cost of adding extra sockets to rewire

[deano131]

Hi, My house is being rewired. In fact most of the plaster has come down.
I've been allowed a certain number of double sockets in cost of rewire but need to get some extra sockets put in and also decided to get Cat 6 points put in by most tv points. 1 cat 6 in most rooms and 2-4 in a couple.
Question is- I am being charged £50 per extra double socket and each cat 6 point- so for the room where I have 4 cat 6 points (all together) I am being charged £200 for this. does this sound about right- I would have thought if youre running 1 cat 6 cable then running 3 others would be quite straightforward.
your expertise is appreciated.

 

[winston1]

Sparks are not the right people to put in CAT6 (or aerial and satellite) points. Use an IT specialist who understands the issues.

But you have one quote. Get some more.

 

[deano131]

thanks Winston1. The electrician has already done this- the AV guy suggested we wire it like this. just wondering really if price per point should be based on running the cable or the actual point itself- would have thought running 4 cables to one point is not much more work than running 1 cable to that point- perhaps I'm being unreasonable?
also £50 per extra double socket seems steep- again unreasonable?! thanks

 

[winston1]

thanks
also £50 per extra double socket seems steep- again unreasonable?! thanks

It is not just the cost of the socket and back box. There is chasing the wall, lifting more boards, more cable, and most important more time.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

And testing.

You'll find that pricing "per point" is commonly done - it makes quoting easy, it makes change control very easy, and it's swings'n'roundabouts for all parties - for every example of 1 location with 4 sockets next to each other there's 1 socket 2 floors and 5 rooms away from the CU, with laminate flooring and Lincrusta on the walls.......

Normally getting other quotes, as per Winston's advice, would be the thing to do, - not so easy when you're asking for changes to a rewire in progress. It might be a case of take-it-or-leave-it.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Also bear in mind that the CAT6 cables cannot share the same cable routes as the mains wiring. So lots more holes for him to drill.

I agree with Winston on one point though(shock, horror).. Let your spark run the data cables, but leave the connections to the AV guy. That's unless the spark has the network test kit and the correct punch down tools.

Ps IMO £50 per point including cables, sockets, first and second fix isn't too steep.

 

[deano131]

thank you both- cables already done so have to hope he's done a good job!

 

[Risteard]

Sparks are not the right people to put in CAT6 (or aerial and satellite) points. Use an IT specialist who understands the issues.

But you have one quote. Get some more.

Plenty of sparks are competent with data.

 

[Risteard]

Ps IMO £50 per point including cables, sockets, first and second fix isn't too steep.

In fact it's cheap - especially for extras which should always be charged at a higher rate than the rest of the work.

 

[Iggifer]

I concur £50 sounds reasonable. Think the company I work for charges £45+VAT per point.

You say if you're running one cable, then running 3 more for the 4 points isn't much more work, but in reality it is. Chances are, your house will only need one box of CAT6 (they're big boxes) so the guy isn't going to buy 4 boxes so he can run them all in at the same time. This means running each cable individually, or at best, 2 at a time. Yes the holes will be drilled for 1 or 4 points but they'll have to be bigger holes.

The per point charging is fairly common. Each person/company will have a standard price generally per item, so one price for a light, one price for a switch, one for a socket etc.

This will be the same for every one they fit (and will likely have been a major factor in the pricing of your rewire). On sockets where there are two next to each other, obviously the electrician wins, and makes a bit more money than he would on two that were on opposite sides of the room. Some points he may even fit at a loss, but make that back on those points that do make him money.

 

[phatboy]

Fitting 1 point at any place seems a little short sighted to me, especially when a 1 gang plate will take 2 (or even 3 with slim modules). I would always run in 2, because it's far easier now than later!

 

[SimonH2]

Plenty of sparks are competent with data.

Equally, plenty of sparks aren't competent with cables - of any sort
Part of my day job involves data cabling, and often the sparkies will pull the cable while they are doing the electrical work. Last job like that, I think they gave it to the tea boy - he had absolutely f**k all idea how to handle cable. Put loads of kinks in it, and when it snagged in the box, he'd just yank it harder until the knot pulled out. Watching the sparks doing the power cable was "interesting" - lets just say, they weren't being very sympathetic to the cable, and it was all below freezing for good measure.
On other jobs I get to throw the data cabling in trunking installed by the sparkies. Last job like that, the guy took the big compartment (of the dado trunking) for just one RFC, and left only the small compartment for the data - that's the compartment that wasn't actually big enough. For good measure, the guy genuinely believed that the segregation between the compartments only worked with the mains in the big compartment Oh yes, and this idiot actually said it must be good getting someone else to do all the hard work.

Sorry, but while I know there are a lot of good sparkies out there, I mostly get to see complete 'kin f***tards at work. And as for plumbers ...

 

[Adam_151]

Last job like that, the guy took the big compartment (of the dado trunking) for just one RFC, and left only the small compartment for the data - that's the compartment that wasn't actually big enough. For good measure, the guy genuinely believed that the segregation between the compartments only worked with the mains in the big compartment

On some of the more cheap n' nasty brands of dado, Simon, the boxes are not so much boxes as 'frames' so the mains sockets are open to the compartment behind. I would not wish to find data running behind it in this situation.

I see the flip side of your point quite often as well, We put in a load of new circuits and run a basket for them, then the IT department arrive... data cables on the power basket, data cables lashed across the ceiling grid, data cables tucked behind my conduit saddles to a workbench with a piece of IT equipment on it and the end just crimped in a 8p8c. And that's not including the ones who try and add their own fused spurs and sockets!

 

[SimonH2]

On some of the more cheap n' nasty brands of dado, Simon, the boxes are not so much boxes as 'frames' so the mains sockets are open to the compartment behind.

Yeah, I've come across that. This was (IIRC) Rehau stuff, so I suspect vey much not cheap.
For good measure, the first thing I considered was adding an extra divider to give a second side compartment. The stuff they used came with one big section including the socket boxes and the lower "bevelled" area, plus an upper "bevelled" area with separator moulded into the base - so the top section had a clip on lid, but the bottom section lid was part of the back. The sparky told me that no such thing was available - I didn't have internet at the time (the joys of working in a Cumbrian seaside town), but when I got back to the office I checked - and sure enough, there's a separator available to turn it into 3 compartment trunking.

I see the flip side of your point quite often as well, We put in a load of new circuits and run a basket for them, then the IT department arrive... data cables on the power basket, data cables lashed across the ceiling grid, data cables tucked behind my conduit saddles to a workbench with a piece of IT equipment on it and the end just crimped in a 8p8c. And that's not including the ones who try and add their own fused spurs and sockets!

I didn't know you'd seen any of my work
Yes, there's cowboys on both sides, and to be fair, there's plenty of my cables run along ceiling grids. I do normally drop mini trunking down and put sockets on though. Sometimes it comes down to what the customer is prepared to pay for.
One job, I arrived with a cabinet and patch panel, to be told in no uncertain terms that the customer wasn't wasting money on stuff like that. So he ended up with a switch crewed to the wall and loads of cables with plugs crimped on. Thankfully they are no longer a customer - the sort that (sometimes) ask for advice, then completely ignore it, and when the lashed together network falls over (again) tries to make it your fault How sad we were (not) to see the <expletive redacted> in court getting found guilty on H&S charges (death of an employee) - and that's apart from his public tantrums when the planning committee threatened to withdraw his site licence because he had refused to comply with public safety improvement notices (we could just hear him shouting "I'm not paying that" whenever anyone quoted for the work).