An indication of cost for troubleshooting and upgrading consumer unit

[Milleniumaire]

I’m looking to upgrade our consumer unit, which was installed 11 years ago as part of our large kitchen extension and the introduction of some garden lighting. Over the years we’ve had various tripping issues with the garden lights and until recently all seemed to be good, until a couple more LED spotlights were added and now they are causing the RCD to trip. There is no pattern to this and even removing the new lights does not prevent the random tripping, in fact the lights may be working fine until, for example, the garage light is turned on and that trips the RCD. I suspect an earth leak is causing the issue, possibly on multiple circuits attached to the same RCD but I’m guessing!

So, I'm aware there's an issue with the garden lights, which are on their own MCB on the consumer unit.

I'm planning to have the consumer unit upgraded to one using RCBO's and with surge protection. There are currently 13 circuits as you can see:

20260908_192454.jpg

• Milleniumaire
• Wednesday at 9:30 AM

Consumer Unit

As an indication of a potential new consumer unit and breakers, Gemini AI has come up with the following:

While this is the cost of materials, what would you expect the labour costs to be, and how would the upgrade be performed?

1. Troubleshoot and fix existing issue where garden circuit is causing tripping, then install new consumer unit and test again.
2. Test existing wiring, then Install new consumer unit and if still an issue, fix existing issue for garden circuit.

I'm guessing that if it is necessary to first fix the existing garden circuit causing a tripping issue, this will be more expensive and potentially I could have this done as a separate task and then get the new consumer unit installed on a "faultless" system. However, if this issue is being caused by earth leaks on one or more circuits on the same RCD, I was really hoping that installing a new consumer unit with RCBO's "may" resolve the issue without lots of additional troubleshooting/fixing.

I would appreciate your thoughts on the best way to proceed with this consumer unit upgrade.

 

[Taylortwocities]

It depends. Impossible to say price without being on site and doing some basic tests.
Budget enough for a weekend away. Could be Bognor, could be Monaco.

 

[Milleniumaire]

Out of interest, I assume testing the existing wiring would need to be done before installing the replacement consumer unit, but would you expect the charge for this testing to be part of the "upgrade" job, or is the testing charged separately, followed by the installation?

 

[ericmark]

When mine was upgraded, I had a chose, pre-install EICR and a quote, or just get on with the job, and I would need to pay to correct for any faults found. I selected the latter. And likely as a result paid less.

It's like any other gamble.

 

[flameport]

but would you expect the charge for this testing to be part of the "upgrade" job, or is the testing charged separately, followed by the installation?

The tests will need to be done before any new consumer unit is installed, so when they are paid for changes nothing.
There are also tests to do after it has been installed.

The real question is what happens when the inspection and testing reveals items which need to be fixed. There are likely to be some, but there could be many.

While this is the cost of materials,

It is the price of some materials.
There may be others.

 

[Murdochcat]

Budget £750 for the whole job (excluding fault finding and fixing the existing problems ) and get a few quotes

 

[Milleniumaire]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I've received one quote so far and it wasn't quite what I expected, hence this post to try to determine if this was normal or not. I guess every company/electrician will be different.

Basically the quote stated that a full test of the property (EICR) will be required to highlight any issues at a cost of £20+VAT per circuit (£24 * 13 = £312). Based on the results I will then receive a comprehensive quote to replace the board and fix any issues found.

So, I have to pay for the test first, then I find out what the cost will be to replace the consumer unit + cost of fixing issues.

Not quite what I expected. I don't understand why a quote for installing the consumer unit couldn't also be provided with the provision that it may cost more to fix issues.

I was expecting to pay around £1000 for this upgrade, but at £312 before it even starts, this seems like it will get very expensive.

£312 for an EICR seems rather expensive.

 

[flameport]

£312 for an EICR seems rather expensive.

It isn't, as to do properly for that many circuits would be a full day.

why a quote for installing the consumer unit couldn't also be provided with the provision that it may cost more to fix issues.

Because the 'issues' are unknown, so they can't be priced in advance.
Installing a new consumer unit before any testing and hoping it might work is not an option.

I was expecting to pay around £1000 for this upgrade,

That is still possible, but does depend on the condition of the existing circuits.

 

[endecotp]

Basically the quote stated that a full test of the property (EICR) will be required to highlight any issues at a cost of £20+VAT per circuit (£24 * 13 = £312). Based on the results I will then receive a comprehensive quote to replace the board and fix any issues found.

I think that’s a good sign, assuming that that is what they actually do.

I agreed something similar - though IIRC they did give a quote for the new CU supply & fit. But on the day, the “lad” who came to do it just immediately took the old CU off the wall and started connecting the new one. Luckily for him it nearly all worked afterwards; the circuit supplying the outside light tripped its new RCBO which he couldn’t resolve, but I fixed that the next day. He did the “EICR” afterwards which was a load of numbers that he copied from his machine but clearly didn’t understand, and a cursory inspection of switches and sockets to note how many had cracks or similar damage.

There’s nothing to stop you asking these people to give you a (written) estimate/quote for replacing the CU assuming that there are no other issues to resolve. Tell them finances don’t allow you to make an unknown commitment.

 

[morqthana]

He did the “EICR” afterwards which was a load of numbers that he copied from his machine but clearly didn’t understand,

Then he was clearly neither skilled nor instructed, and he failed to exercise reasonable skill and care. Signing an EIC and an EICR were fraudulent acts.