May need rewiring, any ideas on cost?

Surbybird

I have a 3 bed Victorian semi with lounge and dining room bought in April this year. When I bought it there was a single socket in each room running from a cable tacked down the wall. There were multiple extension leads everywhere and the surveyor flagged it up as probably not meeting current standards. The probably was a definitely. The cabling was rubber sheathed inside lead and was almost as old as the house. Most of the rubber had perished and there were wires touching. The vendors mentioned on completion day that they found it best not to plug in more than one thing at a time! :eek:

I therefore opted for a full rewire and we had 3 double sockets in each room (4 in the kitchen), central light pendants, outdoor light, new consumer unit, cooker socket, immersion heater etc. All standard white fittings and no repositioning of ceiling lights. Cost was £3K ex VAT in Hampshire. It was done by a fully qualified competent person and I had all of my Part P paperwork within a couple of days.

Took about 6 days, we had floorboards up in every room and were still sweeping up dust 2 weeks later! It is very disruptive unless you can move yourself and all of your furniture out for a week.

Good luck!

poppysarah

There seem to be two sorts of rewire companies too. The fast ones who come in with a big gang of lads and have a spiders web of chargers so they can all work constantly and get it done in a day or so, and a relaxed small team of one or two who spend a week or so doing it.
If you've moved in I imagine you'd prefer the small gang, but in an empty house getting it done quickly is probably better.

vegasbaby100

I would get an electriciamn in and ask them it may not need a rewire and may just need a new consumer unit to replace the fusebox!!!

bosseyed

Allow at least £2k-£2.5k for a full re-wire. If the wiring and fuse box has been in the house since the 30's then chances are its a defunct fuse box with no RCB (ie you have to physically change the wire yourself if anything blows) and the wiring is proabably pretty rotten (mine was) - so you may as well budget for a new consumer unit aswell as the wiring.

Get a qualified electrician in, but make sure they're a member of an approved domestic installer scheme eg NICEIC so that they are allowed to sign off their own install under part P regs, otherwise you have to notify Building Control prior to the work commencing and then pay to have the house rewired then have to pay someone who is NICEIC registered to come round, check the work and sign it off.

And yes, its hugely disruptive - floorboards/carpets etc will need to be raised, in some cases there may need to be some 'chasing out' work to run cabling up walls etc (rather than use trunking), so prepare for dust and grime for at least a week.

jonnyb1978

Agreed. 3 bed terraced here with through lounge/ diner, kitchen and small office/utility room. Done last year for £2500 with additional sockets extra.
Was old as had no earth, RCD and the bathroom wiring was still made out of lead. Did get another quote for £2400 which included an burglar alarm supplied and fitted.
Also lots of mess, the making good from the electricians was useless but luckily we had other work going on so the builder plastered over this properly. Laminate flooring had to come up and needed replaced, also the decorating. You may need to budget for the extra after works.

bararah

Thanks for all of your help, I am fully prepared for whole rewire as anything less would be a bonus. Does it usually cost to have electrician do inspection and give quote for work? If so how much? We also need heating engineer inspection doing and want to keep costs down as if we choose not to proceed with house buy or negotiations break down I don't want to have wasted money on inspections on a house I don't own!

poppysarah

3 bed place:
(
quotes vary from 1500-2225
some include plastering, the most expensive also includes an alarm.

time varies from 1 day to 5 days.

and thats for
19 x Double Sockets
1 x Fused Spare for Security Light
9 x Lighting Points
1 x Feed for Boiler
1 x Feed for Alarm
1 x Cooker Point
1 x Shower Point
1 x Consumer Unit with Dual RCD - 17th Edition

poppysarah

I always think it's best to bargain for the unexpected including complete replacements. If you can do that then you may be pleasantly surprised. Can get pricey though if you need everything doing.

docij

bararah wrote: »

Does it usually cost to have electrician do inspection and give quote for work? If so how much?

We asked the electricians before they came out if they charged for the quote. They didn't but some do, so check before you book them.

eamon

Go for the full rewire. Get more double sockets than you think you need. More is better and safer than banks of multi gang trailing sockets. Also try and get a bit of future proofing done e.g. if you fancy a wall mounted TV and concealed loudspeaker cables etc.