Electrician - rewire quotes

MissMarble

Hi everyone,

Last Monday an electrician came round to carry out an inspection and report for the electrics of our 1910 house. He advised we would need a re-wire as the electrics seem to be around 20-30 years old.

He advised he would be able to carry out a re-wire and patch plastering which would take around 2 weeks for just over £4,000 - this would be him working alone on such a job and he would also notify building control. He would require payment on completion once we are satisfied.

We then had another company (large with numerous employees) to give us a quote which works out to be about half the price and time - they can start immediately and it would take about 3 days for a team of them to do (no patch plastering). However, when speaking with the firm, they would not notify building control AND they require a 50% deposit - so just over £1,000. They also wouldn't provide a contract so we wouldn't really have anything to protect ourselves with. The reviews online from certain review trades websites, seem to be on the majority very positive - but I just feel it is quite a big ask.

I'm really stuck about what to do and wondered if the large deposit is normal for an electrical firm to undertake a re-wire?

We really need to get somebody booked in for the work and then to get a plasterer to follow shortly afterwards, so any help would be most appreciated!

Thank you!

FreeBear

A rewire is classed as notifiable work, so Building Control should be notified. The contractor can self certify the work, but BC still need to be told.


The second quite claiming no plaster patching would suggest that they intend to use surface mounted conduit and back boxes - This is going to look ugly and messy. The first quote, ask him if he intends to use a Thistle or similar gypsum plaster, or a lime plaster to match with what is already on the walls.


Whilst small patches of gypsum plaster won't cause any real issue with trapping moisture, lime plaster would be a better match - It is no more difficult to work with, and has the added advantage that it lasts almost indefinitely between jobs (if lime putty is used).

dunroving

MissMarble wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Last Monday an electrician came round to carry out an inspection and report for the electrics of our 1910 house. He advised we would need a re-wire as the electrics seem to be around 20-30 years old.

He advised he would be able to carry out a re-wire and patch plastering which would take around 2 weeks for just over £4,000 - this would be him working alone on such a job and he would also notify building control. He would require payment on completion once we are satisfied.

We then had another company (large with numerous employees) to give us a quote which works out to be about half the price and time - they can start immediately and it would take about 3 days for a team of them to do (no patch plastering). However, when speaking with the firm, they would not notify building control AND they require a 50% deposit - so just over £1,000. They also wouldn't provide a contract so we wouldn't really have anything to protect ourselves with. The reviews online from certain review trades websites, seem to be on the majority very positive - but I just feel it is quite a big ask.

I'm really stuck about what to do and wondered if the large deposit is normal for an electrical firm to undertake a re-wire?

We really need to get somebody booked in for the work and then to get a plasterer to follow shortly afterwards, so any help would be most appreciated!

Thank you!

It will depend on the extent of the rewire, i.e., what wiring you currently have (extras such as external security lights and power, loft lights and power, supply of fittings and quality of fittings, feed to garage, extractor fans, number of sockets, number of additional sockets, etc., etc.).

Having said that, I recently obtained the following quotes for a complete rewire of a 3BR semi in the Midlands, including an "in case" additional ring for planned extension, supplying fairly basic new faceplates, installation of 3-4 double sockets in each room, supply of new power and light supply to loft, ... any additioan extras noted below.

Company 1 specialises in 2-day "blitz" rewires where a team comes in and takes over the house. £2,470. (includes adding a bathroom shaver point and extractor fan)

Small business 2 (sole trader); £2,250 (includes upgrade of burglar alarm; additional feed and fitting of new porch lights, I supplied fittings; replacing garden sockets).

Neither company did plastering - plasterer charged £600 labour and £100 materials for making good all the chasing. That makes the quotes above £3,170 for Company 1 and £2,950 for small business 2 including plastering.

Rodders53

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/third-party-certification-schemes-for-domestic-electrical-work is either company able to self-certify?

If no you will have to notify Council and get their Building Regs inspector out during works and as required to test/inspect... Sort that before starting work.

No patch plastering (repairs for wire chasing and back box installation) suggests the (potential cowboys) are surface mounting everywhere? or not??

20-30 year old install would be very unlikely to need rewiring imho. Plastic wiring lasts almost forever, and Consumer unit would have MCBs and a RCD not rewirable fuses [15th Edition 1981 requirement I think. Similar installs predate even those regs. That's 40 years ago nearly.]


Although not up to current regs, that is not a necessity; nor does it make an existing installation in any way unsafe... what proper technical reasons were given for needing rewiring?

OK if you are remodelling the home and need lots more sockets installing, extra lighting, wired smoke alarms and other such things then a rewire may be better than having to add to existing... but even that could be a 50:50 option.

Head_The_Ball

MissMarble wrote: »

H...Last Monday an electrician came round to carry out an inspection and report for the electrics of our 1910 house. He advised we would need a re-wire as the electrics seem to be around 20-30 years old.

Has he identified specific faults or is he just saying it needs replacing because of age? He may be correct or he may just be looking for work.

Is he a properly and suitably qualified electrician?

Did you pay for a formal inspection? Did you get a written report?

What does that say?

Properly installed 30 year old wiring should be perfectly fine for many more years or decades if it has never been overloaded or damaged.

WHEN DO I NEED A REWIRE?
There are no set guidelines as to when a property should be rewired. Just because your wirings old, it doesn't mean its unsafe. Many factors can affect the wear and tear of your electrical installation, including the materials used and how your property has been used.

Get a few other opinions before committing to major and disruptive and possibly completely unnecessary work.

Edit: I agree with Rodders53 above.

MissMarble

Thanks so much for your replies so far - this is the info we got from the NICEIC report:

Summary:
INSTALLATION APPROX 35/40 YEARS OLD. MOST SOCKETS ARE ON THE SKIRTING BOARDS. NUMBER OF DEFECTS LISTED ON PAGE 2. DUE A FULL REWIRE.

Observations and recommendations:

1. Consumer unit not fire rated - C3
2. Circuits 1 & 2 not RCD protected - C3
3. Kitchen and bathroom not fire rated downlighters - C3
4. No earth sleeving on cooker cable in consumer unit - C3
5. Low insulation resistance reading on downstairs sockets - C2
6. Bathroom downlighters not IP rated - C3
7. Pendant in back and front bedroom needs changing - C3
8. Most socket outlets are fixed tight to the floor on the skirting board - C3
9. Socket fronts are broke in front room, back room x2 - C2
10. Cable going to the socket in back room is on the floor - C2
11. Water not earth bonded - C2
12. Some sockets are spurred off the ring main - C3

This report was produced by the first electrician (sole tradesman) and we informed the second company of the report. The second company wrote a very long list detailing everything they would do - this includes centralising some lights, adding more sockets/plugs and they mention some back boxes? The list is quite long so I can't really add all that to this post!

It is just so confusing as we literally know very little about electrical work! The first electrician said if we are doing work to the house, we may as well do a re-wire and as we want to add more sockets/plugs and move them into the walls rather than skirting board as well as re-plaster etc. we should just update the electrics with a re-wire. At no point did he overly advise or anything - we got a great feeling from him compared to the company, but the price and time we are struggling with.

Ectophile

So no C1 faults - those are the ones that are just waiting to kill you.


The rest look like they can be readily fixed, or just ignored (for many of the C3s).


If it was wired 20 to 30 years ago, it will all be PVC insulated. That stuff lasts for years - there's still PVC cable installed in the 1960's that's absolutely fine and doesn't need replacing.


I would suggest taking the report, and finding another electrician. Ask them how much it would cost to fix the faults, and do anything else you want done at the same time.

MissMarble

Ectophile wrote: »

So no C1 faults - those are the ones that are just waiting to kill you.


The rest look like they can be readily fixed, or just ignored (for many of the C3s).


If it was wired 20 to 30 years ago, it will all be PVC insulated. That stuff lasts for years - there's still PVC cable installed in the 1960's that's absolutely fine and doesn't need replacing.


I would suggest taking the report, and finding another electrician. Ask them how much it would cost to fix the faults, and do anything else you want done at the same time.

Thank you - I think we will get another quote from an electrician and will show them the report to see their views.

Does anyone think a 50% deposit to book in the work is standard? They also don't issue a contract so if we were to pay we don't have much to cover ourselves with. It's confusing as the reviews online are glowing and it's a fair prices.

Also, if they were not to use back boxes what would be the other type of plug fitting?

brightontraveller

1 . 2 3 days to do a house 99.99% of these companies are not electricians complete bodgers most often both actually get them to do your drive, replace those missing slates whilst there? there long gone when s hits the fan.... general rule think weeks not days if you live there longer than if its vacant chasing in lifting floors, routing , layout design etc a new build with none of that takes longer there not putting down floors carpet etc

dunroving

Just wanted to reiterate a point made by someone earlier, that if other disruptive work needs doing, you are just as well to completely rewire at the same time and future-proof the house (either for future sale, or for when you are in your dotage with your grandkids sitting at your feet).

I recently got a complete rewire from an electrician who also identified a part-replacement plan that saved me money. As I was wanting new sockets, a complete house Ethernet network, complete redecorate, etc., it made sense to pay a little extra to get a rewire rather than a 50:50 job. Plus I had peace of mind knowing that pretty much 100% of the electrical system had been installed at the same time, by the same person, I had sockets exactly where I needed them, etc.

Interesting comment about repositioning the ceiling lights. I learned why my bedroom ceiling lights were positioned close to the windows (modesty) and decided to leave them where they were, but am now realising that a non-central light creates shadows in the farthest corners of the bedroom - not convenient for rooting around for things at night. On reflection, I should have had them repositioned, especially as the ceilings were all being papered.

MissMarble

Thanks everyone for your help.

One question - when emailing the company saying we would like to go with them (last week before we found out about the deposit) and asked about the method of payment, they replied saying we need to pay the 50% deposit to book in the work and sent us an invoice.

As we hadn!!!8217;t officially confirmed or payed that deposit, does the invoice matter? I!!!8217;m just getting a bit confused as I know invoices are when goods/services are to be confirmed but it feels like they jumped the ship a bit by sending us an invoice. I just want to make sure we aren!!!8217;t owing money without actually confirming what we actually want.