Electricians and their prices! How much should this be?

sourpuss2021

Have just had a quote from an electrician to supply wire and install RCD units to the old consumer units, and to conduct EICR tests, on flats in a converted terraced house.  It was a lot.

How much should this be? Also, if doing two or three flats at the same time, how much cheaper?   I'm in London by the way.

Is it going to be difficult to find an electrician who has a day rate?  With this electrician it's all on an itemised, per-task basis, so can add up to figures in the high £££.  Will that be the case with any electrician I talk to? 

tacpot12

Most electricians will price by the task, so finding one prepared to work on a day rate will be difficult, unless you have a lot of work to give them. The cost of EICRs will depend on the size of the installations. Flats tend to be a little smaller than houses, but not by much. Installing the RCD units should be standard job with a standard price. 

I'd expect the EICR to be £200 and the RCD units to be about £200 supplied and fitted.

Don't forget the EICR needs a report to be written, and the electrician knows that you will probably want to discuss the results, so they will allow time for this as well.

Doing two or three flats at the same time is only going to save the cost of fuel and parking, so the saving might only be £20-30 per flat. 

sourpuss2021

Thanks a lot, tacpot12!

The quote was £250-£300 each to supply wire and install 3 RCD units (so £750-£900).

£265 per flat for the EICRs, which I got him down to £230 (so £690).

Then any fault-finding would be an additional £75/hour + then he would give me another quote to fix any faults.

A couple of bathroom lights definitely need changing, for £40-£55 each + cost of lights at £20 each.

Therefore looking at £1560 to £1740, but more if any fault finding.   For three 2-bed flats in a converted terraced house.

So from what you say it sounds like this is at the higher end but not absurd.   Definitely worth getting more quotes though, then!

It will still also be cheaper than actually replacing the three consumer units.  But that would be difficult because the three meters would also need to be moved, there just isn't enough space on the wall for the larger modern units...

sourpuss2021

I'm guessing that the RCD unit he's talking of adding to the existing consumer units is something like this?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/wylex-4-module-2-way-part-populated-rcd-incomer-consumer-unit/179jk

#notanelectrician!

fenwick458

you shouldn't be guessing what he's quoted for, if it isn't listed on the quote then ask them for details. without knowing that you can't really compare the quote with anything else.
also, retrofitting a single RCD to cover multiple circuits isn't a good idea

sourpuss2021

fenwick458 said:

you shouldn't be guessing what he's quoted for, if it isn't listed on the quote then ask them for details. without knowing that you can't really compare the quote with anything else.
also, retrofitting a single RCD to cover multiple circuits isn't a good idea

Thanks for your reply.   It's a house converted into flats and I was getting the quote on behalf of the landlord.  

There are three consumer units so the electrician was going to fit three RCDs for £250-£300 each.  Each flat just has the lighting circuit and power circuit.  So I don't think that's a single RCD on multiple circuits?  There won't be seperate kitchen circuits with a hardwired oven for example, just electric oven of less than 3kw.

Since making my post I did a bit of reading on the subject of RCDs in rental properties and it seems that yes they are definitely encouraged, but not a clear-cut legal requirement:

https://www.electricblu.co.uk/do-landlords-need-to-fit-rcds-rental/

I wonder if a lot of supplementary bonding e.g. on copper pipes to the boiler, the kitchen and bathroom sinks, etc, would be a satisfactory alternative.  I've heard of bonding being recommended for bath/showers too but perhaps that's just for electric showers which we don't have.

sourpuss2021

Another tradesman told me that I should be able to find an electrician who'll work for a day rate of £260-£280.  Well, I guess I'll find out about that!

fenwick458

sourpuss2021 said:

There are three consumer units so the electrician was going to fit three RCDs for £250-£300 each.  Each flat just has the lighting circuit and power circuit.  So I don't think that's a single RCD on multiple circuits?  There won't be seperate kitchen circuits with a hardwired oven for example, just electric oven of less than 3kw.

multiple is more than one. The problem with fitting one upfront RCD is one single fault will kill all the power. say for example there's a neutral to earth fault on the lighting circuit, the RCD won't reset so there will be no power to the entire flat until that fault if sound and cleared. If both circuits are on a separate RCBO, they are completely independent of each other so in another scenario if there was an earth fault on the lighting circuit, the sockets would still work so at least there would still be power for cooking, central heating, Wi-Fi etc
I'd be surprised if the electrician has quoted for single RCD's if there are infact only 2 circuits, seems the best solution would be a new consumer unit with surge protector and 2 x RCBO's, that may be slightly more expensive in parts but you're getting a lot more for your money.
also I'd be willing to bet that installing supplementary bonding would be more expensive than installing the RCD's, and no they aren't a requirement but a recommendation, BUT if you want to add any sockets or lights to the circuits then you DO need to fit an RCD. so unless you can say for sure you will not be adding anything to the circuits then you are going to have to upgrade to an RCD at some point, may as well be now

GDB2222

One option might be to replace the MCBs in the consumer units with RCBOs. If there’s room in the consumer units that is not really a £200-300 job. 

I’ve had a new consumer unit installed for £500.

sourpuss2021

Thanks to you both for your replies.  

Ah yes,fenwick458, the electrician did explain to me that if there was a fault inside of one of the flats, the RCD would kill the electricity to the flat until it was resolved. 

Unfortunately there is not space to replace the consumer units, without having to also move the meters further along the wall, and to remove and replace the MDF box that contains it all.  It's high up on the wall just inside of the front door. So it would require all three flats being without power while the work was done, and both an electrician and someone from the meter company (as I don't think electricians will move a meter?) being involved.

The landlord is disinclined to spend money unless he is forced to do so, or anyway can see it's really absolutely necessary.  He's rejected an estimate of £1550 for three RCD, three EICRs, and replacing one bathroom light.  (Plus £75/hour for any fault-finding).  So he's not going to accept any even more expensive or disruptive options!  I am not sure he is convinced that anything needs doing at all so long as nothing is actually identificably unsafe, just not to modern standards - whatever the law might say.

It may be the case that nothing happens at all until the council inspect all rental properties and insist on there being EICRs.  But they don't even do it for gas, so I can't see that happening any time soon.

I'm living here for the long-term so I can't kick up too much of a stink.   I've told him I'll get some more quotes.   That's another thing, I have to do all this stuff myself - though the rent is cheap for the area....