What does rewiring a house cost in 2026?
Full rewire prices for 1 to 5-bed homes, London against the rest of the UK, partial rewires and consumer units, making good, how long it takes and what Part P asks for.
Rewiring a 3-bed house costs £4,500 to £8,000 in 2026 for a full rewire with a new consumer unit, testing and certification, before the walls are made good. House size sets most of the price, and London and the South East run 15 to 25% above the North. We give prices by bedroom, what a quote includes, partial rewires, timings, living in during the work, the signs you need one and the Part P rules.
Rewiring cost by house size
These are 2026 prices for a full rewire: the old wiring taken out, new cables to every socket, switch and light, a new consumer unit, earthing and bonding brought up to standard, then testing and certification. Filling and redecorating the walls afterwards is not in these figures.
| Property | UK price | London and South East | Time on site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio or 1-bed flat | £2,500 – £4,800 | £3,000 – £5,000 | 3 – 5 days |
| 2-bed house or flat | £3,500 – £5,800 | £4,200 – £6,800 | 4 – 7 days |
| 3-bed house | £4,500 – £8,000 | £6,500 – £10,000 | 5 – 10 days |
| 4-bed house | £6,000 – £12,000 | £10,000 – £15,000 | 7 – 14 days |
| 5-bed or larger | £7,500 – £18,000+ | £14,000 – £22,000+ | 10 – 14+ days |
Bedrooms stand in for the number of circuits, sockets and lights. A 3-bed with a kitchen extension, a garage and outside sockets needs more circuits than a 3-bed terrace of the same floor area, so it prices near the top of its row.
3-bed house rewiring cost
A 3-bed house costs £4,500 to £8,000 to rewire in 2026, and £6,500 to £10,000 in London and the South East. Expect 5 to 10 days on site, at the longer end if you stay in the house while the work goes on.
What a full rewire includes
A full rewire quote should cover five things:
- Strip-out: the old cables, sockets, switches and fittings removed or disconnected.
- New cabling: new circuits to every socket, switch and light, run under the floors and in chases cut into the walls.
- A new consumer unit: the fuse box is replaced as part of the job, not priced as an extra.
- Earthing and bonding: the main earth and the bonding brought up to the current standard.
- Testing and certification: every circuit tested and an Electrical Installation Certificate issued at the end.
What it usually leaves out is making good. Lifting floorboards and cutting chases leaves damage behind, and filling, plastering and redecorating are normally priced separately. These are the other costs that land on top of a rewire:
| Item | Typical cost | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Making good: filling, plastering and redecorating | £500 – £2,000+ | Where cables are chased into plastered walls |
| Extra earthing or bonding | £200 – £600 | Where the survey finds the earthing below standard |
| Asbestos survey or removal | £200 – £1,000+ | Houses built before 2000, before any cutting starts |
| EICR on the old wiring | £100 – £300 | Before quoting, to confirm a full rewire is needed |
Filling the chases is small work when the plaster is sound. The bill grows when old plaster comes away around them, because patching turns into replastering whole walls, which is priced as a job of its own.
Rewiring costs in London and the regions
London and the South East run 15 to 25% higher than the North of England, Wales and Scotland, and most of the gap is labour. A 3-bed rewire in London costs £6,500 to £10,000, against £4,500 to £8,000 for the UK range.
So a London quote near the top of the London band is normal for the capital. The same figure for the same house in Sheffield or Stoke-on-Trent is worth a second quote.
Signs your house needs rewiring
Age alone does not decide it. Electrical Safety First says there are no set guidelines for when a home should be rewired, and old wiring is not unsafe just because it is old. The materials used and how the house has been lived in matter more. The signs worth acting on:
- Burn marks on plugs or sockets, or sockets that look discoloured or scorched
- Buzzing or crackling from sockets or switches
- Fuses that keep blowing, or circuit breakers that trip again and again
- Lights that flicker, or a burning smell with no obvious source
- Cables sheathed in rubber, lead or fabric, which is old original wiring
Wiring that has gone 25 to 30 years without an update is due a look even with no symptoms, and an owner-occupied home should be inspected at least every 10 years. That inspection is an Electrical Installation Condition Report. An EICR costs £100 to £300, and it tells you whether the electrics are safe and what needs upgrading, so you pay for the job the house needs.
Partial rewire and consumer unit costs
Where the inspection finds most of the wiring sound, the job shrinks to the part that is failing, and so does the bill.
| Inspection finds | Likely job | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Sound cables, old fuse box | New consumer unit only | £1,000 – £2,570 |
| One room's circuits failing | Rewire that room | £864 – £1,836 |
| Several circuits failing | Partial rewire | £2,000 – £6,000 |
| Rubber, lead or fabric cable throughout | Full rewire, 3-bed | £4,500 – £8,000 |
When a new kitchen goes in, rewiring the room typically adds about £1,224, and the new circuits go in before the units go on the walls.
A new consumer unit on its own keeps the wiring and replaces the fuse box. In England it is still notifiable work, so it needs a registered electrician or a building control application, the same as a full rewire.
What pushes a rewire quote up
Two quotes for the same house can differ by thousands. The gap usually comes from one of these:
- Number of circuits. An electric shower, a cooker, an outside socket or a garage supply can each add a circuit, and every circuit adds cable, labour and testing.
- Access. Suspended timber floors let cables run underneath. Solid floors and ceilings with no void mean more chasing and more making good.
- Occupancy. An empty house is quicker and cheaper to rewire than one the electrician has to work around.
- Age and condition. Old cable takes longer to trace and strip out, and a house built before 2000 may need an asbestos check before any cutting.
- Specification. Extra sockets, USB sockets, outside lights and smart lighting all add to the price.
- Location. Labour costs more in London and the South East, which puts the same rewire in a higher band.
- Making good. One quote includes filling and plastering and another leaves it out, which can move the total by £500 to £2,000 or more.
Check the VAT line too. Electrical work on an existing home is normally standard-rated at 20%, and a rewire of a home that has stood empty for the 2 years before work starts can qualify for 5%.
How long rewiring a house takes
A 1-bed flat takes 3 to 5 days, a 3-bed house 5 to 10 days and a 4-bed 7 to 14 days. A large or complex house can run past 2 weeks. The work follows the same order in every house:
- An inspection and a survey, then the quote.
- First fix: floorboards lifted, walls chased and new cables run to every point, with the old wiring made safe.
- The chases are filled and the walls plastered, once the cables are in and checked.
- Second fix: sockets, switches, light fittings and the new consumer unit connected.
- Testing: every circuit tested, the certificate issued and the work notified to building control.
The house is not finished when the electrician leaves. Fresh plaster has to dry before it can be painted, so book the decorator for after the drying time rather than the day the rewire ends.
Living in the house during a rewire
You can stay in the house, but the job runs slower and usually costs more. The power goes off room by room, floorboards come up and walls are opened, and the electrician works around your furniture and has to make everything safe at the end of each day.
Many households move out for the messiest days, when the kitchen and bathroom are both affected. If you stay, agree the order of rooms before work starts, so one bedroom and the kitchen stay usable for as long as possible.
Part P and electrical certificates
In England, a full rewire is notifiable under Part P of the building regulations, because it installs new circuits and replaces the consumer unit. Approved Document P lists 3 kinds of notifiable work: a new circuit, a replacement consumer unit, and any change to circuits in a special location such as the space around a bath or shower.
Notifiable work gets certified by one of 3 routes. A registered competent person, meaning an electrician in a scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT, self-certifies it. An unregistered electrician can appoint a registered third-party certifier before starting, or tell a building control body before work begins and pay its charge.
With a registered electrician you should receive 2 documents. The Electrical Installation Certificate, to BS 7671, comes from the electrician at the end of the job. The Building Regulations compliance certificate follows within 30 days, from the electrician or their scheme, which also tells building control for you.
These rules are England's. Wales has its own Approved Documents and treats a rewire as notifiable work too. Scotland runs its own building standards system, which issues building warrants rather than building regulations approval, and Northern Ireland has separate building control. In Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen or Belfast, ask the council's building standards or building control team what a rewire needs before work starts.
When to rewire during a renovation
In a house being renovated, the rewire goes in early: after the strip-out, and before plastering, the kitchen, the bathroom and any decorating. At £4,500 to £8,000 for a 3-bed, it is one of the bigger lines in a full house renovation budget, and one that has to be finished before any finish goes on.
The other way round costs twice. A kitchen fitted before the rewire has units coming off the wall to reach cables, and a room decorated before it gets chased, filled and decorated again.
Common questions
How much does it cost to rewire a 3 bed house?
A full rewire of a 3-bed house costs £4,500 to £8,000 in 2026, including a new consumer unit, testing and certification. In London and the South East the same job costs £6,500 to £10,000. Making good the walls afterwards adds £500 to £2,000 or more.
At what age should a house be rewired?
No fixed age applies: Electrical Safety First says there are no set guidelines, and old wiring is not unsafe just because it is old. Wiring that has gone 25 to 30 years without an update is due an inspection, and rubber, lead or fabric cable usually means a full rewire. Owner-occupied homes should be inspected at least every 10 years.
Is rewiring a house a big job?
A full rewire is a big job: a 3-bed house takes 5 to 10 days, with floorboards lifted and cables chased into the walls in most rooms. The power goes off room by room while the work is done. Plastering and redecorating follow, so the house is not finished when the electrician leaves.
Can you live in a house while it is being rewired?
You can live in a house during a rewire, but the job takes longer and usually costs more. The electrician works around your furniture and has to make the house safe at the end of each day. Many households move out for the messiest days, when the kitchen and bathroom are both affected.
Is it illegal to sell a house that needs rewiring?
You can sell a house that needs rewiring, and you do not have to provide an EICR to sell a property. A buyer's survey may flag the old wiring, and the buyer can use the cost of a rewire in their offer. Wiring work done without a certificate is the bigger problem, because the buyer's solicitor asks for the certificates.
Is it worth rewiring an old house?
Rewiring pays off when an inspection finds rubber, lead or fabric cable, or faults across most circuits, and it is cheapest done before a renovation rather than after one. Where the cables are sound, a new consumer unit at £1,000 to £2,570 or a partial rewire at £2,000 to £6,000 costs less. An EICR at £100 to £300 tells you which job the house needs.
How much does a partial rewire cost?
A partial rewire costs £2,000 to £6,000 in 2026, with the number of circuits replaced setting the price. Rewiring a single room such as a kitchen costs £864 to £1,836, and a new consumer unit on its own costs £1,000 to £2,570. In England, a new circuit or a replacement consumer unit is notifiable under Part P.
Do you need building regulations approval to rewire a house?
A full rewire in England is notifiable under Part P, because it adds new circuits and replaces the consumer unit. A registered electrician self-certifies the work, and you receive a Building Regulations compliance certificate within 30 days. An unregistered electrician has to use a registered third-party certifier or tell building control before starting.
How long does it take to rewire a house?
A full rewire takes 3 to 5 days for a 1-bed flat, 5 to 10 days for a 3-bed house and 7 to 14 days for a 4-bed. An empty house is quicker to rewire than one you are living in. Plastering and decorating afterwards add time before the house is finished.