Old electrical wiring is common in homes throughout the UK. Hiring an electrician to rewire your home will keep your appliances running safely and reliably, and it could even add value to your home.
Rewiring your home is a sizeable project, especially given all the regulations and checks. But we think it’s a worthwhile investment in your home’s safety and value.
In this article, we’ll be covering:
- How much it costs to rewire a house
- What affects the cost of rewiring a house
- How to save money on rewiring
- Whether or not you should get an Electrician Installation Condition Report (EICR)
- How to find and hire an electrician
If you’re considering upgrading your home’s electrics and aren’t sure where to start, keep reading to follow our simple guide to find out what to expect.
How Much Does It Cost to Rewire a House?
Depending on the size of your house, the cost to rewire it will differ, as well as your geographic location.
To start, here’s a range of prices for different sized properties, with the price range showing what you’ll be likely to pay in the north of England as the lower price, with the higher end being more likely for London:
| SIZE | ESTIMATED COST | TIME REQUIRED |
|---|---|---|
| One Bedroom Flat | £2,000 to £3,900 | 3 to 5 days |
| Two-bed Terraced House | £3,000 to £4,800 | 5 to 8 days |
| Three-bed Semi-detached House | £3,500 to £6,225 | 5 to 7 days |
| Four-bed Detached House | £5,500 to £7,300 | 7 to 8 days |
| Five-bed Detached House | £7,500 to £12,000 | 8 to 10 days |
On average, the cost of rewiring a one-bed flat can range from £2,000 to £3,900. The cost could vary depending on your location and how easy it is to access your flat.
A straightforward job should take between three and four days to complete.
This will typically include:
- Renewing all the wiring from the electricity meter to the consumer unit
- Installing a new consumer unit
- Standard white finish electrical accessories such as socket outlets and switches
- Circuit testing and final installation certification
It’s good to note that this price excludes plastering and decorating required to properly finish the job, and your electrician may be able to provide a quote for this type of work.
A total rewire of a two-bed terraced house including a kitchen and bathroom should cost between £3,000 to £4,800 depending on where you live in the UK and the size of the business you hire. The job should take between five to eight days to complete.
Looking next at a total electrical rewiring project for a three-bed semi, this will involve removing old wiring and fittings and then running new cables and installing new fittings.
The price includes supplying a new consumer unit and assumes the work will be in an empty house. The price includes the minor plastering work required to fill in the holes chased in the wall for the conduit, with the homeowner still being responsible for painting and decorating.
The price for rewiring will be between £3,500 to £6,225 depending on regional variances across the UK, and you should expect the work to finish within five and seven days.
The bigger the house, the longer it will take an electrician to rewire. An average detached house with four bedrooms will have about ten rooms in total, including two bathrooms – an electrician will need about seven to eight days to complete the rewire.
You should expect to pay between £5,500 to £7,300 for the complete rewire of up to 10 rooms including replacing all the fixtures and wiring with new, and issue of a test certificate on completion. For a large, 5-bed detached home, rewiring is likely to cost in the range of £7,500 to £12,000.
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What Affects the Cost of Rewiring a House?
As with most home renovations, the costs for electrical rewiring will vary depending on some factors. We take a closer look at these factors so you know what to consider when budgeting for a rewiring project.
The Size of Your House
Naturally, a three-bedroom house will cost more than a one-bedroom flat. If you live in a larger property, you should be prepared for the expenses of rewiring to be substantially higher than if you live in a flat or maisonette.
Whether the Home Is Occupied During Rewiring
Before the project begins, you must decide whether or not it’s feasible to stay in the property as the work is being done. In some cases, this may be unavoidable, but you should be prepared for the job to take longer, as electricians will work faster in an empty property.
The Specification of Fittings and Fixtures
As with most things in life, if you choose a higher quality product then you’ll more than likely need to pay more for it. Make sure you take this account when setting your budget.
For example, you’ll need to make considerations such as whether to opt for stainless steel versus white PVC sockets.
Additional Electrical Jobs
If you have small electrical jobs needing completion, but something not as big as a complete rewire, you can easily get an electrician to provide a quote for small jobs to be completed at the same time as your rewire.
Maybe you have a plan to renew the consumer unit first, or you would like to install a couple of security lights around your home – asking to have them rolled into the overall cost of the rewire can help to lower the overall costs as opposed to booking in two separate projects with an electrician.
Here are some common jobs electricians can also do when rewiring:
- Replacing a light fitting – quotes should be between £30 and £50, and it should take under an hour to complete the job
- Consumer unit replacement – upgrading your consumer unit will allow you to install additional circuits and make other changes. For this job, electricians will charge anything from £300 to £450, and take up to a day to finish
- Instal an external security light with PIR motion sensor – the electrician will supply and fit a motion-activated security light. This type of job takes about 3 hours, costing between £80 and £120
- Upgrade kitchen lighting from fluorescent to LED downlights – this job takes an average of 5 to 8 hours, depending on the size of the kitchen. Average costs for the job are in the range of £250 to £400
Your Location
As shown with our price guide above, the closer your home is to London, the higher price you can expect to be charged.
Similarly, it’s good to remember that the electrical team will need somewhere to park during their stay, and if your home doesn’t have a driveway or free off-road parking, you’ll be expected to provide a parking permit for the project’s duration.
How Can I Save Money on Rewiring My Home?
Comparing quotes is a great way to potentially reduce the cost of your rewiring project. HouseholdQuotes can help you get quotes from multiple electricians near you, so that you can find someone that suits your budget.
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Rewiring an entire home has the potential to become very expensive, but there are ways to reduce the cost with some savvy tactics.
This is a common tactic and a great way of making your rewiring job incredibly cost-effective. If there are other electrical jobs you’d benefit from having completed around the home, such as extra plug sockets or dimmer switches, ask your electrician if they can combine the jobs into one call out.
Consider whether you might eventually need extra sockets for kitchen appliances, a home entertainment system, or smart devices like a video doorbell or smart switches and sockets.
Future-proofing will save you money in the long run, and it enables your electrician to ensure your mains electricity can safely cope with your future electrical needs.
As the world becomes more digital, enabling these kinds of features in your home is a great way of ensuring profitability when it comes to selling your home, which is a good return on investment opportunity.
If you want to change the position of sockets, switches, and light fittings, it’s best to tell your electrician this before they come in to start work.
Electricians usually charge a fixed fee based on the size of your property, but they may charge extra if you make significant changes, so make sure to iron this out before agreeing to any costs to ensure everything you want is taken into consideration.
Where applicable, getting hold of your own sockets or plug point replacements can help to negate any trader’s marked-up fees on fittings.
While you won’t be taking advantage of trade prices, you can look to procure your replacements during sales or clearances which can help to drive your overall prices down. It’ll take a little longer, but with perseverance, you can look to save a considerable amount of money – especially if you’re wanting to replace all sockets in your property.
This next trick mightn’t be possible for everyone, but for those owning a second property with the view to renting it out in the future, you might be able to spend the project’s duration away from the property.
Doing this will help the electricians to work a little faster and be uninterrupted, as the electricity supply doesn’t need to be re-connected at the end of each day.
How Do I Find and Hire a Qualified Electrician?
Finding the right electrician can be challenging. At HouseholdQuotes, we can connect you to electricians in your area.
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When finding an electrician to carry out work in your home, you must find someone qualified and reputable to ensure you and your home’s safety.
The NICEIC assesses and certifies a range of building contractors including not only electricians but also plumbers, gas and heating engineers, and even renewable energy installers.
You can use their website to find a suitable contractor, with all of the electricians listed in their database regularly assessed to ensure the work that they do is safe and installed to the highest industry standards.
Finally, if your friends and family have had similar electrical work done recently, you can ask them if they’d recommend their contractor.
This will help to give you a more personal insight as to whether or not the contractor will work for you and your needs, as well as finding out what their work ethic is like, and if they ran to schedule or came across any problems.
Ensuring the Professional Is the Right Fit
With any jobs involving danger, it’s paramount you get proof of insurance as well as finding out about their previous work and jobs, as well as reading their reviews.
Electricians need an industry-recognised level 3 qualification which is usually obtained during a period of apprenticeship. Making sure your contractor has this before agreeing to their proposal is a good way of weeding out any potential rogue traders.
Finding out what projects they’ve previously completed is a great way to see if they’ll be a good fit for you. Rewiring an entire home is a big undertaking, so if your electrician only has experience in changing sockets, you might want to think again before hiring them for a larger job, despite how low their proposed price is.
Final Checklist
If you suspect your home needs some electrical attention, or if you’ve moved into a new property that needs some TLC, then booking in for an electrical rewire can help to ensure the safety of your home as well as the occupants.
Here’s our final checklist to make sure you’ve got everything covered when considering this project:
- Have an electrical survey undertaken before considering an entire rewire as some problems can be rectified separately without the huge undertaking, giving you some time frames for when fixtures should be replaced by
- Seek out references and proof of insurance from your chosen contractor before committing to a proposal
- Purchase sockets and fittings yourself if desired, which can help to cut costs if you do so during sales, which will help you avoid trade mark-up.
Use HouseholdQuotes to find local electricians and potentially save money on your rewiring project.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Know If My House Needs Rewiring?
Having an electrical survey completed on your home can help to identify potential problems in your system which might require an entire rewire.
If lights are flickering repeatedly, there’s a constant burning smell, or your sockets have become discoloured, these are all signs you might need a rewire. In all circumstances, it’s best to have an electrical professional check your property.
You may be moving into an older property, without a recent electrical safety certificate, which may prompt you to want to get a survey done to see that the state of play is before moving in. A quick visual check may also confirm the presence of old wiring, such as tired and aged plug sockets and fixtures.
How Often Do I Need to Rewire My House?
Generally speaking, homes need rewiring every 25 to 30 years. There are exceptions to the rule, such as if your home has been flooded and your electrics have come into contact with water, or if you’ve experienced a fire.
What Are the Regulations on Electrical Wiring In the Home?
The building regulations state that your electrical installation needs to be tested every ten years if you own your home, and every five years if you are a landlord or live in rented accommodation.
Is Rewiring a Home Messy?
This is changeable from property to property, but broadly speaking rewiring will need walls to be cut, chased and chiselled out which will make a considerable amount of mess in your home.
It’s fine to stay in your property while it’s being rewired, but it’s important to note that you may not have all the electrical points in use like you normally would while sections are being changed over.
Do I Need an Electrician Installation Condition Report (EICR)?
If you’re planning to rewire your house, an EICR can help you identify other issues with your home’s electrical installation including inadequate short circuit protection and faulty connections.
This way, you can address these faults during the rewiring process, rather than having to pay for an electrician to fix these problems at a later date.
An EICR can offer you peace of mind that the electrics in your home are safe. Building regulations require your electrical installation to be tested every 10 years if you own your home, and every five years if you are a landlord or live in rented accommodation.
On average, an EICR costs between £120 and £350, depending on the size of your property. To learn more about how much an EICR costs and what the process involves, visit our dedicated page.
Is It Worth Rewiring a House?
Rewiring your house is a worthwhile investment as it ensures the following owner doesn’t need to take immediate action to take care of old or faulty wiring. It is also an investment in your safety, further to the monetary gains.
This can help to show potential buyers that your property is electrically sound, and can help to add value – rather than detract – to your house.
Do I Need Planning Permission to Rewire My House?
Generally, planning permission isn’t required for electrical work but if you do live in a listed building it’s best to check with building regulations first to ensure you’re not breaking any rules. Where the grey area lies will be with repairing any internal damage done to the cosmetic layers of your house, which may need some attention.
Can You Rewire One Room at a Time?
It’s best to have your entire home rewired at once to reduce the cumulative time spent on the project. It’ll also make it cheaper than having someone repeatedly go in and out of your house, and get you back in your property sooner.
How Do I Prepare My Home for Rewiring?
Think of it like you’re having your carpet re-fitted – moving as much furniture out of the way is vital to let your electrician access the areas they need to. This may mean putting items into storage for the period of time, or postponing your moving in date until electrical work is completed.
Afterwards, you’ll need to make any cosmetic alterations good, which can involve re-painting, re-plastering, and then putting all furniture back in place.
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