Ryan, RM Electrical NAPIT registered electrician, South Wales
A full rewire starts from £4,000 + VAT (£4,800 inc VAT), with a new consumer unit included.
Where yours lands past that is the honest part: two identical-looking three bed semis can be thousands apart depending on how the cable is run, whether anyone is living there, and what turns up once the floors come up. So below is what the job consists of, the five things that decide it, and an estimator that collects all of it and sends it to Ryan, who prices it after walking the house.
What each size of house involves
| Property | Light points | Sockets |
|---|---|---|
| Flat or maisonette One or two bedrooms | 8 | 12 |
| 2 bed terrace Mid or end of terrace | 10 | 14 |
| 3 bed semi The most common rewire | 12 | 18 |
| 4 bed detached Or a large semi | 16 | 24 |
| 5 bed or bigger Or anything over two floors | 20 | 30 |
Every one of those includes taking the old cable out, running new circuits, a new consumer unit with RCBO protection, testing, the certificate and notifying building control. None of them include replastering or redecorating, which is covered further down.
What moves the price
Five things decide what a rewire costs, and they matter more than the size of the house.
1. How the cable is run
Chasing the cable into the walls and plastering over it means nothing is on show. It is also the slowest way to do it, so it is the dearest. Running it in surface trunking is quicker and cheaper, but you can see the trunking. Most people end up with a mix: chased in the rooms you live in, surface in the loft, garage and under the stairs.
2. Whether anyone is living there
An empty house can be done room after room without moving anything. A lived-in house means working around furniture, lifting and relaying carpets, and leaving the house safe and with power at the end of every day. That takes longer, and the price reflects it.
3. How many lights and sockets you want
Each size of house comes with a sensible allowance of light points and sockets. Most people take the chance to add more, especially in kitchens and bedrooms, and each extra point adds a little. The estimator starts you at the allowance so you only have to nudge it.
4. The state of the fuse board
A rewire normally includes a new consumer unit anyway. If the existing one is modern and in good order it can sometimes stay, but in most houses old enough to need a rewire, it goes.
5. Extras while the walls are open
Anything that needs its own circuit is far cheaper added during a rewire than as a separate job later:
- An electric shower circuit
- A cooker circuit
- A supply out to a shed or garden room
- A cable run ready for an EV charger, with the charger fitted later
Each of those is a fraction of what it costs as its own visit, because the floors are already up and the board is already open.
Partial rewires
Not every house needs doing top to bottom. A kitchen refit, an extension or a garage conversion often only needs those rooms rewiring back to the board. A partial rewire is priced by the parts being done, not as a slice of a whole-house figure, because a kitchen and a garage are very different jobs.
| Area | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Kitchen | Every socket, the hob and oven circuits and the lighting, all back to the board |
| Downstairs (living room, dining room, hall) | Sockets and lighting on the ground floor, usually the messiest for making good |
| Upstairs (bedrooms and landing) | Floorboards up along the runs, so best done with carpets already coming up |
| Loft conversion | A new circuit up, lighting, sockets and usually smoke detection |
| Extension | First fix before the plasterer, second fix after |
| Bathroom | Zones, extractor, shaver point and lighting, all RCD protected |
| Garage | Its own way at the board, lighting and sockets rated for the damp |
| Shed or garden room | Armoured supply from the house, then a small board inside it |
What is not in the price
Plastering. Chasing cable in leaves channels in the walls. They are filled and made good so they are ready for a plasterer or decorator, but a full skim is a separate trade. Ask for it to be priced up front so there are no surprises.
Decorating. Plan on redecorating the rooms that are chased. Most people time a rewire before a redecoration for exactly this reason.
Anything a survey turns up. Old houses sometimes hide things, like a damaged supply cable or a missing earth. Anything like that is found on the survey and priced before the job is booked, not halfway through it.
How to get a firm price
The estimator gets you a realistic range in a couple of minutes. To turn it into a fixed price, Ryan walks the house. That usually takes under an hour, and the figure he puts in writing afterwards is the one you pay.
Sending a few photos first, of the fuse board and a couple of rooms, often means he can firm the number up before he even comes out.
Questions people ask
How do I know if my house needs a rewire?
The common signs are an old fuse box with wire fuses, rubber or fabric covered cable, black or brown sockets and switches, no RCD protection, and lights flickering or sockets feeling warm. If the house has not been rewired in 30 years or more, it is worth having it checked.
Can I stay in the house during a rewire?
Yes. Most rewires in South Wales are done with people living in them. It takes longer and costs a bit more, and there will be days without power in parts of the house. See how long a rewire takes for what it is like day to day.
Does a rewire need building control?
Yes. A rewire is notifiable work in Wales. A registered electrician notifies it through their scheme, so you do not have to apply separately, and you get a certificate at the end.
No prices on this page are guesses, because there are none. Ryan prices every job himself, in writing, after seeing it.
Watch Ryan do one The sound of a rewire A real job, filmed on Instagram. Opens in a new tab. Keep reading
- How long does a rewire take, and can you stay in the house? The days involved, living through it, and keeping the mess down.
- Consumer unit replacement cost, and do you need one? What a new fuse board costs, what you get, and the signs you need one.
- How much does an EV charger cost to install? Fitted prices for untethered, tethered and solar chargers, and what adds to them.