house re-wire

[mrhouserenovator]

Hello,

New to the forum, so apologies if this is seen as a silly question.

I'm completely renovating a 3 bed house and have been getting quotes to re-wire the place.

They have varied hugely from £2500 through to £7,500.

all quotes say they will come with NICEIC Certificate of compliance to UK Regulations BS7671 17th Edition.

Has anyone done a house re-wire recently and how much did it cost you?

Thanks

 

[flyingsparks]

Anyone done what??

 

[rebuke]

Not sure what your question means - an EIC (Electrical Installation Certificate) is a standard thing you should get after any electrical job (or at least a MWC - Minor Works Certificate).

As this is a domestic property, unless you notify building control yourself, you need to make sure whoever does the work is a member of an approved competent person scheme, and therefore able to self certify their work as compliant under Part P of the building regulations...

 

[Chri5]

Prices will vary, I work as an electrician in N.London and my average job is a 2/3 recpts, 3-4 Bed Edwardian

Kitchen ring 8 sockets + fan + hood + counter lights
cooker cct
Grd ring 11 sockets
Grd lights 5 lights / 5 switches
1st ring 13 sockets
1st lights 5 lights / 5 switches
immersion heater
boiler
boiler controls, thermostat, clock timer, pump and valves
shed / garage
Bonding / Tails / Main isolator / Full test and cert

About £5k before materials.

It depends on what you want, if you want dozens of spots in the kitchen and bathroom it costs more. Add in outside lights for porch, garage, garden. Add in TV, telephone and data cable.

Prices have to consider if occupied home and heavy furniture, the need to work around while you live there and expect no downtime. Carpet lifting, access under tiled and laminate floor etc

Give me an empty house and it's 35% off labour time, give me a builder site and it's an easy week to 1st fix everything (when timed correctly)


Have you produced a plan and given a spec to each firm? Apples for apples and all that.

Or an excel spreadsheet, listing room and requirements for each room.

 

[mrhouserenovator]

Anyone done what??

oops - edited the question.

question was - how much have other people been charged for a house re-wire!

 

[mrhouserenovator]

chri5 - many thanks for your detailed reply.

it's practically a building site, so no worries about access to anything. The entire house has been gutted and ready for new electrics and plumbing.

i produced an excel spreadsheet which listed all the things needed.

i thought £2500 was a very good quote, but having never done this before Its great to get comparisons. (I'm in west london)

(copied and pasted below)

Lounge : (Open plan)
Main light pendant
1
Double sockets (maximum of )
8
2G 1 way switch
1
Downstairs Hallway :
Double sockets
1
Main light (pendant)
1
2 way light switch (controlling upstairs hallway light)
1
Porch :
Outdoor Light
1
Kitchen :
Cooker circuit 40 Amps
1
double sockets (maximum of)
6
Main light (pendant)
1
light switch
1
Single Bedroom upstairs :
Main light (pendant)
1
Double sockets (maximum of)
2
Light switch
1
2 Large bedrooms upstairs :
main light (pendant each room)
1
Double sockets (maximum each room )
3
Light switch each room
1
Bathroom upstairs :
Main light (waterproof fittings)
1
Pull cord switch
1
Garden
PIR flood Light
1
Light switch
1
Upstairs Hallway :
main light (pendant)
1
2 way light switch (controlling downstairs hallway light)
1
Side Extension :
Double sockets (maximum of)
6
1 G 1 way single Light switch
1
Main light pendant unit
1
Multimedia :
pairs of audio wires to each room from lounge
2
Co-axial points (per room)
2
Cat5 RJ45 connections per room
4
Surround sound setup in lounge (No of speakers)
5
16 ports 100 Megabytes Hub with 2 x G-Bytes ports
1
Other :
NICEIC Certificate of compliance to UK Regulations BS7671 17th Edition.
New 17th edition Dual RCD Consumer Unit

 

[mrhouserenovator]

Not sure what your question means - an EIC (Electrical Installation Certificate) is a standard thing you should get after any electrical job (or at least a MWC - Minor Works Certificate).

As this is a domestic property, unless you notify building control yourself, you need to make sure whoever does the work is a member of an approved competent person scheme, and therefore able to self certify their work as compliant under Part P of the building regulations...

thanks for reply

 

[ban-all-sheds]

They have varied hugely from £2500 through to £7,500.

Sounds about right - a good rule-of-thumb is that a rewire costs the same as a second-hand car.

Did you give the electricians any spec, or just say "I want a rewire"?

Did they give you any detailed proposals, or did they just say "Rewire - £x"?

EDIT:

Just seen the post that came in while I was replying.

Couple of questions - why spec a maximum number of sockets - you could end up with 1 per room and it would comply with your spec.

And why only ask NICEIC registered electricians to quote?

Also

New 17th edition Dual RCD Consumer Unit

A dual RCD CU doesn't necessarily comply.

 

[hairyben]

7,5 seems steep assuming by renovation you're doing all the making good, no carpets or masses of furniture to worry about etc, but I've done a few refurbs that started out at 5k odd and ended up doubled once the client had finished adding things on.

Like other say it depends on spec, number of sockets, lights, then there's all the other little bits like smoke alarms, chrome plates, mirror demisters etc etc etc.

 

[hairyben]

Having seen that spec, I'd say the upper end of your quote spectrum is about right. 2,5 is too cheap. Thats what, 40+ odd data/AV circuits? Got a data cabinet going in the lounge?

Little tip, make sure the bloke you do decide to use is himself registered with a scheme, not someone who "does the work and gets it certified". Certificates are tuppence ha'penny these days.

 

[Chri5]

I'd be very concerned about the £2.5k quote, double that as a minimum.

I'd also suggest you add in a few more points in the bedrooms, 2/3 isn't enough.

You don't appear to have included 1st hall sockets for hoovers, wall sockets for flat screen TV's, wall lighting for bedside reading.

Once the circuit goes to it's area, say bedrooms 1st floor, adding in a few more positions isn't a costly excercise. The floor has to be lifted for 2/3 points, so adding in a couple isn't too hard.
What about bathroom mirror lighting and shaver point ? What about loft lighting and a loft socket ?

A rewire should give all the service you need now and in the foreseeable future. Do it once and do it right and avoid the need for trailing leads and 4 gang extension leads.

Looking at you current requirements the material cost for MK everywhere, wire, TV, Data is going to be £1500- So how the quote for £2500 would work is beyond me.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Good idea to put all wiring in conduit for ease of future changes. And if you use metal conduit it removes the need to have RCDs where you'd rather not.

Think hard about where to have sockets - it's difficult to have too many, and also about what circuits to have. The items on the list below won't all apply to you, but they are worth thinking about:

• Upstairs sockets
• Downstairs sockets
• Kitchen sockets
• Radial for appliances
• Cooker circuit
• Non-RCD circuit for F/F
• Non-RCD circuit for CH boiler
• Dedicated circuit for hifi
• Dedicated circuit for IT equipment
• Upstairs lights
• Downstairs lights
• Immersion heater
• Loft lights
• Shower
• Bathroom circuit
• Alarm
• Supply for outside lights
• Supply for garden electrics
• Supply for shed/garage

Plus any peculiarities brought about by your house layout & construction - e.g. in mine because of solid floors and where the rings run, I have a radial just for a socket in the hall, the doorbell and the porch lights.

Unless you want to go to the expense of RCBOs throughout, the CU should have at least 3 sections, 2 on RCDs and one not into which you can install a mix of RCBOs and MCBs.

If you live somewhere where supplies are dodgy in the winter, have the lights, the boiler supply, and a socket in each room wired to a separate CU, or a separate section in a large one, that can be supplied by an emergency generator - lights, heating, TV and a kettle/microwave make life a lot more bearable.

 

[oharaf]

For what you are asking for I would have thought £2500 was the bargain of the century (and that is yorkshire talking!!)

I would have thought you would be looking at a minimum of £4K

But as all the lads on here will tell you pricing without viewing is a sure fire way to get the costing wrong.

Get 3 quotes, ideally from reccomendations and make your choice from there. If they are not registered with a competent person scheme put your barge pole away and run for the hills

 

[scousespark]

Get 3 quotes, ideally from reccomendations and make your choice from there. If they are not registered with a competent person scheme put your barge pole away and run for the hills

There is no legal requirement to hire a member of a competent persons scheme.

When paying 5K for a job and the recommended electricain is not registered, the OP is perfectly within his/her rights to notify and use him/her.

Using a competent person is proably a safer bet.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There is no legal requirement to hire a member of a competent persons scheme.

When paying 5K for a job and the recommended electricain is not registered, the OP is perfectly within his/her rights to notify and use him/her.

Indeed, but one should think long and hard about why they aren't registered, and what it might say about their professionalism.