Re: How much does a typical house cost to rewire?

[Andy Hall]

Hello all,

> >Hopefully someone can help. I am about to purchase a standard size >three bedroom house (1 kitchen, 1 living room, 3 beds, 1 bathroom, 1 >dining room, hall, landing). What would be the typical cost of a >re-wire for this type of house? I know you can only give an approx >figure at best, but I have absolutely no idea how much this type of >work costs. > >Cheers.

I assume you mean just for the cost of materials? This is a DIY group :-)

If so, the best thing to do is to measure up approximately for the cable (that's cheap anyway). You generally need 2.5mm^2 for power,

1mm^2 for lighting and 6mm^2 for a cooker.

THen count up the number of power points that you want, the number of light switches and the number of ceiling fittings. You then need to account for a consumer unit with two ways each for the incoming breaker and an RCD. THen you require (probably) 3 x 32A circuit breakers for power circuits, 2 for lighting and one for the cooker, and then allow at least 2 spare for expansion. THe boxes are cheap. Swapping them is a pain.

There will be a few more bits and pieces for earth bonding such as earth clips and single insulated earth bonding cable, cable clips.

THat's about it. Make your shopping list. Decide which make and type of fittings you want - there is at leat a 3:1 price difference between cheapest plastic and branded brass products.

Take your list along to an electrical wholesalers such as Newey and Eyre or WF Electrical or TLC and ask them for a quote with discounts. There should be enough values there to interest them in giving a good price.

On the other hand, if you are just looking for a complete turnkey installation, it varies enormously on size, complexity of the house construction and making good, and where you live. For this, you can either contact NICEIC for a list of member electricians in your area or look for electricians in Yellow Pages.

THere isn't really a "typical" house, and any attempt to give you a price unseen would be pretty meaningless and easily out by 2:1 or more.

.andy

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[Ian Clowes]

Difficult to say because it depends on what you want in place, and how fussy you are about making good, concealed rather than boxed in wiring, etc.

As a guide for London area, £50 per outlet, be it a socket, lamp or fixed appliance such as immersion heater. Don't forget things like the boiler wiring, garage, exterior lighting.

Then allow say £200 for the CU.

If you want generous provision you'll end up around 30 sockets, 10 lamps plus CU, so £2500 would be a reasonable guess.

This is what ours cost a few years ago in a similar property (a little less actually since we had sockets only to do, and prices only go upwards...) and took 3 days of pretty hard work by two guys.

HTH IanC