How much does a house rewire cost?

A house rewire is one of the bigger electrical jobs a home ever needs, so it's natural to want a sense of the cost before you pick up the phone. The honest answer is that no two rewires are the same, but understanding what drives the price helps you plan and makes it easier to compare quotes fairly.

What a rewire actually involves

A full rewire means replacing the cabling, sockets, switches, light fittings and, usually, the consumer unit throughout the property. The old wiring is removed or made dead, new cables are run through walls, floors and ceilings, and everything is connected back to a modern fuse board with the right protection. The finished installation is then tested and certified to the current wiring regulations. You can read more about how we approach it on our rewiring service page.

Signs your home may need a rewire

Age is the biggest clue. If the wiring has never been touched in decades, it may be reaching the end of its safe life. Common warning signs include:

• Old rubber, fabric or lead-sheathed cabling, or aluminium wiring
• Frequent fuses blowing, breakers tripping or flickering lights
• Too few sockets, so extension leads are everywhere
• No earthing or bonding, or an old fuse box with rewireable fuses
• A pre-purchase survey or EICR flagging the installation as unsatisfactory

If a couple of these sound familiar, it's worth getting the installation looked at. Not every home needs a full rewire, and a good electrician will tell you honestly what is and isn't necessary.

Full rewire or partial rewire?

A full rewire replaces everything and is usually the right call for older properties where the whole installation is tired. A partial rewire tackles just part of the home, for example a kitchen, an extension or a single problem circuit, and can be the sensible, cheaper option when the rest of the wiring is sound. Deciding between the two is something we can advise on after a proper look, rather than guessing.

What affects the cost

Several things move the price up or down:

• The size of the property and the number of bedrooms and circuits
• Whether the house is empty or occupied while we work
• How much chasing into walls is needed, and how much making good afterwards
• Whether the consumer unit is being upgraded at the same time
• Access and the age of the building, as older layouts can be trickier to route through
• Any extras you add, such as more sockets, outdoor power or new lighting

A rough guide to price

As a very general industry guide, full rewires for a typical UK home often fall somewhere in the region of a few thousand pounds up to five figures for larger houses. That is a broad market ballpark to set expectations, not a DGC Electrical quote, and the real figure depends entirely on your property and what the work involves. The only way to know what your rewire costs is to have it looked at, which is why our quotes are free.

How long it takes and how disruptive it is

A full rewire of an average home commonly takes several days to a couple of weeks, depending on size and whether you're living there. There will be some mess, as floorboards come up and walls get chased, but a tidy electrician keeps disruption to a minimum, works room by room where possible, and clears up as they go. We'll always talk you through the plan before we start so there are no surprises.