One thing to be looked at in the not too distant future is the replacing of our home fusebox.

I understand that this needs a qualified electrician in for but presuming its a straight swap should this cost me much?

I realize that its like asking how long a piece of string* but just trying to test the water a bit

Cheers,

Mark

*double the length from one side to the middle or as long as it needs to be 😆 🙄

Depends on how many circuits on your board and whether or not there are any hidden nasties uncovered when doing the tests. 3 bed semi round here with, say, a 10 way board you're looking at around £450 and a day and a half's work if it all goes well.

A new consumer unit should cost you around £400 with RCB's, fitted.

bought a new consumer unit for £65 off screwfix.
a very professional leccy friend fitted it for £30.

quite a long job.

I think from memory we have six circuits. Small 2 bed cottage.

Day and a half work….eek!

Showing complete lack of knowledge here but what work is there?

(if a sparky reads this please don't shoot me down!)

400 **** quid? are you joking?

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/39585/Electrical-Supplies/Consumer-Units/Volex-Consumer-Units/Volex-10-Way-Fully-Insulated-Dual-RCD-Consumer-Unit

day and a half is a joke as well! its not a full house re-wire is it?

took my fella maybe 1.5 – 2 hrs. he was doing it under the light of my HID so it cant have been much longer!

Day and a half labour?!

We had a sparky friend replace our dodgy old three fuse set-up in a short evening (2hrs ish) by headtorch. (twas only 1 ring main, 1 light ring and a cooker feed though) It was another couple of hours to get it tested with the sign-off sheet sorted.

Edit: he was doing it under the light of my HID

Yeh, now you remind me, he also had the use of our Ay-Ups 🙂

Probably do yours in no more than a day then, and charge accordingly. Most time is taken up with the testing of each circuit, which I'd do before taking the old board off in case of problems. The more socket outlets, lighting points etc. you have, the longer the testing takes if it is to be done properly. Plenty of cowboys will do a half arsed job with a cheap consumer unit for a lot less of course, as evidenced above by the look of it.

I replaced ours in about 4 hours (would have only been 3 but I uprated all the incomer cables from the Manweb breaker)10 way board with 2 ways left spare

Testing took another 4 hours but I did that over a few days as I had time.

Yes I am qualified, & no I don't do foreigners.

Budget for a days work as unless you know exactly that the termination is easy & the quality of your existing circuits is good.

I would guess the average rate for ELECSA, NICEIC, NAPIT registered electrician is going to be in the region of £35-40 per hour, not that I get involved with that stuff as I’m industrial not a house basher 😉

So including materials £450 wont be far off.

could you consider not referring to my electrician friends as cowboys in the future?
a mate helping out for mate's rates doesn't necessarily make his work shoddy. in fact far from it.

testing, as you probably know, doesnt really take that long.

if you want to charge a substantially more for yours or someone elses work then go for it, but don't go attacking other people with out some facts first eh?

Try and make sure you get a make of board fitted that will still be able to supply further MCB or RCBOs in a years time that'll fit i.e Wylex, MK. MEM, Hager or Contactum.
Think about any future work you might want spaces for. That said the most commonly suppled board has ample ways.

tracknicko, if your mate fitted a new consumer unit and fully tested it in 1.5-2 hrs, there is no way on earth he's done a proper job regardless of what he's charged you. And I'm well aware how long testing takes thank you.

Mind you, I'm only a qualified electrician, so what would I know about these things? I bow down to the superior knowledge of the STW armchair expert massive. 🙄

Talking to the guys coming through the door here, and £400'ish is the going rate.

I paid £400 fitted for mine when I had my loft converted

Thanks for all of your responses – its good to have an idea of what is being charged out there.

Not meant to have caused any arguments :oops:!

Also good Idea about allowing for extra adaptions – must get power to the shed somehow! 😆

Cheers again,

Mark

Best thing to do is get a couple or three sparks in to quote. Those that come in, have a cursory look at your fusebox then give you a price I would be wary of. Those that come in and ask if they can run a couple of checks/tests on the existing installation before they quote would indicate to me that they know what they are doing and are less likely to hit you with additional charges due to 'unforseen problems'.

Dudie, what tests would you do then? I've never heard of anyone doing that, but it seems like a good idea. Oh, I would charge around 350 to 400 for a normal 3 bed house…

I also Agree, 2 hours is not enough to change and test a fuseboard.

First check the main earthing and bonding is up to scratch, because it needs to be before you go any further. Then, if the customer is OK to have the power off for a couple of minutes, flick the main switch and do a quick IR test at 250v across the neutral and earth bars. Won't highlight all possible problems but will rule out a lot. Then just have a brief look at the condition of the wiring in the fusebox and for evidence of any alterations etc. just to get more of a feel for the installation. Ask the customer if they are aware of any problems or alterations. The more information you can get before hand, the more accurate your quote and the easier the job will be for all concerned. And we are only talking a matter of minutes on your initial site visit. If you want to go a bit further, checking for a borrowed neutral on the landing light will save a lot of potential head scratching when your shiny new 17th edition consumer unit keeps popping an RCD.

When doing the board change, I tend to dead test each circuit as I disconnect, before removing the old board. Then any problems can be brought to light with the customer before proceeding/booted off site for wanting more dosh :D.

While a straightforward board change can be done well within a day, my experience is they are rarely that straightforward – anything from cables being too short to be fitted in the new board in the correct order to missing main bonding.

Prices are a regional thing too. £450 is the norm round here for a 3 bed semi. Others above have paid £400, some areas are less and some are quite a bit more (I've heard stories of 600 or 700 quid being normal in some parts of the country). One thing's for sure, it ain't in any way shape or form a 2hr job.

dudie, i do most of what you say, just not the Ir test… normally take off a switch sand socket to have a look etc. Obviously chsck the bonding. I thought you were going to say getting a few earth loop measurements or something…

where can I charge 700 pounds then!!!

Can't remember but I do remember it was somewhere surprising. Glasgow perhaps? Dunno, might have been Bristol, or that London 😳

Plenty of cowboys will do a half arsed job with a cheap consumer unit for a lot less of course, as evidenced above by the look of it.

The phrase "pay peanuts, you get monkeys" I think is appropriate here. As oldgit says, there's an awful lot of cheap stuff out there at the moment, made by companies who might not be around in the future.

Some of the monkeys that occupy one of the wholesalers I use I wouldn't trust to sweep the streets. 🙄

Use Hager, Wylex, MEM or MK and a good Electrician to do it as well.

To true.
I had a customer ask me to recommend someone as he wasn't happy with a split load board that had just been fitted. It smelt of burning and his 'electrician' said it was fireworks he could smell as it was November. I popped in after work and it wasn't fireworks. For a start the thing was a mess and was basically a box of loose cables arcing. I got a proper mate/electrician to sort it that night.
Also witnessed a board fitted by unqualified Polish electricians. It looked like someone had punched it, dreadfull.
Not an electrician BTW, but own a wholesalers.

Ah the joys of cowboy electricians… I went to a newly fitted fuseboard before xmas, fistly it was only a 16th edition board, the meter tails were 16mm still rather than 25, no earth sleeving in the board, LOADS of bare copper showing. ANd apparantly they had issued a certificate on it(?). I told the customer ( i'd only gone round to fix a dodgy light switch through their insurance company…) and they went mad. At me. 🙁

I have done some as DIY and it took me most of a day – and thats with doing a load of prep first (I moved the box as well)