Rewire of a 1930s semi detached house

Hi all,

I have been quoted, by a friend (not a very close friend) £1500 for a full rewire of a 1930's semi. The price includes 4 double sockets in the living rooms and two bedrooms. New switches. A new fuse box and new wires. New wires. Basically everything you need. Is £1500 a good price? Just getting an idea.

Thanks

Steve

 

Seems too good to be true to me. That is cheaper than one of my ex-companies were charging 20 years ago !

 

ricicle he is a friend so he is doing mates rates. Its an over the weekend, evening job.

 

Depends...., sounds cheap to me, but then I don't work in Merseyside

Is he registered, if not does it include the building control fees?

What about VAT?

Does it include the materials?

You don't say how many sockets in the bedrooms / kitchen and are there two living rooms?

What about dedicated circuits for ovens, showers, immersion heaters, central heating etc etc.

Best thing to do is write down what you want, no of sockets in each room, light switches, light fittings and what you need in the kitchen and ask some other electrician's to quote.

Also make sure your mate is providing the same level of spec

 

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 (or a L/R or front/rear split)
• Kitchen sockets
• Circuit 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
• Lighting circuits with switches in the usual places but with 2A/5A round pin sockets at low level.
• Immersion heater
• Loft lights
• Shower
• Bathroom circuit
• Alarms
• 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 socket circuits 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.

It can be a good idea to put all wiring in conduit for ease of future changes. And if you specify metal conduit for switch drops, or BS 8436 cable it removes the need to have RCDs on lighting circuits (apart from bathrooms).

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.

Flood-wiring with Cat6 or Cat6a cable is worth thinking about.

 

I am not an electrician but that seems a reasonable price to me

 

Maybe in 1919

 

From what I see in London for a three bed semi about £2700 is cheap and about £3400 is typical.

Of course some pay more!

 

Which circuits would you want to fit on the non-RCD section?

Is it still usual to put upstairs and downstairs lighting on seperate RCD sections?

 

Thanks all, he is registered and works for a company. He is doing this job as a foreigner so its all good legally wise. He is my partners brothers best mate from school so its a little side job for him. He has quoted -;

4 double sockets in the two living rooms, 4 double sockets in the two large bedrooms, 2 double sockets in the smaller bedroom. New circuit board and new wire. New light switches in all rooms. Circuit for shower, boiler, kitchen appliances, smoke alarms.

Hope this helps.

 

1. On circuits that don't require RCD protection e.g. a circuit to a garden shed or garage that is supplied by some SWA.

2. Yes

 

And that company is happy for him to register his jobs for part P purposes?? Unlikely! I can't see how he could be insured either?

I would be surprised if you got issued with a part p compliance certificate.

Get some more quotes and make a decision if it is too good to be true

 

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