DIY Full house rewire- keeping costs down

[ed1178]

Sorry to start yet another DIY rewire thread. I have read several which all seem to descend into an argument about DIY electricians putting their homes and families at risk etc!

I would greatly appreciate advice on what it's sensible and safe for a competent DIYer to do to reduce the costs of a complete rewire.

To expand slightly - I have just purchased a mid terraced,three bed victorian property, in need of total refurbishment, to include a full rewire to current standards. Money is tight but I have plenty of time, and wanted to do as much of the donkey work as possible, for example chasing walls, lifting floorboards, making good, cleanup etc.

Would an electrician object to me running cables, as long as they are run correctly and visible for inspection? Or is this a step too far? I am not proposing to make any connections myself and would ensure they were correctly sited, following advice from whoever takes on the job. Can I mount my own mounting boxes? I would prefer to so I can ensure they are properly secured having found boxes nailed into plasterboard in my last property.

Also is this effort likely to save me a significant portion of the electricians time / cost? Would this make the job more or less attractive to an electrician?

Based near croydon if anyone is interested- am I allowed to say that?!

Edit - sorry most realised where I posted this- obvious I'm not a regular huh? Hope a higher power is kind enough to move this to the right place...

 

[securespark]

Start by calling an electrician round, explaining your ideas and ask them if they are happy.
As long as they can see all of your work and OK it and the cable tests out OK, they should be happy.

But if you supply the parts, the spark will not guarantee them. In other words, if a fault should develop in the future with the materials, you would be liable for the cost of rectification.

 

[ericmark]

The problem is finding an Electrician you can trust to do the work.

It has to be day rate as neither you or the electrician know at start what each will do.

You will need a time scale so the electrician can plan his work.

The electrician has to be in charge. He must also know what is expected of him that includes what paperwork you want.

The problem is you never know how long an electrician will trade for. My son had a couple of guys who wanted him to do as you indicate and each job was being done over years not months. When my sons wife left him he went cards in and the conditions of employment would not allow him to continue with these jobs. Clearly that must have been a problem he was allowed a month to complete jobs under way so most work was finished just the two long term jobs.

 

[welchyboy]

As an electrician myself, i get a few of these calls a year and ill be honest with you

I would like to think i am speaking from experience and from a general point of view of a working electrician trying to run a business

I would not even entertain it, all it woud be in my eyes is a pain

I generally will not even take a job on if the customer wants to supply the materials

You will just get in the way and be a hinderance, sparkies are generally very busy people and want to get in, do the job, get out and get paid

He will not want you calling him with lots of questions

Something that sounds as simple as cutting a socket box into a wall can turn into a total balls up to someone who doesnt do it for a living, i know it sounds silly but its true

By doing you a favour for a cheap job he is in turn costing himself time and money with the associated aggro

You may find a considerate sparky who will guide you though this, maybe a semi-retired chap, maybe im just a bit of a grumpy git, but i certainly wouldnt, be interesting what other electricians have to say

 

[JohnW2]

As an electrician myself, i get a few of these calls a year and ill be honest with you ... I would like to think i am speaking from experience and from a general point of view of a working electrician trying to run a business ... I would not even entertain it, all it woud be in my eyes is a pain ... I generally will not even take a job on if the customer wants to supply the materials

I'm not an electrician, but I can fully understand and sympathise with your viewpoint. However, I have known of a lot of cases in which electricians (or were they 'electricians'?) have agreed to these sort of arrangements (and, indeed, some arrangements which are far more iffy!). I don't know whether they are just short of work, or what, but there clearly are a good few around who appear to be happy to entertain such arrangements.

Kind Regards, John

 

[RF Lighting]

I let a friend "do the donkey work" recently. I was presented with 80mm wide chases for a single 1.0mm² t&e, chases so unstraight they drifted out the safe zones, back boxes not deep enough and at different heights, and one chase going from the socket to the floor, even though I asked for it to go to the ceiling. By time I'd put it right I could have just have quickly done it all my self first time and saved the customer a load of mess and making good.

 

[JohnW2]

I let a friend "do the donkey work" recently. I was presented with 80mm wide chases for a single 1.0mm² t&e, chases so unstraight they drifted out the safe zones, back boxes not deep enough and at different heights, and one chase going from the socket to the floor, even though I asked for it to go to the ceiling. By time I'd put it right I could have just have quickly done it all my self first time and saved the customer a load of mess and making good.

Indeed - I can well imagine some of the nightmares that can arise, so I definitely sympathise with the view that such arrangements are more trouble than they are worth. Indeed, in the utterly different world in which I function, I also dread situations in which a client decides that they want to do some of the 'donkey work' (usually in the belief that it will save cost, even if they don't always admit that) - since, just as with an electrician, I very often end up spending more time sorting out what they have tried to do than I would have spent doing it all myself (and with a lot more 'aggro')!

However, as I said, if the social circles in which I move are anything to go by, it seems that it's not difficult to find electricians/'electricians' who are prepared to enter into these arrangements.

Kind Regards, John

 

[sparkwright]

As an electrician myself, i get a few of these calls a year and ill be honest with you

I would like to think i am speaking from experience and from a general point of view of a working electrician trying to run a business

I would not even entertain it, all it woud be in my eyes is a pain

I generally will not even take a job on if the customer wants to supply the materials

You will just get in the way and be a hinderance, sparkies are generally very busy people and want to get in, do the job, get out and get paid

He will not want you calling him with lots of questions

Something that sounds as simple as cutting a socket box into a wall can turn into a total balls up to someone who doesnt do it for a living, i know it sounds silly but its true

By doing you a favour for a cheap job he is in turn costing himself time and money with the associated aggro

You may find a considerate sparky who will guide you though this, maybe a semi-retired chap, maybe im just a bit of a grumpy git, but i certainly wouldnt, be interesting what other electricians have to say

Sad but true.

It seldom works out.

A good electrician generally won't want much of the help you are proposing.

All it takes is some holes drilled in the wrong place on some joists, or some chasing that's wrecked the wall, for an electrician to lose interest and get seriously annoyed. Because it's those kind of mistakes that take time to rectify.

He will be happy for you just to lift floorboards AND DE-NAIL THEM, give him a hand drawing cables through any awkward voids (definitely not the easy ones), move any furniture and clean up.

It is so easy for a DIYer to make a pig's ear of a re-wire.

 

[welchyboy]

He will be happy for you just to lift floorboards AND DE-NAIL THEM, give him a hand drawing cables through any awkward voids (definitely not the easy ones), move any furniture and clean up.

It is so easy for a DIYer to make a pig's ear of a re-wire.

You forgot rule no.1

make the tea on the hour!!!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I would greatly appreciate advice on what it's sensible and safe for a competent DIYer to do to reduce the costs of a complete rewire.

The whole thing if you are prepared to invest (mostly time) in becoming truly competent and in acquiring test equipment.

 

[EddieM]

A guarded yes, you can save a bit of dough by doing some of the work yourself, you can of course technically do a complete house rewire yourself..... but... its very much a case of diminishing returns, understandably any trade isn't going to guarantee customer supplied materials, also an awful lot depends on your competence and your relationship with your friendly electrician, could go well, could be a disaster. Either way, the work has to be signed off and a decent sparky wont be doing that in a hurry if its not right.

As has been said, speak to your electrician first so you all know where you stand and dont be offended if they're not interested in the job.

 

[jason61c]

As an electrician myself, i get a few of these calls a year and ill be honest with you

I would like to think i am speaking from experience and from a general point of view of a working electrician trying to run a business

I would not even entertain it, all it woud be in my eyes is a pain

I generally will not even take a job on if the customer wants to supply the materials

You will just get in the way and be a hinderance, sparkies are generally very busy people and want to get in, do the job, get out and get paid

He will not want you calling him with lots of questions

Something that sounds as simple as cutting a socket box into a wall can turn into a total balls up to someone who doesnt do it for a living, i know it sounds silly but its true

By doing you a favour for a cheap job he is in turn costing himself time and money with the associated aggro

You may find a considerate sparky who will guide you though this, maybe a semi-retired chap, maybe im just a bit of a grumpy git, but i certainly wouldnt, be interesting what other electricians have to say

As long as you know what you're doing I would disregard most of the above. I had a chat with a few local 'trusted' sparks. They love this sort of thing as its just crappy messy work and they don't want to do it given the choice.

As for not working with stuff you supplied, normally thats because they make a nice % on the initial cost.

 

[welchyboy]

[quote="jason61c";p=

As long as you know what you're doing I would disregard most of the above. I had a chat with a few local 'trusted' sparks. They love this sort of thing as its just crappy messy work and they don't want to do it given the choice.

As for not working with stuff you supplied, normally thats because they make a nice % on the initial cost.[/quote]

We'll I'm sure you speak to plenty more"trusted' sparks than me mate

I'll be honest and say a keen diyer is every trades men's worst nightmare!!


I don't like customers supplying materials. As they either. Buy the wrong stuff or buy cheap tat from B&Q. And the like

I put a mark up on my materials like any other business but they are always. High quality and. Even with my mark up on top I supply them cheaper than the customer will likely get them for

Your saying disregard the post because it's not what you want to hear, but let me assure you, the last thing a sparky wants is for the customer to start getting involved in the job, unless they are moving furniture and making tea

 

[jason61c]

I mean in the context of the customer actually talking to the spark first and buying good quality stuff.

My best mate is a gas man, he shown me a quote from where he buys all his boilers from, he's that suppliers best customer for that make of boiler(viesmann), I had an hour on line and found a supplier selling the same thing for about £200 less(including delivery etc).

 

[welchyboy]

I mean in the context of the customer actually talking to the spark first and buying good quality stuff.

My best mate is a gas man, he shown me a quote from where he buys all his boilers from, he's that suppliers best customer for that make of boiler(viesmann), I had an hour on line and found a supplier selling the same thing for about £200 less(including delivery etc).

Lol.....Maybe you should start supplying them to him and putting on a mark up yourself

Seriously though if thats the case he needs to review his supplier

But then again the amount of money a gas safe engineer earns hes probably not that bothered