Cost of a house rewire

JamieCB

I am new to MSE and this forum and would be very grateful for people's thoughts.

My situation is essentially this. I own a small, three bedroom terraced house. It was originally a two up, two down but the second bedroom was turned into two smaller bedrooms before I bought the house - so it really is a small house. In addition, there is a single storey extension, comprising the kitchen and bathroom.

The person I bought it from owned it himself from the 1950's, and most of the electrics appear to date from then - hence I need a complete rewire.

The rewire (broadly) comprises:

New central trip box

4 x double sockets in front room and new central light fitting and switch
Ditto in middle dining, plus light and switch for cupboard under the stairs.

Double socket in hall, light just inside front door and in the hall itself and two switches

New central light fitting for upstairs landing, with switch

4 x double sockets in main and second bedroom, and new central light fittings in both with switches
3 x double sockets in small third bedroom, new light fitting and switch.

Light and switch in loft

Three new central light fittings (kitchen, small vestibule and bathroom) in extension, three double sockets in kitchen, one double socket by back door.

Extractor fan and switch in both kitchen and bathroom, to be vented through the roof.

That's pretty much it. No bells and whistles.

I've been given two quotes (from the same electrician), one for wiring that will be under external trunking, one for wiring which is hidden. The quotes are £3,500 and £4,500 respectively and this seems an awful lot (and much more than I anticipated), I live in the west country and the firm concerned is a small family one.

I would very much appreciate people's thoughts. Is this a lot to pay? If it is, what, in people's experience, would be a more expected ball park figure?

Many thanks, in anticipation.

Risteard

It seems a very fair quote to me.

tacpot12

It seems a little high to me but you will struggle to improve on it by much.

A full rewrire will normally take about a week for an electrician and mate, the labour alone will be over £2000. Materials will be another £1200. The quote to bury everything looks a bit high but might be inflated because the property has furniture in it.

I wouldn't go with surface trunking, you will knock thousands off the value of the property if I was looking to buy it.

I would explain to the electrician you want to go ahead but need to get the quote down and ask him what you can do to reduce the price he needs to charge. You might find that if you engage a plasterer separately it will cost a lot less. Just bear in mind the electricians price will have factored in the risk of dodgy plaster (your contract with him should be clear on who is carrying this this risk)

Don't skimp on sockets. You have specified the right number for the size of house.

You only rewire a house once, so do it right.

fezster

I'd have said £3k with cables chased into walls and the walls patched up with bonding, would be about right. Get two or three more quotes.

Unless the £4500 includes skimming? Which I doubt.

xyz123

Sorry to ask obvious, but why do you need complete rewire. Is it malfunctioning? Existing sockets not enough and u just want to add new sockets in some parts of house? Just because it's old, doesn't mean it needs to be replaced.

f0xh0les

I had my 3 story victorian terrace completely rewired 3 months ago and paid £5,200 (inc Vat). It is a 5 bedroom - it went from 1 socket to 3 double sockets in each bedroom. Also 2 bathrooms both with new extractors and in the Three reception rooms we added 4 double sockets in each of those, all light switch positions changed to the other side of the door frames, and we needed a new board thing too. All chased into the walls, no plastering though. We are in the East Midlands. I got a very local firm, but that meant they sloped off home as soon as I went out to get the kids from school at 3.00, I was at the property at 9.15 every day they were due to come, a few days they did not turn up. They were like naughty schoolboys who thought they were getting one over on the boss, but they were in their 30s so a bit old for this rubbish. It took 3 weeks, but it would have been less if they had not been messing about.
So I would also say your quote is a little on the high side.

brightontraveller

[FONT=&quot]Very rough rule of thumb 1k per bedroom (size doesn't really matter conservatory, offices etc all count as bedrooms) 1, light , 3-4 outlets per room, 2 way hallway 8 -15 outlets kitchen but I’d say 2-3 weeks occupied house. !!!! load of dust? no making good plaster etc ,Lot more for concrete floors, walls etc[/FONT]

JamieCB

Not at all, please ask anything.

I need the rewire, essentially, because the old wiring is starting to break down (it's so old).

JamieCB

Thanks very much for the replies that people have posted. I will go back to the chap concerned tacpot12 and see if there is anything which can be done to reduce the cost. In other respects, he comes highly recommended - he's done work for other members of my family and they really sing his praises - although they too are a little surprised at this quote, especially the higher one. It's the higher one which puzzles me the more. I take your points too about the devaluing effects of surface trunking and about getting the job right. I will get some other quotes too though.

Further thoughts from anyone reading my post will be much appreciated.