Fitting an electric socket

recovering_spendaholic

I have just bought a tumble dryer and want to put it in an area which doesn't have a plug socket, although there is one not too far away on the same wall as I want to put the tumble dryer.

Can anyone give me an idea of how much I should expect to pay an electrician to fit a socket?

Thanks!

riverstyx

Hi Jane,

What part of the country are you in (labour rates vary dramatically)?
How far away is the existing socket?
How old are the existing electrics & consumer unit (fuse board)?
Do you want the cables concealed within the walls, under the floor etc or are you happy for the cables to be run in mini-trunking fixed to the wall?
Is this in a kitchen or utility where the cabinets might conceal the trunking?
Is the existing socket and new socket position on a stud / plasterboard wall or a solid external wall.

Apologies for all the questions, but fitting the socket is easy, ensuring the circuit is free of existing faults, suitable for the additional load, and complies with current regulations, lifting floors, chasing walls, and making good are what takes the time.

Rough guess £40-£200 but if you can answer some of the above I can probably give a much better estimate.

Please do use a registered competent electrician - there are a number of schemes and two competing registers but your electrician is registered with one of the schemes they should appear on either electricalsafetyregister.com or electricsaferegister.co.uk so those are good places to start if you don't have a personal recommendation.

Get three quotes and ask them to list what they will be doing, and feel free to post the details if you want me to take a look.

Kind Regards,
Martin.

recovering_spendaholic

Thank you so much for this detailed reply Martin! I want to put it into a little cubby area next to the kitchen - the nearest socket is about 2 feet away on the other side of a stud wall - I had thought I could make a hole in the wall and put the cable through as there is a spare socket there but the wall is tiled on the kitchen side and that may be difficult.

The electrics were all changed about 10 years ago and are all okay AFAIK. The new socket will be on an outside wall and I am happy to have some cable trunking cover things as the tumble dryer will hide it and no one sees that area anyway.

I am in Merseyside.

Thanks Again!

2010

Buy a length of cable and a single socket to fit in the cubby area and plug the tumble drier into that.
Drill the hole on the tiled side putting a bit of electrical tape on the tile to stop the MASONRY drill bit slipping.

dexterwolf

I three double sockets put in one upstairs and two downstairs and it cost £140. So I would have thought max you would be paying £100 unless you have issues with circuit board.

riverstyx

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

The electrics were all changed about 10 years ago and are all okay AFAIK. The new socket will be on an outside wall and I am happy to have some cable trunking cover things as the tumble dryer will hide it and no one sees that area anyway.

On the basis of what you have described it does sound like a straightforward job and I would expect to cost no more than £100 and possibly considerably less.

I would search on the two sites I mentioned before and look for electricians who are local to you. I like small jobs like this that are near to my home as I tend to fit them in at the end of the day so that I'm almost home when I finish. That in turn means what I charge can be significantly less than for the same job where I have to factor in half hour each way for traveling etc.

Hope this helps,
Martin.