There is no honest one-size answer, because the price is driven by the property itself: its size and layout, whether it is occupied or empty while we work, how the walls and floors are built, how many sockets, switches and lights you want, and the kitchen and bathroom specification. Two three-bedroom houses a street apart can come out noticeably different. Our online rewire calculator gives you a realistic starting figure in a couple of minutes, and a free survey turns that into a fixed written quotation with the inclusions and exclusions spelled out.

Most of the house rewires we carry out are completed in two to five days. A compact flat sits at the short end; a large or three-storey house at the longer end. Occupied properties, difficult floor access and extra work agreed along the way — data cabling, outdoor power, EV provision — can all stretch the programme, and we tell you before they do.

Age alone doesn't decide it — condition does. The signs we take seriously are rubber or fabric-covered cable, a fuse box with rewirable fuses or no RCD protection, tripping that can't be traced to one circuit, warm sockets or scorch marks, and an EICR with C1 or C2 codes across several circuits. A survey settles it: we inspect the board, sample the cabling and test the circuits, then put the answer in writing. If your home doesn't need a rewire, we say so.

Yes — most families do. We sequence the work room by room so the house keeps functioning: the kitchen and at least one bathroom stay usable for all but a day, and the power is only fully off while the new consumer unit goes in, with supplies restored each evening. You'll need to clear small items and give us access to floor coverings in the rooms we're working in; we'll agree the running order with you before we start.

Yes. A full rewire replaces every circuit from the consumer unit outwards, so a new 18th Edition board with RCBO protection — and surge protection fitted at the board — is part of the job, not an extra.

Cables have to be buried, so chasing walls is unavoidable — but making good is part of our quote: every chase we cut is filled and skim-coated ready for decorating. Decorating itself is the one thing that follows later, because fresh plaster needs time to dry before it will take paint. If a wall finish is fragile or special (lath and plaster, period cornicing), we flag it at the survey rather than surprise you.

In most rooms, yes — cable runs go under floors wherever possible, so boards are lifted and refitted as we go. Carpets and laminate need to be rolled back or lifted in the rooms being worked on; we'll tell you at the survey which rooms are affected and agree who handles floor coverings. Fitted floors that can't be lifted usually mean surface trunking or rerouting, which we'd rather plan than improvise.

Yes — a partial rewire replaces the circuits that have failed or are unsafe while leaving sound circuits in service. It's often the right call where a previous extension was wired well but the original house wasn't, or where test results condemn one or two circuits rather than the lot. The honest caveat: where most circuits are borderline, doing them one at a time usually costs more in the end than rewiring once, properly — we'll show you the test results either way.

They can coexist during a phased job, but every circuit we install is new cable protected by the new board — we don't extend perished rubber or fabric cable, and we won't bury new problems behind fresh plaster. Where old circuits remain in service after a partial rewire, that's recorded on the certificate so there's no ambiguity about what was and wasn't replaced.

Yes, in that order — wiring first, wet trades after. A rewire means chases in walls and lifted floors, so it belongs before plastering and well before decorating. Kitchens are the big one: the layout decides where the cooker circuit, sockets and appliance supplies go, so have the kitchen design settled before first fix, and fit the kitchen after the rewire. Rewiring a freshly fitted kitchen is possible, but you'd be paying to disturb brand-new finishes.

On completion you receive an Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) recording the work and the test results for every circuit. A rewire is notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations, and as Part P registered electricians we handle the notification — you receive the compliance paperwork without chasing anyone. Keep both documents: solicitors and buyers ask for them when you sell.

It helps, and sometimes it's all you need. An EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) inspects and tests what's there and grades any defects — C1 and C2 codes mark the circuits that genuinely need attention. A report scattered with them across several circuits usually points to rewiring; one isolated fault usually doesn't. If you already have a recent EICR, bring it to the survey and we'll quote from the findings.

Yes, and a rewire is the cheapest moment you'll ever have to do it — the walls are open and the floors are up. We plan socket positions room by room with you before first fix, including the places people forget: beside beds, behind televisions, in the home office. Adding them later means fresh chasing and redecorating, so it pays to be generous now.

Yes to all three, and the rewire is the right time. Hard-wired data points to a home office or TV wall beat Wi-Fi through thick walls; a suitably rated circuit run to the meter position makes a future EV charger a bolt-on rather than a second disruption; and interlinked mains smoke and heat alarm wiring is part of every full rewire we do. Solar or battery provision can be allowed for at the board in the same way — say so at the survey and it goes in the plan.

Everything accessible is stripped out and taken away — old cable left in place invites confusion for the next electrician and can be mistaken for live wiring. Where a redundant cable genuinely can't be removed without disproportionate damage, it's disconnected at both ends and made safe.

Not for long. Power goes off in the rooms being worked on during the day and is restored each evening, and the whole installation is only off while the old consumer unit comes out and the new one goes in — typically part of one day. If anyone in the house depends on powered medical equipment, tell us and we'll plan around it.

That's exactly how we sequence occupied houses — it's what keeps the property liveable. What we'd caution against is spreading a rewire over months or years as separate mini-projects: each visit repeats the setup, testing and certification overhead, and the installation lives in limbo in between. One planned programme, room by room, gets you the same low disruption without the repeated cost.

Clear small and fragile items from the rooms on that day's list, empty the bottoms of built-in wardrobes where floors need lifting, and decide in advance where you want sockets, switches and lights — changes are easy before first fix and expensive after plastering. We confirm the room-by-room running order with you before day one, so you always know which part of the house is next.

The postcode, property type and number of bedrooms; whether the house will be occupied or empty during the work; roughly when it was last rewired if known; photos of the consumer unit if you have them; and a note of anything beyond a standard specification — kitchen plans, a home office, outdoor power, EV charging. With that we can give a meaningful estimate, and the free survey pins it down to a fixed written quotation.

Decorating after the plaster has dried, floor covering replacement where carpets or laminate can't survive lifting, and structural surprises — asbestos-containing materials or rotten floorboards found once floors are up — which are priced separately if they appear, never smuggled into the original number. Our quotes state their exclusions in writing, so the comparison with any other quote is like for like.

Every circuit is inspected and tested to BS 7671 before energising: continuity of conductors, insulation resistance, polarity, earth fault loop impedance and RCD operation. The readings are recorded on the Electrical Installation Certificate — not filed away, but handed to you — so the safety of the installation is documented, not asserted.

There's no fixed lifespan — a common misconception. Modern PVC cable installed and protected properly can serve for many decades, while a poor installation can be trouble inside ten years. What matters is periodic inspection: an EICR every ten years for owner-occupied homes (five for rentals, where it's a legal requirement) tells you how the installation is actually ageing, and catches deterioration while it's still a small job.