Sanity check, just been quoted 5k for a house re-wire

Not good news…basicaly my 6a light circuit keeps tripping.

Had a sparky out, it’s a live earth somewhere on the 6a circuit but some, possibly most of the wiring is old and brittle plus a bunch of questionable DIY jobs done before I had the house.

The upshot is they reccomend a full-re wire, as to re-wire the light circuit alone is gonna be disruptive and expensive, so it’s a case of ‘may as well’ re-wire the 32a mains circuits at the same time so it’s all up to code etc.

It makes sense to me, really, as the rest of it could be a ‘ticking time bomb’ so to speak and will result in another expensive job If I just get the light circuit re-done. I’ll need to redecorate afterwards, so i’d rather not go through it all again in ‘x-amount of time’.

Maybe i’m just looking for some affirmation really, as even to my untrained eye, some of the wiring looks to be a combination of old and botched,  my common sense says suck it up and get it all done properly in one painfull hit.

It’s only a 2 bed end terrace, so not a big or complicated house.

Any thoughts?

I know a handful of electricians. They all drive VW T6’s and ride Santa Cruz e-bikes. Someone has to pay for them.

I had a couple of lights and a couple of sockets wired into my old house and it cost a grand, 14 years ago. £5k for a full rewire isn’t a big surprise

I was quoted at least £4.5k to rewire my parents house (3 bed semi) last summer and that was going to be just a straight rewire with no fancy sockets or moving things about. It was also going to be in an empty house that needed a full redecorating so there was less need to be delicate or careful and from an electrician I’ve used a few times so 5k might not be that bad

Its quite alot of work. But we need more details.

Every cable being re run, boards up, fishing across ceilings chasing solid walls. Cable isn’t cheap. All your sockets plus the extra ones you probably want. New switches. New “fuse box” ? Checking and signing off. Making good. A sparky and one other? How many days etc?

15 years ago we were getting quoted 3500 for a 3 bed semi.

Can imagine it would be 5k today easy if not more.

About what I’d suspect to pay.

Probably a bit steep for a two bed but without seeing it it’s hard to be sure. Lots to think about on an occupied rewire which all adds to cost. Can I start pulling floorboards up at 7.30 every morning without worrying the kids or you fall through the ceiling below? Sheet over and then properly tidy up each day inc boards and carpets back, there’s 1.5 to 2 hours each day. Make sure sockets and light work each day so have to work round existing as opposed to ripping it all out and starting again. Plus loads of other factors.

I had a full lighting rewire and a new distribution board fitted to our previously lethally wired barn conversion just before Christmas. That came in at £6k.

fishing across ceilings chasing solid walls. Cable isn’t cheap. All your sockets plus the extra ones you probably want. New switches. New “fuse box” ?

All of the above, plus certified and signed off.

It sounds like a decent price actually, thinking about it. It’s just a tough pill to swallow, lol.

The figure doesn’t sound out of the question for more expensive parts of the country, but if it were me I’d have someone else try to fix or replace the lights first, as a second opinion/reality check.

Sounds about right to me (two big renovation projects completed since 2018, so I have some idea of prices).

Yeah, fair ball park. Rewire in an occupied n furnished property is a horrible job.

Definitely get a second quote; it may be reasonable for your area, or not

Might also be worth posing the question to the forum about what is considered an associated “must have” before you do, e.g ethernet cables, etc

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C51eDI6uqUl/?igsh=Z2JubW55aG5xdmNs (sweary!)

That’s a reasonable price for a professional job. Most plumbers would charge that to refit a new boiler.  If in doubt get 3 quotes from reputable companies and try to use a small good firm as they will be more realistic.

but if it were me I’d have someone else try to fix or replace the lights first

The problem is, the light circuit keeps tripping, due to a live earth on a cable somewhere.

It’s basically down to old cable degredation.

So the advice, which seems sound to me is, basically do the bloody lot, all at the same time?

TBH, Depending upon what outlets, switches and alterations from what you already have it seems reasonable to me.

Whilst you are at it, use the opportunity to think ahead to future-proof the property. Remember, there’s never ever enough sockets. As aluded to above, use this as an opportunity to get the mess over and done with.

Also consider future proofing to accommodate a PV installation or EV charger while they are it it to avoid more disturbance.

EV charger isn’t really a consideration as its a terraced house with no private drive way… I suppose I could have an EV outlet on the front of the house but that would be a liability issue for me in future, as to charge an EV, I’d have to run a cable from the house , across the public pavement to plug into the car.

That must have been a shock.

Being serious, seems like a fair price – in the current market..

That must have been a shock.

I see what you did there 🙂

We had quotes between £3-5k in the NE of England in 2014 for our 3 bed semi so aye, sounds about right.

We had our house rewired completely as to put in new wiring to the extension would have required rewiring elsewhere for it all to be up to code. So we ended up doing the whole house. Cost about 5.5k so yours sounds about right.

It looked an absolute nightmare trying to identify all the different strands of wiring spaghetti as he pulled them all through but I have HUGE sympathy for any future electricians having to rewire current standards as all the wires are fixed to joists etc so won’t be able to be pulled through so no idea how they will do it without knocking the house down.

That would be steep here (NW England).

My electrician quoted about £3k for a re-wire of a big old three bed house.

He has a Transit and rides moto.

Thanks all, the quote sounds decent then, I knew it wasn’t going to be cheap…. it was more a sanity check than anything.

Cheers

The problem is, the light circuit keeps tripping, due to a live earth on a cable somewhere.

It’s basically down to old cable degredation.

So the advice, which seems sound to me is, basically do the bloody lot, all at the same time?

your logic is sound but what if that one fault can be fixed for £300?  If you are planning major decoration and plastering just do the wiring… if not I’d want to just check another sparky agreed it was not trivial to trace and fix.

Industrial/HV electrician here, I bloody hate domestic stuff as it’s a right pain in the chuff to do anything with IMO.

I know it probably sounds pricey but the sheer embuggeration of hateful house electrics would persuade me to pay the price.
I’ll do plumbing, carpentry etc in my house but domestic electrics can go do one.

I’m quite happy to sort out a whole panel of 415v contactors on cascade or PLC control but hiding all that shizzle under plaster etc can go take a running jump.

your logic is sound but what if that one fault can be fixed for £300? If you are planning major decoration and plastering just do the wiring… if not I’d want to just check another sparky agreed it was not trivial to trace and fix.

I agree with your angle.. the thing is, some of the wiring is dodgy as hell, even to my untrained eye.. so  I’m inclined to rip it all out and have it re-done ‘up to code’, so to speak.

Here’s a good example on the stair to my basement… and that’s just what I can see, as a layman.

It’s a dog’s dinner, to be honest, so I think going nuclear on the entire electrical system, whilst painfully expensive, is probably the best thing to do.

Yeah, fair ball park. Rewire in an occupied n furnished property is a horrible job.

It’s a horrible job to do in an empty house, I’d double the price if it was fully furnished 😀

It is perfectly possible to DIY a large chunk of the work and get the spark in for the more challenging stuff like the new consumer unit.

Pulling boards, chasing new boxes  will save the electrician lots of time.  Depending on the spark they may even be ok for you to run the majority of the cables to the outlets if it can all be seen.  Benefit of doing the cable runs yourself is you will know where they are for any future modifications.  Its really not very hard to do this, but it takes time.  The bit your paying a professional for (imo) is the testing and signoff, that needs specialist equipment and the right ticket

doing an old lighting circuit in the loft is proper horrible though, if you can afford it get someone else to do that!

The bit your paying a professional for

Is the fact it’ll be done in a couple of days.

“I know a handful of electricians. They all drive VW T6’s”

When your work is also your hobby…

On the one hand – it’s probably about right, definitely passes a sanity check.
On the other hand – the price difference between electricians we’ve used is more than 100% so worth shopping around, esp if you can get recommendations you can trust.

I paid 5k last May for a full rewire of a 3 bed semi in east mids. This included relocating lights, new consumer unit, more sockets etc. We moved out for the week to allow easier access to stuff. I got a few quotes between 5-7k. I obviously went with the cheapest but the guy did seem most interested in the work and was by far the most helpful. It took about 5 days from start to finish.

doing an old lighting circuit in the loft is proper horrible though, if you can afford it get someone else to do that!

its nothing like as bad as chasing cables into 80 year old plaster. *shudders*

its nothing like as bad as chasing cables into 80 year old plaster.

…and then the channel you’ve carefully cut is revealed to be the only thing holding a large chunk of the rest of the plaster on. How a small channel, conduit, patch job turns into ‘ok, let’s replaster the whole wall’.

Agree with almost everything in this thread except:

I obviously went with the cheapest

Been there, done that, never again!

By all means take it into account and don’t write them off just because “cheapy”, maybe it’s obvious but cheapness is just one thing to take into account, don’t base everything on this or you’re likely to get cowboys. Even if it’s a smallish job and you’re short on cash, you’ll regret it.

One example: I had a small bathroom needing tiling & plumbing, someone quoted £500 (next closest: £1500) and they had good reviews on CheckATrade so we went ahead.

I wasn’t expecting top work and could live with it not perfect for that price, but good grief I could’ve done a better tiling job myself and I’ve never tried it before. The seal was missing from the bath overflow so that always leaked until I fixed it. Then 1 year later the pipes burst and ruined the kitchen ceiling… repair plumber said it was because the bath connections hadn’t been tightened properly…

We’re in a similar position. House is around a hundred years old, the wiring is a crumbling mixture of whatever seemed like a good idea at the time (including some _terrible_ ideas). Three bed house, quoted £6-7K… so your quote doesn’t sound unreasonable. Just make sure you go with an electrician people you know have recommended or can vouch for, not just the cheapest quote. It’s a massive job to get re-done if the cheap person cocks it up!