A House Rewiring Price Guide

A house rewire is a major undertaking and involves a lot of disruptive work such as lifting carpets and floorboards as well as cutting channels into walls and drilling holes in every room.

It’s a dusty, messy project that can only be completed by a skilled and qualified electrician.

Even after the work is complete, the walls will most likely need repairs to any existing tiles, wallpaper or paint. 

But how much does it cost to get an electrician to rewire an entire house, what work is done exactly, and how long does it take?

Keep reading where we’ll show how much a rewiring project like this costs and hopefully provide answers to any questions you may have.

As part of our research into home improvement prices, we recently contacted 26 qualified electricians in the UK. We asked them to provide us with prices for electrical projects such as house rewires, solar panels, installing extra plug sockets, fittng bathroom fans and much more.

Industry experts and consumer groups like Which? and Money Saving Expert always tell their readers to get at least three quotes from tradespeople before going ahead with a project.

We’ve taken things a little further by sourcing written quotes from 26 reputable electricians from various locations around the UK.

Use our prices as a guide to how much it costs to rewire a house.

Below you’ll find two price guides for:

1. Rewiring a 3-bed house.
2. Rewiring a 2-bed house

Project 1 – Cost to Completely Rewire a House (3-Bed, Ground + First Floor)

For this project, we asked our chosen electricians how much it would cost to completely rewire our 3-bed property.

Here’s a list of everything we wanted:

• Downlights in the front room ceiling.
• Wall lights in the master bedroom (new, supplied by us).
• New mirror light in the bathroom.
• New bathroom extractor fan.
• An outdoor power socket for the garden, fixed to the exterior of the house wall.
• Garden security light (new, purchased by us).
• Porch light (new, purchased by us).
• Two new smoke alarm, hardwired (new, supplied by us)
• Earthing and bonding as required.
• Plaster repairs to the walls after the work is completed.
• The paperwork signed off and Building Control notified.

This is how much we told a house rewire like this would cost us.

We’ve averaged the prices supplied to us and displayed them by general locale as there was a noticeable difference in cost from region to region:

Project 2 –  House Rewiring Cost for a 2-Bed Property

This is how much we were told it would cost for a 2-bed house, again with a ground and a first floor:

 What’s Excluded From Our Prices

Here are some items/tasks that were excluded from our house rewiring project:

• Wall and ceiling redecoration such as painting or wallpapering etc.
• Replacing damaged kitchen or bathroom wall tiles.
• We chose white plastic sockets and switches etc.; metal products will cost more.
• House alarm (we don’t have one).
• Live-in premium – A significant number of electricians told us that they will not complete a full house rewire unless the occupant moves out for the duration. Some told us they prefer the property to be empty or nearly empty as well. We told our electricians that we planned to leave the house as the project would take longer to complete with us living there (more about this in our extensive FAQs section).

12 Things To Do Before You Get A Price For House Rewiring

Here are 12 things we think you should do before you get a quote for rewiring:

• First, consider having your existing wiring inspected by a qualified electrician. It could be old but safe, and you might be able to upgrade parts of it such as the consumer unit, without replacing all of it.
• Be very clear about how many plug sockets you want and where you want them. As a general rule of thumb, more is better in the living room.
• Consider installing USB enabled plug sockets in the living room and bedrooms so you can charge watches, mp3 players, tablets and phones etc. without using a plug socket (this frees up space for other electronics).
• Take your time to think about your ceiling lights, especially downlights, what type you want and where they should be fitted.
• Don’t forget your garage (power and lighting), your garden and loft.
• Consider adding extra plug sockets to the smallest room in your home. It could be used as a home office or games room one day.
• Think about the wiring for wall-mounted speakers and TVs, now would be the best time to hide those ugly cables.
• Thinking about getting solar roof panels one day? With the UK banning the sale of new diesel and petrol cars from 2030, solar panels will become a cheap, popular and sought after way to charge electric vehicles. Mention this to your installer so they can choose the right equipment and get everything set up and ready for your future solar panel installation.
• Ask your electrician about any likely damage to plastered walls, ceilings and also tiling etc. Ask who will foot the bill for any repairs or “making good”. Some electricians will replaster the channels they cut into the walls while some won’t.
• Look at different online stores and compare prices for plastic and metal switches, sockets, light fittings and lights etc.
• Check that your chosen electrician is a member of a Competent Person scheme and that they can self-certify their work and notify the local Building Control on your behalf.
• Check your electrician is qualified and has a history of undertaking projects like this. A good place to start is Rated People.

This would certainly free up a few sockets, wouldn’t it? Hence the importance of thoroughly pre-planning your rewiring project.

How Long Does it Take to Rewire a House?

There’s no easy answer to this question although “how long is a piece of string” comes to mind.

The time it will take depends on:

• How many electricians are working in the house. Usually, it’s one or two, but your firm could put three workers on the project, thus speeding up the project.
• The number of downlights is a factor as a typical room needs quite a few of them to provide sufficient light, and they each take time to install.
• Whether your electrician is making good the plaster or you are, or you’ll be getting a plasterer in yourself etc.
• If you want electrics supplied to your loft, garage, garden etc., then this adds time to the project as does vehicle charging points, solar panels, home storage batteries, air conditioning units, security lights and so forth.

Here is an approximate guide to how long it takes to rewire a typical house:

• 2-bed house: 4-7 days depending on complexity.
• 3-bed house: 5-8 days depending on complexity.
• 4-bed house: 9-13 days depending on complexity.

We’ve answered many more frequently asked questions in our FAQs section further down the page.

Get a Custom Price For Your Rewiring Project

Tap the button below to get a custom price for your electrical project.

• Fill in the form with details of your project.
• Get prices from qualified and local electricians.
• Read vetted reviews from past customers.
• No obligation and all quotations are free and in writing.

House Rewire FAQs

Below you’ll find answers to questions about our house rewire price guide: