Cost of total re-wire of house

[Chris Wilson]

Folks,

If anyone could give me a rough guide(*) price of the cost of having a three storied house entirely re-wired. That is a new consumer unit and all wiring replaced.

The house in question: 3 cellar rooms (two with no windows one with, leccy intake to one of these rooms), ground floor above has a hallway and two living/reception rooms, above that two bedrooms and a bathroom. "Posh" large roomed terraced house built in the 1890s. North West of England.

Last rewired (or sorts) a bodge job to put electricity in to *some* of the rooms in the early 1960s.

Work to be carried out by an electrical contractor. I simply don't have the time to do it myself (time of course includes getting to know all the relevent regulations, post installation testing for Part P purposes etc) - the property in question is several hundred miles from me.

(*) Appreciate that it can only be a rough guide.

[A.Lee]

A guessimate would be £2000 - 2500. It all depends on access for fitting, and what fittings you want.

Alan.

[Ian Jackson]

In message , Chris Wilson writes

Small three-bedroom detached house (including loft and garage lights), two three years ago, electrician and trainee assistant 80% time, 9 days, £3600 including cheap sockets and switches, consumer unit, and a few extra bits and pieces.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That sounds suspiciously low to me for a decent job. I'd have guessed at more than twice that. Assuming all cables concealed with flush fittings.

But Adam should be along shortly with a ballpark figure. ;-)

[MM]

I got a quote of £1750 in 2003 for a 3-bed ex-LA semi in High Wycombe. In the end I didn't have it done. The estate agent said it wouldn't make any difference and it didn't.

MM

[A.Lee]

I looked at it as £750ish for parts, 2 weeks labour, so at £150/day, thats £2250. I think it could be done in less than 10 days, so long as access is reasonable.

Alan.

[ARWadsworth]

I am here!

An empty house (with no furniture or carpets to move or cover with dust sheets) and where the electrician is not required to make good the damage to the plaster would make it possible to do the job cheaper than 2.5K subject to the specs (eg a customer wanting all RCBOs instead of a dual RCD CU, and

50 spotlights in the kitchen etc).

I would give a ballpark figure of 2K for a basic spec setup in an unoccupied house where you as make as much mess/dust as you want and up to 4K for a high spec in an occupied house.

I have in the past offered upto a 10% discount for the owners to move out for the week whilst their house is rewired as I can then leave the power off at night, floorboards up and I do have to move beds and furniture back into position every day.

[ARWadsworth]

Well they sound like lazy bastards. Try 5 days and putting some effort into the work.

[Chris Wilson]

Chris Wilson wrote in news:Xns9EA2A19CB3BC5ulmbritwarcouk@69.16.176.253:

....

Thanks to all who've taken the time to reply, very useful answers from everyone.

[John Rumm]

Last 3 bed semi I did cost about £900 for parts and materials, and took about 6 man days. So given the extra rooms, I would guess you are looking at £2200 upwards commercial rates.

[John Williamson]

That agrees with a back-of-the-envelope quote I got from a builder a while ago in Stoke-on-Trent, when I was looking at a "project" type house.

[Gill Smith]

re-wire is on my agenda too

my sitting-room needs re-plastering too, so before re-wiring should I:

- leave the old plaster on

- knock off the plaster

- get walls newly plastered (plaster-boarded, actually)

likewise, the kitchen needs a new ceiling (plasterboards, plain and simple)

so should I get the new ceiling done first, then get the new lights wired into it

--

[John Williamson]

Leave it on or knock it off. Don't replaster first, or you'll be getting the plasterer back after the 'leccy's been. For dry lining, put the board up with conduit and wall boxes where wanted, install the wiring, then do the finishing skim coat. With plasterboard and dab, put the board up first, leaving gaps for the wiring, install the wiring, then finish it off. Always put in more wall boxes and conduit than you think you'll ever need, 'cos you'll need them all.

Knocking the plaster off first will save the 'leccy's time, as he won't need to hack the channels for the conduits, unless you're dry lining over the existing plaster.

Put the new wiring in, plasterboard and finish the ceiling, leaving holes where needed, then install the lights.

[ARWadsworth]

You will only need to knock the old plaster off if it is blown. As John pointed out, the rewire should be done before the plastering.

That would depend on what is above the kitchen ceiling. If there is limited access above (say tiled floors) then it would be better to get the cables in before the plastering as some of the ceiling may need to come down to get the cables in.