How much does a house rewire cost?
If you’re thinking about buying a property, or you’ve recently moved in to your house, you might be aware that the whole thing needs rewiring. Normally, house rewires are picked up on the survey, or in a subsequent electrical safety check. Occasionally, we see conditions imposed on mortgages until the wiring is sorted out.
Rewiring often fills the homeowner with dread; it sounds expensive and disruptive. In actual fact, it’s not a difficult job in the hands of a professional, and it will probably cost less than you think.
What Happens During a Rewire?
Rewiring a house means stripping the electrical cabling and replacing with new, including the sockets that terminate in each room, and the lighting. At the end of the circuits, the new cables need to be properly connected to the consumer unit in the house.
We’d normally expect a certain amount of damage to the walls, since wires run behind plasterboard in most properties. You may also have to lift carpets so we can run wires underneath the floor. It’s therefore critical to have a rewire done before you start decorating and settling in.
Optionally, we can also run other cables at the same time. For example, you may want Ethernet sockets in each room, or audio/ visual cabling. We can even fit plug sockets with built-in sockets for your USB charger, freeing up the plug for something else.
Look at the rewire as a chance to improve the convenience and safety of your home electrics.
The Cost of a Professional
Pricing for a rewire varies from about £2,000 upwards. It’s very difficult to give an accurate price without assessing the property first, but typically, the owner of a 3-bedroom house in London will pay £3,000 to £5,000.
The cost changes depending on:
- The size of the house
- The number of bedrooms in the house
- The number of sockets and lights in each room
- The type and quantity of lighting you have, and the complexity of what you want (spotlights, downlighters, pendant or wall lights; you may need more than you expect)
- Any external lighting that’s mains powered
- The ease of access to the walls and floors (in terms of moving furniture or pulling up carpets)
- The cost of patching up and redecorating
- Additional features like smart technology, CCTV, audio/ visual cables and energy efficient LED bulbs
- The cost of disposing of old equipment
Get a Professional In
Don’t be tempted to cut corners. DIY is all well and good, but electrics are not in the same ball park as putting up a shelf. If you make a mistake when rewiring a house, you will put your family in danger, and you may create safety problems for future occupants. Not only is this irresponsible, but it could lead to accident or death from shocks or fire.
Building regulations state that rewiring must be carried out by a competent person. MD Bespoke is the ideal company to take on the work. Our price includes all relevant safety checks and tests, plus building control paperwork, and we also work very quickly because we do full house rewires very frequently. For a custom quote, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
