How to price a house rewire

A rewire is one of the bigger jobs a domestic electrician quotes, and one of the easiest to get wrong, because so much of the cost is in the disruption around the cabling, not the cabling itself. Chasing walls, lifting floors and making good often outweigh the consumer unit and the cable. Here is how to survey a rewire, count what matters, and build a quote that protects your margin. This is for qualified electricians working to current wiring regulations.

Walk the property and count the points

You can't price a rewire from a description. Walk every room and count what's going in, because the number of points drives both materials and labour.

• Count sockets, light points, switches and any dedicated circuits (cooker, shower, EV charger).
• Note the consumer unit position and whether it needs moving or upgrading.
• Check the construction: solid walls mean chasing and making good, stud walls and accessible lofts are quicker.
• Look at floor types: lifting and relaying floorboards is very different from a concrete floor.
• Confirm whether the customer wants any additions while the walls are open, like extra sockets or network cabling.

Full rewire or partial?

Be clear with the customer, and on the quote, whether you're pricing a full rewire or a partial one. A partial rewire that reuses sound existing circuits is a different job and a different price, and you need to state plainly which circuits are being replaced and which are being left and tested. Vague scope here causes the biggest arguments.

The line items to include

A rewire quote should make the disruption visible, because that's where the money goes. Break it down so the customer understands they're paying for far more than cable.

• First fix: running new cable, chasing walls, lifting floors, fitting back boxes.
• Consumer unit: a new board with the required protection devices.
• Second fix: fitting sockets, switches, light fittings and accessories.
• Testing, inspection and certification, including the building control notification.
• Making good: filling chases, patching plaster and reinstating floors (state whether decoration is included).
• Waste removal of old cabling, the old board and accessories.

Price your own labour and materials

Estimate labour from the realistic number of days for a property of that size and construction, then price cable, accessories, the consumer unit and consumables from your suppliers. Price your own materials and labour for the job in front of you, because a solid-wall Victorian terrace and a modern stud-wall house with an empty loft are completely different amounts of work for the same number of points.

Certification, making good and exclusions

State clearly that the price includes testing, inspection and the certificate, and the building control notification, because that's part of doing it properly. Then be explicit about making good. Most electricians make good to a fillable finish but don't decorate. Say which you're doing. If the property is occupied, note that work will happen room by room and the power will be off at times.

Present the price cleanly

Pull it together as a clear scope (full or partial, with the point count), a staged breakdown, your exclusions, the certification you'll provide, and the total with VAT shown separately if you're registered. A rewire is major disruption for a household, so a quote that explains what's happening and why earns trust over a bare number.

For the sections every quote should carry, see what every professional quote should include. If you can't fully assess the property until floors are up, our guide on quote vs estimate covers when to give a fixed price and when to estimate.