Please find out what standard of work you are getting as you will be living with it.

This is something that you will only do once in your house if at all so spend accordingly, you wouldn't spend £1800.00 on a car and expect it to last 40years.

A good electrician will cost about £150.00ish a day. They will also add about 30% on parts to cover breakage's and returns on special orders. Flushed in work on a standard three bed lived in decorated house, work made good, could take anything up to ten to fifteen days. The more comprehensive the design house and or electrical work the higher the cost, you can draw your own conclusions from this.
Big companies will charge a lot more as they have more people to support, if you employ an independent you must find out what his work is like first or take on at your peril.
These guys do have a living to earn and unless they are idiots the will price correctly all things accounted for.
If you haggle a guy down you won't get the same standard of work, I'm sorry you just won't.
I am trying to give those who do not know an idea of how the system works from an electricians point of view.

Happy hunting!

(These are central London prices).

Jonny0900

Good afternoon everyone.

Firstly I'd like to say "like everyone on here I like a bargain"

BUT when I had my house rewired back in June of this year. I found the whole experience daunting I knew it was going to be disruptive but WOW I never new....

I guess why I'm here is because I live in Basingstoke and the electrician I had to do the rewire for me was recommended by one of the electrical wholesalers (were the electricians go to buy their bits) quoted £1850+VAT which I jumped at.

But it all went wrong BADLY

The 'electrician' had to move my furniture upstairs to lift the carpet to get under the floor boards... OK I understand that but he NEVER said that I had to move all the things and store them off site as he put it, and apparently health and safety meant that he wasn't allowed to move them....
Also he didn't make any effort to put my house back in any discernible order over night my wife small child and i had to avoid fall through the holes in the floor. On the second day I asked him to put the boards back and tidy a little. He said that with the moving the furniture and tiding every night that the price would go up and the job would take longer (BUT he didn't mention how much)

Cutting the story short..
I had furniture broken (a scratch in the top of my chest of draws and a chair leg broken), there was a carpet in my spare room which is about 6 years old but has had very little traffic over it ruined.

He said that the extra charges were £1200.00 and if I wanted the chases plastered it would be another £500.00.

I am very unhappy as I thought a job was going to be £1800 went up to £3500 +VAT and the electrician was rude obnoxious and generally unpleasant.

Which is completely different to the man who originally came round for the free no obligation quote. He was very charming and polite, I think that he conned me by not being upfront about all the pitfalls and gave a low quote to get the job with the intention of bumping it up as the job went on..

Anyway the saga continues..

John.

fluffpot

Sorry to hear about your woes - but as is generally the case, you do get what you pay for. Cheapest isn't always best (or even cheapest!)

This doesn't help you of course, but thanks for posting the warning for others

Good luck

Fluff

baldelectrician

Jonny0900 wrote: »

Good afternoon everyone.

Firstly I'd like to say "like everyone on here I like a bargain"

BUT when I had my house rewired back in June of this year. I found the whole experience daunting I knew it was going to be disruptive but WOW I never new....

I guess why I'm here is because I live in Basingstoke and the electrician I had to do the rewire for me was recommended by one of the electrical wholesalers (were the electricians go to buy their bits) quoted £1850+VAT which I jumped at.

But it all went wrong BADLY

The 'electrician' had to move my furniture upstairs to lift the carpet to get under the floor boards... OK I understand that but he NEVER said that I had to move all the things and store them off site as he put it, and apparently health and safety meant that he wasn't allowed to move them....
Also he didn't make any effort to put my house back in any discernible order over night my wife small child and i had to avoid fall through the holes in the floor. On the second day I asked him to put the boards back and tidy a little. He said that with the moving the furniture and tiding every night that the price would go up and the job would take longer (BUT he didn't mention how much)

Cutting the story short..
I had furniture broken (a scratch in the top of my chest of draws and a chair leg broken), there was a carpet in my spare room which is about 6 years old but has had very little traffic over it ruined.

He said that the extra charges were £1200.00 and if I wanted the chases plastered it would be another £500.00.

I am very unhappy as I thought a job was going to be £1800 went up to £3500 +VAT and the electrician was rude obnoxious and generally unpleasant.

Which is completely different to the man who originally came round for the free no obligation quote. He was very charming and polite, I think that he conned me by not being upfront about all the pitfalls and gave a low quote to get the job with the intention of bumping it up as the job went on..

Anyway the saga continues..

John.

Sorry to hear of your troubles;

I am doing a rewire this week for £2000, this does not include plastering any chasing, but DOES INCLUDE tidying up, paperwork and lifting and relaying floor boards

I can see the point of asking the client to move breakable things, but I lift carpets (at no risk), or give the client the number of a professional who will lift before we arrive and refit afterwards

I always discuss where and when we will be working and get the client to move all small and breakable items away from the area we will in the next day.
The client I have this week has pets and she is staying in the lounge during the day whilst we work. We replace any boards and tidy up at the end of each shift.

I got this from word of mouth, like most of my work now.

The price is the going rate for a standard 3 bedroom rewire in this kneck of the woods, and I don't charge VAT as my turnover is less than the threshold.

mullionel

We bought a house that needed to be rewired and it's a major mistake to do, the hassle to find the right electrician first then the mess and the dust they leave. So if you have to choose you better off and choose the easy option of house that's ready rewired.
Otherwise, if you had to do it I would advise to try rated people website you can choose an electrician that has the best reviews and also offers you the best deal. We got our from there and he did our 2 bedroom terrace house (in 2 levels) with £2,000 which was good deal. However, we agreed to pay an extra £250 to get and fit a new electric shower boiler, but guess what he took the money without replacing it. So although you get guys to do the job you have always to control their work and be careful for the full experience we had please read this page check it in advett news page
Good luck with whatever choice you go with