Cost for rewire

rosiedee

Hi All,

Hoping there may be someone out there that can give me some advice.
I posted before Xmas as had problems with the electrics tripping out for no apparent reason, could be any time during the day or night. Long story short had an electrician come to look (recommendation from a builder we trust). There was a problem with the earth which he rectified but said our consumer unit was well out of date but before replacing it because of the age of our property suggested a full electrical survey, (our property was originally built in the early 1930's and has been added to over the time).
Had survey today and basically he has said we need if not a full certainly a partial rewire. Apparently our ring main has several spurs running from it which does not conform to current standards. We haven't had a proper report or estimate yet but his early findings have come up with several code 1 faults.

I asked for a 'ball park' figure off the top of his head (we have a fairly large three bed bungalow) and the figure he came up with was circa £4500, not sure if that includes a new consumer unit.We live in East Anglia. He did say that as we live in a bungalow and access is pretty straightforward would keep the price down.
I have no doubts about his competence but just wanted some advice on the cost. We will get some more quotes, hopefully from recommendations.
Any input would really be appreciated.

BlueC

Difficult to say but that sounds very high. Depends on a lot of things - like how easy it would be to route the wiring and how much they'd need to chase in and make good, but I reckon you should be looking at around half of that for a full rewire including consumer unit (they're really not expensive).

Oh, just read he said access is pretty good. In that case that quote is definitely high, very high.

As you said, get more quotes. And don't mention how high this quote was to any of them.

baldelectrician

I've said before

I should move down south

I did a bungalow last year for £1900, including consumer unit, smoke detectors and outside light

rosiedee

Thanks Blue C and baldelectrician for your replies.
I must admit I thought his 'guesstimate' sounded a bit steep.
As I've said I have no doubt about his competence but he is a young man and we are late 50's and early 60's so maybe look at money in a different way, a lot of younger people sem to be more blaise about finances. I do also do a lot of research before commiting to things.
From past experience sometimes if people feel you are comfortable with them, even if you have used them before, they do sometimes hike the price up. Human nature I guess.

baldelectrician

rosiedee wrote: »

From past experience sometimes if people feel you are comfortable with them, even if you have used them before, they do sometimes hike the price up. Human nature I guess.

The opposite stands sometimes- I have customers from 20 years ago, when I didn't have overheads like a business, kids, house still expecting to pay £15 for a small job

I find I charge my longer term customers slightly less as I know I will get paid when finished, a cuppa, a chat about life / kids / politics / weather etc.

I often use the phrase "Price varies according to customers attitude" and it's true- if somoene treats you like a person and not something they have stood in you will round labour down to the hour / half hour, not charge them for popping in to have a look etc

rosiedee

baldelectrician wrote: »

The opposite stands sometimes- I have customers from 20 years ago, when I didn't have overheads like a business, kids, house still expecting to pay £15 for a small job

I find I charge my longer term customers slightly less as I know I will get paid when finished, a cuppa, a chat about life / kids / politics / weather etc.

I often use the phrase "Price varies according to customers attitude" and it's true- if somoene treats you like a person and not something they have stood in you will round labour down to the hour / half hour, not charge them for popping in to have a look etc

We always adopt a friendly attitude to trademen we use, a cuppa and a chat, after all they are doing a job for you why would you want to upset them, but I know from conversations we have had with tradesmen over the years that that's not always the case. I think sometimes we are too friendly and some may see us as a soft touch.
The other thing apart from the guessimate that concerned was I asked roughly how long the work would take and it was all bit vague, I know it can't be pinpointed but a just a rough idea, and also he said we might want to get a professional cleaning contractor after the work had been done, sounded a bit OTT to me? I know there will be mess but surely not enough to warrant that?

macman

I think you need to get another quote!
Yes, there will be quite a lot of mess, as new switch wires etc have to be chased in (and presumably you will add more sockets, you won't just replace like for like). The electrician should clean up and make good the plastering etc, but they won't redecorate for you.

27col

The first house that I ever wired cost them about £75 including materials. That was in the early 1960's, so I am not sure how relevant that is to the present day.

fluffpot

Just because the ring has spurs off spurs doesn't definitely mean it needs a rewire - it might be possible to reduce the size of the fuse/circuit breaker to make it safe. The key thing it to look at the insulation resistance test results - these tell you how well or not your cables are ageing. Faults due to old cables can cause tripping.

I would certainly get another price - and use the full electrical survey to give to the other sparks so they can see what they are dealing with. Maybe post back here with the list of recommendations when you have the survey and we'll see if we can offer any advice

Fluff

rosiedee

fluffpot wrote: »

Just because the ring has spurs off spurs doesn't definitely mean it needs a rewire - it might be possible to reduce the size of the fuse/circuit breaker to make it safe. The key thing it to look at the insulation resistance test results - these tell you how well or not your cables are ageing. Faults due to old cables can cause tripping.

I would certainly get another price - and use the full electrical survey to give to the other sparks so they can see what they are dealing with. Maybe post back here with the list of recommendations when you have the survey and we'll see if we can offer any advice


Fluff

Thank you for your input. Am still waiting for the report and proper estimate, I'll need to be sitting down before I open it!
In the meantime have contacted our plumber we have used for years, he and his son do a lot of kitchen fitting and he has put us in touch with an electician they use. Having spoken to him and he sounds very down to earth. I gave him a brief outline of some of the things the other guy had said and his comment was 'I wonder if it's raining on his planet'! He's coming on Monday and in his words will 'give us some friendly honest advice'.

rosiedee

We had a report and quote from the electrician, he wasn't prepared to do the remedial work as it would be too labour intensive so quoted for a full rewire £3000+vat and that didn't include a new consumer unit, plus we would have to remove all the old insulation from the loft ourselves.
I rang our plumber who we have known for years and he recommended an electrician he and his son use when fitting kitchens. He came today and took one look at the report and basically said most of it was rubbish! He has quoted £350+vat and that includes a new consumer unit, new shower light and putting any other bits right that he thought needed doing and a certificate.
I think the difference is this electrician was a lot older and much more experienced.