Guideline Price for House Rewire

Kernel

Hi All,

Just wondering if any sparks out there have a current guideline price for labour in a house rewire. Normal 3 bedroom, normal amount of sockets, but with recessed lighting in every room. I would supply the materials, so just wondering what the labour would be?

Also, all the rooms are cleared, so no mess getting to floorboards etc.

Kernel

Anybody? Anyone got a 3 bedroomed house rewired lately in Dublin? Just looking for ballpark figures to help me decide whether I should bite the bullet or put it off.

rooferPete

Hi Kernal,

A guide depending on the amount of chasing / finishing etc I would expect between €2500.00 > €3,000.00.

.

Kernel

rooferPete wrote:

Hi Kernal,

A guide depending on the amount of chasing / finishing etc I would expect between €2500.00 > €3,000.00.

.

Cheers Peter, do you reckon that would be the price even if I supply the materials? I was talking to a spark and he said most of the job would be finished in a weekend, with 100% completion within the week - he's going to get back to me with a price. Seems like a lot for labour though - 1,500 a day, more or less.

Wish I became an electrician when I left school now...

Stoner

Kernel

If you've got a sparks who can bang out a good quality job for that money then I'd take it.
Some guys do nothing but this work and are very fast at it, you could pay less per day but it may take a good bit longer and end up costing the same but your disrupted for more time.
If the guy does nice work, cleans up after himself and fills in any holes etc please send me his details I keep getting asked for recs.

My brother, another sparks and I were getting a house done in one Saturday from 8 to 8 a few years ago and were were good at it, it was all we did, cant do it anymore and its hard to get someone who can, rewiring is kind of an art I'd advise only using someone who has been recommended based on similar work, not just someone who put in extra sockets etc.

I would say that a standard 3 bed house would cost you 3500 to 4000 cash.

Kernel

Stoner wrote:

Kernel

If you've got a sparks who can bang out a good quality job for that money then I'd take it.
Some guys do nothing but this work and are very fast at it, you could pay less per day but it may take a good bit longer and end up costing the same but your disrupted for more time.
If the guy does nice work, cleans up after himself and fills in any holes etc please send me his details I keep getting asked for recs.

My brother, another sparks and I were getting a house done in one Saturday from 8 to 8 a few years ago and were were good at it, it was all we did, cant do it anymore and its hard to get someone who can, rewiring is kind of an art I'd advise only using someone who has been recommended based on similar work, not just someone who put in extra sockets etc.

I would say that a standard 3 bed house would cost you 3500 to 4000 cash.

Wow.... Jaysus, that's way over the top imo. As for it being an art, it's just chasing walls and running cable in fairness. The worse part is probably the downlighters, but at prices like that I reckon I'll give the rewire a miss, or try to track down some Polish workers. I could hire Jordan to walk around with me for two days for 2 grand a day, or hire a Thai prostitute for about 800 days.... hmmm.

Seriously.... 2 grand a day for labouring costs?!?

Stoner

kernal,

I price electrical work for a living
I get prices in on clean 2 bed apartments at normal time at 2.5 to 3K from guys who only do this sort of work and there would be loads of them so they work a system. I'm not saying pay someone 1.5K a day I am saying that s 2-4K price for an all in job is ok,
Let them get the gear too for the 4K will save you the hastel, he'll buy it better and if he overbuys its his problem, my experience is that giving guys gear is a nightmare, they rob it.

Doing a good rewire is very difficult, doing a bad one is easy.

My advice is get an all in price (except for the odd nice light fitting) let him quote for all work and all gear so you wont get hammered, get the test certs and test records from him too

Kernel

Stoner wrote:

kernal,

I price electrical work for a living
I get prices in on clean 2 bed apartments at normal time at 2.5 to 3K from guys who only do this sort of work and there would be loads of them so they work a system. I'm not saying pay someone 1.5K a day I am saying that s 2-4K price for an all in job is ok,
Let them get the gear too for the 4K will save you the hastel, he'll buy it better and if he overbuys its his problem, my experience is that giving guys gear is a nightmare, they rob it.

Doing a good rewire is very difficult, doing a bad one is easy.

My advice is get an all in price (except for the odd nice light fitting) let him quote for all work and all gear so you wont get hammered, get the test certs and test records from him too

Cheers for the info Stoner. I'm kinda on a budget and have a mate who can get me the electrical gear at almost cost (all the good chrome stuff too), so I was hoping to save a few quid by doing this and just paying the labour for the job... The house wiring isn't bad (over 20 years old though) but for safety I was going to get it redone, plus, as you know, if I lay down floors or anything before a rewire they'll have to be ripped up sometime in the future.

Dunno if I can stretch to it. Do you know where the best place to find Polish electricians in Ireland is?

Maybe I'll give it a go myself even, and just have someone wire it to a new fuseboard.

lomb

all i can say is if u can get someone to do it for 3 grand, go for it, last i heard, u are looking at 7500 for the job.
labours gone crazy imho, this countrys gotten very expensive with property etc and anyone who is in business (myself included tbh) wants to max the income out to cover the costs you have to suffer in this overpriced place.

FX Meister

Kernel wrote:

Maybe I'll give it a go myself even, and just have someone wire it to a new fuseboard.

Sounds like a great idea. Any sparks would be more than happy to do the fuseboard too.

Victor

Kernel it might be useful to indicate how many points - sockets, switches, lights, etc. Asking people to price "a house" is naive.

Also indicate what is in and out - chasing, fittings, switches & sockets, cabling. Saying you would "supply the materials" is ambigous.

I'm kinda on a budget and have a mate who can get me the electrical gear at almost cost (all the good chrome stuff too), so I was hoping to save a few quid by doing this and just paying the labour for the job...

And what if something "gets" broken, whos paying for that?

Kernel

Victor wrote:

Kernel it might be useful to indicate how many points - sockets, switches, lights, etc. Asking people to price "a house" is naive.

Also indicate what is in and out - chasing, fittings, switches & sockets, cabling. Saying you would "supply the materials" is ambigous.

Well, as I said, it's just a standard 3 bedroom, nothing fancy with the sockets but with recessed lighting. I hadn't counted out the number of fixtures at time of posting, I assumed any electricians here would be well used to rewiring 3 bedroom houses and would know the score with the fixtures. I would have the electrician chase and cable, since that's their job if they decide to take on a house rewiring job... Me supplying the materials means everything, cable, lights, fixtures/sockets etc.

Victor wrote:

And what if something "gets" broken, whos paying for that?

Me, I guess!

From what people have said here, and from prices I got (supplying the accurate details of sockets etc..) it seems that the price is too high in relation to the work involved, so I'll put the rewire on hold. I also found that most electricians wont do the job unless they are supplying the materials, since it's probably part of the 'stroke' they have going - ie. they get the materials at cost price and charge the customer the full whack, plus their own high labour costs.

Ahhh what's happened to honesty, good service and value for money on this greedy island.

Kernel

lomb wrote:

all i can say is if u can get someone to do it for 3 grand, go for it, last i heard, u are looking at 7500 for the job.
labours gone crazy imho, this countrys gotten very expensive with property etc and anyone who is in business (myself included tbh) wants to max the income out to cover the costs you have to suffer in this overpriced place.

Yeah it's true about maxing out the price lomb, but that only adds to our hyper inflated economy... If someone said 7.5k to me, in fairness, I would laugh at them for a few minutes... Then I would say: "At least Dick Turpin wore a mask".

3.5 - 4.5 seems to be the going rate (that's including materials and all recessed lighting).

LegacyUser

Be careful who you get. My parents got their house rewired a few years ago and went with this chap who destroyed every single room.

He cut hughe holes from skirting board to socket in each room, requiring a plasterer to fix.

In one of the rooms there was a desk still there. My father asked if he needed the desk removed, he said no. The guy cut the carpet around the desk to pull the carpet up!! How bad is that! After being asked if the desk should be moved!

I would have debited the cost of a new carpet from his payment, but my parents are too (whats the word) .. nice?? to follow through with it.

I was shocked. A couple of years later one of the fuses blew upstairs and all the trips were up in the box downstairs. The eejet hadn't put the upstairs on the trip switch box at all. i.e .. there was no trip switch for upstairs!

needless to say, he was called out to fix the mess. Ceritified my arse!

lomb

u need someone who is certified by reci, if your house burns down , your insurer may not pay if its an electrical fault. anyway a 20 year old house isnt old, i dont think u need a rewire tbh but maybe im wrong.

johnnyrotten

lomb wrote:

u need someone who is certified by reci, if your house burns down , your insurer may not pay if its an electrical fault. anyway a 20 year old house isnt old, i dont think u need a rewire tbh but maybe im wrong.

No you don't- They must be certified by ETCI (Electro-Technical Council of Ireland) under the National Rules for Electrical Installations

RECI are one organisation .

lomb

johnnyrotten wrote:

No you don't- They must be certified by ETCI (Electro-Technical Council of Ireland) under the National Rules for Electrical Installations

RECI are one organisation .

im sure u are rite my point was they need someone who knows what they are doing. the house burning down isnt really an option.

LegacyUser

The guy who did my parent's house had ceritifications up to his eyebrows .. and he still did a shoddy job. So, beware !! I'm not saying that certification is not needed. I am saying that you should go with someone recommended by family, work colleagues, friends etc. Ask for references.

Stoner

Kernel,

If you really want to save money there is an element of this work you can do.

You could pull the cables in for the sockets , cooket, showers and the kitchen, If you agree to have the cables left out in position you'd get alot off the price, you'd have to drill the joists and feed the cables through, you could always chase the walls yourself and leave the cables in them ready to go, patched up and straight.

However I would not attempt to do the lighting or connections if your new to it, that would be as far as I'd go. Its a two person job anyway.

You'll need a cert from RECI or another regulating body for the ESB if your moving the meter or upgrading the supply etc. If your insurance company want it then thats fine you'll need to get one.

Kernel

Stoner wrote:

Kernel,

If you really want to save money there is an element of this work you can do.

You could pull the cables in for the sockets , cooket, showers and the kitchen, If you agree to have the cables left out in position you'd get alot off the price, you'd have to drill the joists and feed the cables through, you could always chase the walls yourself and leave the cables in them ready to go, patched up and straight.

However I would not attempt to do the lighting or connections if your new to it, that would be as far as I'd go. Its a two person job anyway.

You'll need a cert from RECI or another regulating body for the ESB if your moving the meter or upgrading the supply etc. If your insurance company want it then thats fine you'll need to get one.

Cheers for the info Stoner, I'm gonna see what happens.. I've been chasing a wall today, and it's a messy bastard of a job, no doubt... covered in dust. I'm gonna have a think about it and see what I can come up with, I'll be working a lot of overtime in the next month, and have a massive redecorating of a house to do, so I'm a bit overwhelmed at the minute!

I might do the dirty work myself though.

FX Meister

Stoner wrote:

You'll need a cert from RECI or another regulating body for the ESB if your moving the meter or upgrading the supply etc. If your insurance company want it then thats fine you'll need to get one.

Sorry to go off topic here but I have a question for Stoner. I'm planning on building a granny flat on my property next year with a seperate meter. Will I need a RECI or similar cert before the ESB will connect it? Plan to wire it myself as I'm competant enough to do it but wasn't sure if I'd need a cert for the work.

johnnyrotten

FX Meister wrote:

Sorry to go off topic here but I have a question for Stoner. I'm planning on building a granny flat on my property next year with a seperate meter. Will I need a RECI or similar cert before the ESB will connect it? Plan to wire it myself as I'm competant enough to do it but wasn't sure if I'd need a cert for the work.

Yes you will need to have the job certed for the ESB to connect a new service. RECI or ECSAA certs

FX Meister

I'll get a reci but it means having to pay a bit for it. Nice one for the heads up.

davelerave

you'll have to go to reci itself for the cert .us contractors aren't allowed certify new work. it'd prob be easier to get a reci man to price the complete job and less hassle at the certification stage

johnnyrotten

davelerave wrote:

you'll have to go to reci itself for the cert .us contractors aren't allowed certify new work. it'd prob be easier to get a reci man to price the complete job and less hassle at the certification stage

or ECSAA !

davelerave

johnnyrotten wrote:

or ECSAA !

you must be referring to ecssa.:)

FX Meister

I should have mentioned I'm an apprentice. I can get my boss to cert it but I'll have to pay him something for it. Cheers for the feedback.

elliselectrical

Hii there i have my own company and rewiring is what i do mostly although all aspects of electrical work is done by myself.
To answer your question about a three bedroom house rewire the cost with your suppying the materials would be about 3500, rememeber that includes certification and insurance and plastering of chases.
The insurance is vital along with certification.Any fool can put cables around a house you would think but it takes a lot of years to know how to do it expertly and with no problems occuring afterwards.
If you have any queries dont hesitate to contact me ellis_electrical@yahoo.co.uk or 0872225772
cheers pat ellis