House rewiring

Often not, and it's an expensive thing to be told you need when you don't. An EICR is the way to answer the question properly, because it tests the cabling rather than guessing from its age.

The genuine indicators are fairly specific:

• Rubber, lead-sheathed or fabric-insulated cable, with insulation that has gone hard and cracks when it's moved.
• Poor insulation resistance readings across several circuits, not just one.
• Round-pin sockets, or a mix of eras where nobody can say what feeds what.
• No earth at the lighting points, so modern metal fittings can't be used.
• A house that's being gutted anyway, in which case rewiring while the walls are open is far cheaper than doing it later.

The work happens in two visits' worth of phases, with the building trades in between.

First fix

Floorboards up, chases cut, back boxes in, cables run to every point. This is the loud, dusty part. Furniture wants moving out or sheeting up, and carpets in the affected rooms will be lifted.

Second fix

After plastering, everything gets terminated: sockets, switches, lights, the new consumer unit. Then the whole installation is tested and certificated.

The single biggest thing you can do to get a rewire you're happy with is to think about positions before first fix, not after plastering. Once it's chased in and skimmed, moving a socket is a real job.

• Where the TV, desk and bedside tables actually go, and how many sockets each of those really needs.
• Kitchen appliance positions, agreed with the kitchen fitter's plan rather than the current layout.
• Outside lights, garden power and an EV charger circuit, even if you're not fitting them yet. A spare way and a capped cable now costs very little.
• Whether you want data cabling run while the floors are up. It's the cheapest it will ever be.

You can, and plenty of people do, but it's genuinely disruptive, and it's better to know that now. Power gets isolated room by room, there's brick dust everywhere for a few days, and rooms become unusable in rotation.

If the property is empty, it's quicker and cheaper. If you're staying, we plan the order of rooms around the kitchen and one working bedroom, and keep temporary supplies where they're needed.

Be clear on this before you compare quotes, because it's where prices diverge. A rewire quote normally covers the electrical work and leaves chases ready for a plasterer, not decorated. If a quote looks unusually low, check what it says about making good.

We'll tell you plainly what our price includes and what you'll need a plasterer and decorator for.