Yes, I know it's asking "how long is a piece of string?" I have a four
bed, two storey house that needs wiring - no electricity at all at the
moment. To me that makes it a clean simple job. All plaster hacked off
ready to for plumbing and wiring at the moment.

I just like to have a ballpark figure so that I can weed out quotes that
are too high or too low.

Anyone had a rewire done within living memory?

Steve Firth wrote:
Yes, I know it's asking "how long is a piece of string?" I have a four
bed, two storey house that needs wiring - no electricity at all at the
moment. To me that makes it a clean simple job. All plaster hacked off
ready to for plumbing and wiring at the moment.

I just like to have a ballpark figure so that I can weed out quotes
that are too high or too low.

Anyone had a rewire done within living memory?

So you don't know about everything then? Wonders will never cease!

Steve Firth wrote:
Yes, I know it's asking "how long is a piece of string?" I have a four
bed, two storey house that needs wiring - no electricity at all at the
moment. To me that makes it a clean simple job. All plaster hacked off
ready to for plumbing and wiring at the moment.

I just like to have a ballpark figure so that I can weed out quotes
that are too high or too low.

I suppose you would be looking at £1500 for the cheap job (ie couple of
sockets per room, no smoke detectors, no tv or telephone points and the
minimum 17th edn CU) rising up to whatever they think they can getaway with
for a decent amount of sockets, TV and telephone points, smokes, extractor
fans etc.

I quoted £2000 per house a few years ago for a row of 3 bed town houses (new
builds) then stuck on £1750 of extras (ie burgular alarm, 27 downlights,
electric shower on the top floor and so on)

But as you pointed out, it is only a "how long is a piece of string
question"

--
Adam

On Nov 5, 11:09*am, "ARWadsworth"
wrote:

But as you pointed out, it is only a "how long is a piece of string
question"

It's worse than that. String cost scales linearly with length of
string.

So what changes the cost of a house re-wire? Is it speccing better
components that puts the price up, asking for more bits and pieces,
state of the house (i.e. plaster off and undecorated is easy) or the
awkwardness of the house construction?

Andy Dingley wrote:
On Nov 5, 11:09 am, "ARWadsworth"
wrote:

But as you pointed out, it is only a "how long is a piece of string
question"

It's worse than that. String cost scales linearly with length of
string.

So what changes the cost of a house re-wire? Is it speccing better
components that puts the price up, asking for more bits and pieces,
state of the house (i.e. plaster off and undecorated is easy) or the
awkwardness of the house construction?

More bits and pieces certainly bumps the price up - usually by more in
labour costs than material costs. Imagine a hallway with just 1 pendant
light and the same hallway with 4 downlights. If you shove cheap downlights
in at £8 a throw the labour charge will cost more than the £32 worth of
lights and a bit of T&E.

Unoccupied, no plaster on the walls and no ceilings certainly make for a
cheaper rewire (like newbuilds) than an occupied house with the furniture
and carpets.

--
Adam

On 05/11/10 11:34, ARWadsworth wrote:
More bits and pieces certainly bumps the price up - usually by more in
labour costs than material costs. Imagine a hallway with just 1 pendant
light and the same hallway with 4 downlights. If you shove cheap downlights
in at £8 a throw the labour charge will cost more than the £32 worth of
lights and a bit of T&E.

Our experience is that multiway switching can increase the complexity and
cost significantly, both on the materials and labour side.

Andy Dingley wrote:
On Nov 5, 11:09 am, "ARWadsworth"
wrote:

But as you pointed out, it is only a "how long is a piece of string
question"

It's worse than that. String cost scales linearly with length of
string.

So what changes the cost of a house re-wire? Is it speccing better
components that puts the price up, asking for more bits and pieces,
state of the house (i.e. plaster off and undecorated is easy) or the
awkwardness of the house construction?

Not offering the electrician a cup of tea can increase costs dramatically.

--
Adam

On Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:54:19 +0000, ARWadsworth wrote:
Not offering the electrician a cup of tea can increase costs
dramatically.

Yes, so be sure to bring your battery-operated kettle until the kitchen's
done :-)

On Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:31:39 +0000, Steve Firth wrote:

Yes, I know it's asking "how long is a piece of string?" I have a four
bed, two storey house that needs wiring - no electricity at all at the
moment. To me that makes it a clean simple job. All plaster hacked off
ready to for plumbing and wiring at the moment.

I think the norm this side of the pond is a couple of days for a couple
of people on a new-build (i.e. easy access to wall spaces), which might
give you an idea of labour costs - and maybe you can estimate materials
costs to add onto that (and add something for "profit")

cheers

Jules

Jules Richardson wrote:
On Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:31:39 +0000, Steve Firth wrote:

Yes, I know it's asking "how long is a piece of string?" I have a four
bed, two storey house that needs wiring - no electricity at all at the
moment. To me that makes it a clean simple job. All plaster hacked off
ready to for plumbing and wiring at the moment.

I think the norm this side of the pond is a couple of days for a couple
of people on a new-build (i.e. easy access to wall spaces), which might
give you an idea of labour costs - and maybe you can estimate materials
costs to add onto that (and add something for "profit")

cheers

Jules
Thata miniu really.

Depending on how much alarm cable, cat 5 and thermostat wires you want,
it can take a lot longer than that..also dong it invisibly is a bugger.
One electrican spent two days in an old house running a single ring..and
that's without the faceplates added.

On Nov 5, 5:13*pm, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:
Jules Richardson wrote:
On Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:31:39 +0000, Steve Firth wrote:

Yes, I know it's asking "how long is a piece of string?" I have a four
bed, two storey house that needs wiring - no electricity at all at the
moment. To me that makes it a clean simple job. All plaster hacked off
ready to for plumbing and wiring at the moment.

I think the norm this side of the pond is a couple of days for a couple
of people on a new-build (i.e. easy access to wall spaces), which might
give you an idea of labour costs - and maybe you can estimate materials
costs to add onto that (and add something for "profit")

cheers

Jules

Thata miniu really.

Depending on how much alarm cable, cat 5 and thermostat wires you want,
it can take a lot longer than that..also dong it invisibly is a bugger.
One electrican spent two days in an old house running a single ring..and
that's without the faceplates added.


DIYing it would pay well, per day.

Take advantage of any spaces to run cat5e in, no need to terminate it
if you dont need it now. In future you probably will - and to fit it
now costs little, to fit it later costs lots.


NT

On Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:13:45 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Jules Richardson wrote:
On Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:31:39 +0000, Steve Firth wrote:

Yes, I know it's asking "how long is a piece of string?" I have a four
bed, two storey house that needs wiring - no electricity at all at the
moment. To me that makes it a clean simple job. All plaster hacked off
ready to for plumbing and wiring at the moment.

I think the norm this side of the pond is a couple of days for a couple
of people on a new-build (i.e. easy access to wall spaces), which might
give you an idea of labour costs - and maybe you can estimate materials
costs to add onto that (and add something for "profit")

cheers

Jules
Thata miniu really.

Depending on how much alarm cable, cat 5 and thermostat wires you want,
it can take a lot longer than that..also dong it invisibly is a bugger.

TBH, I didn't factor that kind of thing in. I think of re-wiring (or
wiring in the first place) as meaning just mains (and Steve didn't
mention to the contrary). Not everyone needs network, phone, t'stat etc.
so yes, those would be extra IMHO.

I'm not sure they've even come under the remit of an electrician over
here, but be done by phone engineers, HVAC techs etc. as/when needed.

One electrican spent two days in an old house running a single ring..and
that's without the faceplates added.

Was that with access to the wall space? I can understand issues if they
were fishing cables through existing walls and hit a major snag, but I'm
amazed it took that long otherwise.

cheers

Jules

"Jules Richardson" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:54:19 +0000, ARWadsworth wrote:
Not offering the electrician a cup of tea can increase costs
dramatically.

Yes, so be sure to bring your battery-operated kettle until the kitchen's
done :-)

Shouldn't be a problem with a 17th ed split CU

ARWadsworth wrote:

[snip]
I suppose you would be looking at £1500 for the cheap job (ie couple of
sockets per room, no smoke detectors, no tv or telephone points and the
minimum 17th edn CU) rising up to whatever they think they can getaway with
for a decent amount of sockets, TV and telephone points, smokes, extractor
fans etc.
[snip]

Thanks for the reply, I had estimated £3000 for the work and I'm looking
for tenders around that value. One quote was however so far from that
that I thought I had better check my reality. However since the bloke in
question made it clear today that he wants £600 to fit a four-pole 30KW
rotary isolator, I suspect the rest of the quote is inflated in
proportion.

On 04/11/10 21:31, Steve Firth wrote:
Yes, I know it's asking "how long is a piece of string?" I have a four
bed, two storey house that needs wiring - no electricity at all at the
moment. To me that makes it a clean simple job. All plaster hacked off
ready to for plumbing and wiring at the moment.

I just like to have a ballpark figure so that I can weed out quotes that
are too high or too low.

Anyone had a rewire done within living memory?
I would imagine that if they quote £x for Y sockets
then they'll do it in plastic conduit on the surface
as that'd be quicker and easier than burying the wires.
[g]

"george [dicegeorge]" wrote in message
...
On 04/11/10 21:31, Steve Firth wrote:
Yes, I know it's asking "how long is a piece of string?" I have a four
bed, two storey house that needs wiring - no electricity at all at the
moment. To me that makes it a clean simple job. All plaster hacked off
ready to for plumbing and wiring at the moment.

I just like to have a ballpark figure so that I can weed out quotes that
are too high or too low.

Anyone had a rewire done within living memory?
I would imagine that if they quote £x for Y sockets
then they'll do it in plastic conduit on the surface
as that'd be quicker and easier than burying the wires.
[g]

I'm sure that if they wanted a bodge job the average punter would diy

tim

george [dicegeorge] wrote:
On 04/11/10 21:31, Steve Firth wrote:
Yes, I know it's asking "how long is a piece of string?" I have a
four bed, two storey house that needs wiring - no electricity at all
at the moment. To me that makes it a clean simple job. All plaster
hacked off ready to for plumbing and wiring at the moment.

I just like to have a ballpark figure so that I can weed out quotes
that are too high or too low.

Anyone had a rewire done within living memory?
I would imagine that if they quote £x for Y sockets
then they'll do it in plastic conduit on the surface
as that'd be quicker and easier than burying the wires.
[g]

There is a time and place for cables in trunking. This is not one of them.

--
Adam

Jules Richardson wrote:

Was that with access to the wall space?

What wall space? We build houses over here, not glorified garden sheds :-)

Pete