Electric work quote is this about right

Jabbah

Hi

I've got an estimate from the electrician and I'm quite surprised at the amount. Not sure if it's high because he doesn't want the job or if everything has gone up that much in these last few crazy years. I know prices seem always higher up here in semi rural Scotland but just no idea if this is reasonable.

He's estimated £1260 to do the following 

Replace all 39 existing downlights throughout property and soffit with fire rated led lights . Re wire garage socket in 2.5mm twin and earth . Tidy up all garage wiring and provide Trunking/conduit drops to protect all cables.

Does this look about right?

Thanks so much for any advice 

tacpot12

My guess was that the work in the garage might be £200, which means they are charging about £1000 for the replacement of the downlighters. If they are supplying the downlighters, then this price looks a bit high but not unreasonable as fire-rated downlighters will be costing them £12-15 or so. So they are charging about £12-15 to fit each one. If they do four an hour, their hourly rate will be £48-60 which is quite high, but you also need to factor in that if they are providing the downlighters, they are also providing a warranty on them, and if one fails, it could be a long trip back to the wholesalers to exchanged the failed unit.

If you are supplying the downlighters, then it definitely too high. 

Have you specified the downlighters to be fitted? There is quite choice and the better ones will pay for themselves in convienience, reliability and power consumption.

Jabbah

Thanks so much.

They're supplying everything - hadn't even thought as far as warranty and type of downlighters! I'll certainly check that with them.

What would be an example of the better type of downlighter?

tacpot12

Ansell iCage and Integral EvoFire are supposed to be good. The secret to these is that they have an open design that allows the replaceable bulbs to remain cool while still being fire rated. 

Use them with Philips GU10 LED Bulbs so that you don't need to change the fitting when the LED wears outs. Don't use cheap bulbs. 

Your installer might have a problem if you wanted a specific downlighter that was smaller in diameter than the current ones. That would make it much more difficult for them to fit.See if you can measure the size of the current holes, and then check if either of these makes/models will fit into the existing hole,.   

Jabbah

Thank you very much. I'll do as you suggest 

Risteard

Not expensive at all. Very reasonable - cheaper than many would do it for.

Jabbah

Thank you very much, that's good news 

Jabbah

The electrician has said he uses qvis. Are these lights ok?
Thanks for all the advice