The £4,750 rewire figure, and what it leaves out
If you search for what a rewire costs, you will land on a figure somewhere between four and five thousand pounds. Comparison sites publish it, lead-generation sites publish it, and AI assistants now repeat it, which gives it an air of authority it did not earn.
I want to be fair to that number. It is not made up, and the people publishing it are not lying. It is an average of what people paid, and averages are real things.
The problem is what the average is an average of.
What the published averages usually cover
Cable, and the labour to install it. That is the core of most published rewire figures, and if that is genuinely all you are buying, four to five thousand is a plausible number for a three-bedroom house.
What they frequently do not cover
Here is the gap, item by item. Not every published average excludes all of these, but most exclude several.
The consumer unit. A rewire has to terminate somewhere. If the new cable lands in the old board, you have not finished the job, you have moved the problem. A new unit with an individual RCBO on every circuit and integrated surge protection is a real cost and it belongs in the number.
Certification. The Electrical Installation Certificate is the document that proves the work was done and tested. It takes time to produce properly because the test results on it have to be real. A certificate is not paperwork; it is the record of the testing.
The Building Control notification. Notifiable work has to be notified. I am registered to self-certify it, so it is handled as part of the job. Not having it done is an awkward conversation with a buyer's solicitor in five years, when the search turns up a rewire with no record behind it.
Second fix accessories. Sockets, switches, plates. A rewire in an average house is a lot of accessories, and the difference between the cheapest available and something you will not resent looking at every day is real money.
Making good. Chasing cable into walls makes mess, and filling those chases is a cost. Plastering and decorating on top is usually a separate trade and usually in nobody's rewire figure, mine included, which is exactly why I say so in the estimate rather than at the end.
Everything the survey finds. Bonding that needs upgrading. A supply that needs the network operator involved. A boarded loft that has to come up. Asbestos, which stops the job outright. None of that is in an average, because averages are made of jobs that went to plan.
So what is the honest number?
For York I use a guide of about £2,000 plus VAT per bedroom, at the prices materials are today. I call it a guide rather than an estimate because it is not one. It is the number that tells you whether we are in the same conversation before either of us spends an afternoon on a survey.
The estimate comes after the survey, it goes in writing, it holds for 30 days, and nothing gets added to it that you have not agreed. The full picture is on what a rewire costs in York, and how a rewire actually works covers the job itself.
That guide is higher than the published averages. It is higher because it includes the consumer unit, the certification, the notification, the accessories and the making good, and because it carries a contingency for what is behind the plaster.
The contingency, and why you get it back
Nobody knows what is under the floor until the floor is up. There are two ways to handle that.
One is to price low, start work, find something, and come back for more money when you are three days in and the house is in pieces. That is an effective way to win work and a horrible thing to do to somebody.
The other is to hold a contingency inside the price, and if it is not needed, hand the balance back at the end. That is what I do. It means my number looks higher at the estimate stage and it means it does not move afterwards.
How to compare estimates properly
If you have three numbers in front of you and one is much lower, do not assume it is either a bargain or a con. Ask these:
- Is a new consumer unit in it? If not, what happens to the old one?
- Is the certificate in it, and which certificate?
- Is the Building Control notification in it, and who makes it?
- Are accessories in it, and which ones?
- Who fills the chases?
- What happens if something unexpected turns up? The answer to this one tells you the most.
- What is the workmanship cover, and what happens to it if they stop trading?
That last one catches people out. There is a longer piece on it at what happens if your electrician goes bust, and my own position is on the warranty page. How to choose an electrician covers how to check somebody is who they say they are, before you get as far as comparing numbers at all.
Sometimes the low one is right
A partial rewire on a property that only needs a partial rewire is cheaper because it is less work, and a good electrician will tell you when that is the case. What matters is that the scope is written down, so you can see it is smaller rather than discovering it later.
If you are not sure which you need, an EICR first turns the question into a list, and what an EICR costs in York has the number.
The broader version of this argument
This piece argues with one number. There is a wider version, about hourly rates rather than rewires, at why electricians seem expensive. The short of it: most of what you are paying for is not the hour. It is the calibrated test equipment, the assessment, the insurance and the certificate, and those exist whether the job takes an hour or a fortnight.
Questions I get asked
Why is a rewire estimate higher than the average I found online?
Published averages usually cover the cable and the labour and leave out the consumer unit, the certification, the Building Control notification, the second fix accessories and the making good. Adding those back moves the number.
What is a realistic rewire guide figure in York?
About £2,000 plus VAT per bedroom at current material prices, as a guide given before the property has been seen. The survey sets the actual figure and it goes in writing before any work starts.
What should I ask when comparing rewire estimates?
Whether a new consumer unit is included, which certificate is included, who makes the Building Control notification, which accessories are included, who fills the chases, what happens if something unexpected turns up, and what the workmanship cover is if the contractor stops trading.
Is a cheaper rewire estimate always worse?
No. A partial rewire on a property that only needs a partial rewire is genuinely cheaper because it is less work. What matters is that the scope is written down, so a smaller price is visibly a smaller job rather than a surprise later.
Want a real number for your house?
Tell me the property and how many bedrooms and I will give you the guide figure on the phone. If it is in the right area I will come and survey it, and put a proper figure in writing.