cost of installing outdoor light

movingforward2010

recently moved to my new house, and theres no light outside the backdoor , now the evenings have got darker its a real pain with not light as our back garden backs on to fields so its literally pitch black. Just wondering if anyone knew the cost of getting an electrician to install one. i was thinking i could buy the light, cable and switch myself, or would it be cheaper to get an electrician to do it all?

Plasticman

A decent electrician will be able to get the bits cheaper than you could. Not sure how much it is likely to cost though (always done it myself in the past) - hopefully somebody will know!

recovering_spendaholic

I had one fitted last year, and bought the light myself but not the cable and switch and I paid an electrician £35 to fit it.

movingforward2010

recovering_spendaholic wrote:

I had one fitted last year, and bought the light myself but not the cable and switch and I paid an electrician £35 to fit it.

thats a good price, so its just a case of ringing round for quotes?

recovering_spendaholic

Yes, it is, but I found it really difficult to find an electrician in the local press or yellow pages who would do the job as it was too small. In the end I was put in touch with someone who worked for a big firm and who did it as a foreigner. You may be lucky and get someone but I lost count of the people I rang who all said they would ring me back but didn't bother.

movingforward2010

just found out my new neighbour (who has just moved in to - were on a new build plot) is an ............... electrician!! But i didnt mention anything about the light, i dunno wether to ask yet as he just moved in at the weekend with his family so they have a lot of stuff to do

movingforward2010

i need it doing asap so i think im gonna have to phone round tomorrow

amboy

go on ask him, what do you have to lose, a good way to break the ice as well.

Word it like .. you dont know anyone who would be interested in fitting as light do you??

Mikeyorks

Buy the light fitting yourself (after you've talked to the electrician - in case it needs an onboard PIR), unless you really don't care what it looks like.

But leave the electrician to provide the rest, as you don't know how much cable will be needed? If he can pick up a supply from e.g the garage and leave the switching to a PIR - that makes the installation cheaper. If he has to start taking floorboards up to route cables and drilling cable access holes through walls and fitting an external waterproof switch - that ups the time / price?

You really need someone to assess the scale of it before you will get a price.