Replacement of house fusebox with new MCB

[CraigP]

I've got an old fusebox with fuse wire (4 fuses) which I want to replace with a new MCB. I looked up a local niceic place and i've been quoted £350 to replace it with the part p cert, which seemed a tad expensive, i was expecting around £200 - £250, especially bearing in mind it only has 4 circuits.

As a new MCB is around £50 and they said it would take a half day to fit it this equates to approx £100 per hour labour. Is this a reasonable quote and if not what would be a rough ball park figure i should be looking for

If anyone knows of anyone niceic certified in the huddersfield area thats any good can you let me know.

thanks

 

[ricicle]

How much would you charge me to lay a new patio

 

[Steve]

An MCB costs about £5. You've been conned m8.

On a more serious note, A CONSUMER UNIT can cost anything from £30 to £400 on parts alone, depending on what sort of spec and how many circuits you have.

A CU change takes at least half a day to do properly, this includes testing all the circuits before and after, and commissioning the new board.

Given you have a 4way rewireable fuse box, the installation is probably quite old and replacing it with a new unit with more sensitive devices could reveal problems the fuses wouldn't detect, the electrician would have to solve these before departure, he needs to factor this into his pricing.

 

[Tim 77]

this equates to approx £100 per hour labour.

Cheap at twice the price

 

[RF Lighting]

As a new MCB is around £50

I would expect to pay more like £60 for A decent quality CU (A 6 way CU with 3 MCBs & 1 RCBO)

This is assuming you have a standard supply type. If you have a TT supply then the CU could easily increase by as much as £90

Also there is the cost of new tails, and a new upsized main earth. You may also require the installation of main equipotential bonding to the incomming services.

There is the cost for your electrician to notify the LABC of the work, his professional membership fees, professional indemnity insurance, public liability insurance, deisel for the van time spent doing the certificates in the office and sending copies to the relevent parties..............

All to come out that <£100 an hour.

 

[CraigP]

House was built 30 years ago, regards the age of the wiring for info. So in response to the £350 this is reasonble then, if so fair enough i'll not bother ringing around for loads of quotes, thanks

 

[Steve]

£350 is certainly not OTT.

A certain someone who shall remain nameless, on this forum has admitted to taking two days to change a CU once, haven't you Rob?

 

[RF Lighting]

Including testing it was a day and a half IIRC

 

[sm1thson]

350 may be good may be bad, there is no reliable way to tell over the computer, the general consensus on the site is to get at least 3 quotes.

 

[securespark]

Hang on Crafty, don't be harsh.. I took 2 days to do a board change once, but it was 2 x 15 way boards, though!

 

[RF Lighting]

I have taken 3 days to fit a new board from scratch. It was a bit bigger than a domestic cu........

 

[ricicle]

Yeah, try a 1600A main switch panel.3 days just to unpack it and bolt together.