How to save money on a house rewire: advice from an electrician

Helpful video reference. Mike Humphries of Green Hawk Electrical shares the inside view in "How To Save Money on Rewiring Your House (Electrician Advice)". Green Hawk Electrical is a Hinckley-based domestic electrical firm. Mike covers UK regulations and real-world installation work in a straightforward, no-nonsense way.

1. Time the rewire to coincide with other building work

The single biggest factor in rewire cost is access. Running cables in a fully furnished, carpeted and plastered house means lifting floors, chasing walls, lifting carpets and making good afterwards. Running cables in a house that is already stripped back for plastering, an extension or a loft conversion costs a fraction of the same work in a finished house.

If you are buying a house that needs work, or planning a significant renovation, bring the electrician in early. Even if you cannot afford to rewire everything at once, a first-fix visit during the build phase to run cables in accessible areas can save considerably on the eventual second-fix cost.

The same applies to loft conversions and extensions. Ask the electrician to quote for the existing house at the same time as the new work. The scaffolding is up, the plaster is not yet on, and the disruption is already priced in.

2. Prepare access yourself before the electrician arrives

Electricians charge by time, not by how long you watched them work. Everything you do in advance is time you do not pay for.

Before the first day on site:

• Lift carpets and underlay from all rooms where cables need to be run under the floor. Stack them rolled in the garage or garden.
• Move furniture clear of skirting boards and walls. Even pushing it to the centre of each room saves considerable time.
• Clear the loft of insulation over the cable routes if access allows. Bag it up in the loft rather than removing it, so it can be relaid afterwards.
• Clear the airing cupboard and any built-in storage near the consumer unit location.

None of this requires electrical knowledge. It is preparation work, and doing it yourself is legal, sensible and saves real money.

3. Get three written, itemised quotes

Verbal estimates are not quotes. Get everything in writing, and ask each contractor to itemise the price into materials, labour, consumer unit, Building Regulations notification fee and testing. When quotes use a single lump sum it is impossible to know what you are comparing.

When comparing quotes, check that each one includes the same scope. A quote that includes an all-RCBO consumer unit, surge protection device and new smoke alarm system will be higher than one that does not mention any of these. One is not necessarily better value than the other: the cheaper quote may simply be incomplete.

Ask each contractor about their scheme membership (NICEIC, NAPIT or equivalent). Registered contractors self-certify notifiable work directly; non-registered contractors must use a local authority building control application, which adds cost and time.

4. Agree your full circuit schedule before work starts

A rewire is priced on a known scope. The moment you ask for an extra socket position, a lighting point moved three feet, or a cooker circuit added that was not in the original quote, you are paying at a day-rate for the additional work. This is not unreasonable; it is just expensive if it happens repeatedly.

Before the electrician starts, produce a room-by-room list of every socket, lighting point, switch position, and dedicated circuit you want. Mark them on a sketch floor plan if that helps. Go around every room twice and think about where furniture will go, where you use extension leads now, and what appliances will be where.

Changes after cable is laid and plastering has started are particularly expensive, because new cable routes may mean fresh chasing into finished walls. The effort spent planning now is returned tenfold in avoided change-order costs.

5. Check what the quote explicitly includes

A complete, compliant rewire quote must include:

• The consumer unit upgrade. Old rewireable fuse boxes and 1990s split-load boards must be replaced as part of any full rewire. Check it is itemised.
• The Electrical Installation Certificate. This is the legal documentation that the work complies with BS 7671. Without it, your building insurer may not pay out after a fire, and you will face difficulty selling the property.
• The Building Regulations notification fee. Registered contractors include this in their price. If it is listed as an extra, add it to the comparison figure.
• Testing and inspection. The electrician must test every circuit before issuing the certificate. This should not be a separate line item charged on top.

Quotes that omit any of these items will cost more than they appear once you account for the omissions. A quote that includes everything is almost always better value than one that front-loads a low number and adds items later.

6. Ask for a first-fix and second-fix payment schedule

A properly structured rewire has two stages: first fix (cables are run and terminated at the consumer unit end, but sockets, switches and lighting fittings are not yet fitted) and second fix (everything is connected, the board is live, and the certificate is issued). These are natural payment milestones.

Pay a deposit at the start, the first-fix amount when cables are in and you can see the work done, and the balance on completion when the Electrical Installation Certificate is in your hands. Do not pay in full before second fix is complete. A contractor who asks for full payment up front before the job is finished warrants caution.

This structure also gives you a clear checkpoint. If first fix is not to the agreed specification, you can raise it before second fix rather than discovering problems after everything is plastered over.

When to call us

If you are in east Kent and want a written, itemised rewire quote for your property, call Richard. Sandwich is a 10-minute drive, and the quote visit is free. Richard is NAPIT-registered and includes the Electrical Installation Certificate and Building Regulations notification in every rewire price.