hi there, i wondered if someone could give me an idea how much an electrician would charge for labour to replace a consumer board with a new one. boards cost about 80-100 , but Ive no idea the cost to fit it up . thanks
how much to replace a consumer unit
- Thread starter andrew17
- Start date
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How long is a piece of string?
Between £100 and £1000 at a guess.
Can't see it, Can't quote it.
Between £100 and £1000 at a guess.
Can't see it, Can't quote it.
well its an old memera 2000 board . Has the old fuse carriers and the rcd grey ones , a mixture and a guy whos doing some electrical work for us reconed it should be replaced as the old fuses would not cut the power quick like the rcds or whatever they are called ( have their own on off switch) where the fuse carriers dont. he could fit a new booard costing 90 £ plus ? to fit it. Its in an accessable place. Ive no idea if its a whole day job or two or a half day hence me asking on here as he has quoted X for fitting and it seemed high
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And is the wiring safe?
Able to be used with a new CU?
Able to be used with a new CU?
Some do.
There are also some which are less than that, and plenty which are a lot more.
Labour costs - this is not just for changing the unit, as in virtually every case, some other work will be required as there will be items which also need to be upgraded.
All of the circuits need to be properly tested as well, which may reveal other minor items which need to be fixed.
i HAVE NO REASON TO THINK IT ISNT SAFE and it isnt suitable wiring. the electrician looked at it and said he would replace it with a new board/consumer unit and then the labour would be 200 . You guys seem to be putting obsticuls there when all i want to know is how long would it take to remove an old board and rewire up a new one supplied at say 90 quid on top . Is 200 alot for the labour ? If its half a days work then its too much . Even if its a full day its too much. Electricians / 150 a day max outside london area ?
i can see your point , so on that basis no one would probably upgrade as it will be a never ending job the way you have stated. If old wiring goes into an old consumer board mem 2000 surely it will go into a new board . The only reason he said to upgrade is because half the board or more are fuse carriers , and the other half mcb and they should all be mcb or better in his opinion
Just because you have fuse carriers does not mean that your installation is unsafe. All it means is that you are not compliant with the current regs just like an endless number of people. I would recommend you to get an Electrical Installation Condition Report first and take it from there.
If you think a board change is dear at £200 it is because you don't understand the work that will need to be carried out. As mentioned before there will more than likely be extra work that needs done along with the testing required for the installation certificate. This work is notifiable and if you weren't paying a spark who is registered with an approved scheme then you would have a hefty LABC bill to go along with the price of labour and mats.
If you think a board change is dear at £200 it is because you don't understand the work that will need to be carried out. As mentioned before there will more than likely be extra work that needs done along with the testing required for the installation certificate. This work is notifiable and if you weren't paying a spark who is registered with an approved scheme then you would have a hefty LABC bill to go along with the price of labour and mats.
You should have said earlier that you'd already run a full set of continuity, insulation resistance, polarity and EFLI tests on it.
OK - as I see it there are 2 ways you can proceed.
1) You can keep on arguing here until someone posts a figure which you think is reasonable, at which point you can go back to the electrician, tell him what you were told, and expect him to agree.
2) You can get some other quotes from other electricians.
Which do you think is most likely to succeed in getting the work done for the right price?
What analysis have you done which shows that £150/day is enough to pay for a private pension (no employer contributions, remember), a van, tools, registration costs, insurances, accountant's fees, advertising etc, and leave enough to live on?
Are BS3036 fuses not mentioned in BS7671:2008 then ?
Sounds like you wouldnt do it for 200 quid then . i know you have expenses but so do plumbers decorators carpenters and i thought maybe wrongly that plumbers might charge 250 a day ( a day not on hourly rates) a decorator maybe 120 and a chippy 150 with an elecrtrician at about 150 aswell . If its half a days work then 200 is alot or not ?
re it being safe. no checks were made , he just said it was old CU and needed updating and he would do it for 200 plus cost of new unit. He is part p reg so presumably knows what he is doing
Sounds like an incompetant chancer to me trying to get himself work.
Replacing a CU is a good idea if other major-ish works are being carried to enable compliance with regulations but as a stand alone job it is virtually pointless without checking the rest of the installation.
An analogy would be fitting a brand new ABS control module to improve safety/modernise on a car with rusty brake lines, worn pads and discs that hadn't been checked.
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