Rewiring
NOD Electrical Services is a leading provider of house rewiring services in South London. We have over 30 years of experience and offer a wide range of services, including rewiring, consumer unit upgrades, and lighting design.
Here are our top 10 house rewiring tips:
1. Hire A Registered Electrician
A registered installer must inspect, approve, and certify any electrical work you perform inside your home. Building control bodies, such as the local authority in your area, or “registered third-party certifiers,” such as licensed electricians, can grant approval.
Registered and certified electricians are well aware of local regulations. For instance, Part P of the Buildings Regulations regulates significant alterations and new additions (such as new kitchens and extensions) to UK homes that affect electrical safety in residential buildings.
2. Understand When Rewiring Is Needed
Homes that haven’t been renovated or rewired in more than 20 to 30 years typically need work. This is due to the wiring’s potential for danger as well as the fact that more outdated wiring systems cannot keep up with contemporary living demands. An Residential Electrical system and it’s components can last longer but when alterations have been carried out it usually shortes the lifespan.
A quick glance at the system will help you decide if a house needs to be rewired, if it has outdated round switches, rubber or fabric cabling that was last installed in the 1950s, or sockets that are fixed to the skirting boards. Then if there are rewireable fuses in an old fuse box, It should be replaced if you have a fuse box with a wooden back and a variety of fuses, possibly even cast iron.
Examples of notifiable electrical installation jobs are:
a new consumer unit or fuse box
a new circuit for a stove, shower, or immersion heater
current circuits that require modification
new circuits in special locations i.e bathrooms, gardens
3. Plan Carefully Before Work Starts
Planning is essential for a successful house rewire project. There are safety requirements that must be followed for all electrical installations, but you also have the option to redesign your home’s electrical system to meet your contemporary needs.
Planning should take these factors into account;
Accommodation during works
Location of new power points
Restoration projects such as decorating
Making the installation future-proof
4. Try To Not Have Add-Ons Midway Through
They cost a lot of money and take time. Drawing a floor plan of your house on graph paper, labelling the locations of the beds, sofas, kitchen cabinets, and other furniture, is one way to prevent them disussing these with your electrician will also help, he may make suggestions to add ore remove in areas that havent been considered..
The necessary switches and lighting can then be taken into account. When planned ahead of time, small tasks like installing under-cabinet and bedside lighting are simple to complete but can be expensive to complete later. Keep in mind smoke and heat detectors, garden RCD safety sockets, and exterior security lights in addition to task, mood, and feature lighting.
5. Consider Futureproofing
We live in a highly consumerist culture that is addicted to “tech.” Mood lighting, surround sound, fast Wi-Fi, kitchen gadgets, and TVs in the bathroom are examples of electrics that fall under this category.
Electrical circuits must be capable of handling the task, and you must make a plan.
To ensure uninterruptible Wi-Fi, do you want ethernet cable installed in every room, or just in the living and sleeping areas? Do you want a security system or speakers in every room?
6. Move Out From The Property If Possible
Ideally a rewire would be undertaken when homes are empty, but this is not always possible so living in one room while having work happen around you is another option. If you can’t move out, dust-cover furniture and expensive items, preferably moving electrical equipment into a separate room, as this is not your electrician’s responsibility.
You can ask your electrician to install the new consumer unit and prepare the habitable room with a temporary supply of sockets and lighting to facilitate this option.
7. Create A Budget For House Rewiring Costs
What should you budget? This depends on many different factors, the price is affected by things like the size and location of your home and whether or not you are in situ. A further consideration is the cost of the fixtures and fittings, but In general, the budget range would be from £9,000 to £20,000 for homes with four to five bedrooms, it is a broad spectrum asd their are so many factors to consider and it is not unknown for reqires to cost upwards of £25,000 this would be for a larger homes. If you decide you would like full smart home them you can double that figure quite easily.
Your house’s rewiring will cost more to do and take more time as it gets bigger. Rewiring a one-bedroom home typically takes 4–7 days, while rewiring a three-bedroom home typically takes 6–10 days.
Due to variations in contractor costs, your region in the UK will also have an impact on prices. Rewires in London usually carry a premium due to contractor costs and expenses.
7. Try To Learn How Electricians Work
For domestic work, the majority of skilled and qualified electricians use a fixed price before adding charges for modifications. This will be broken down into first fix supply and installation, which comes with cabling and back boxes, then the second fix where specification of accessorries and fittings are taken into account.
With a helpful electrician, you can try to reduce costs by doing all the preparation work for them, such as removing plasterwork, lifting floorboards, and generally making access simple to save time. The skilled renovator can chase plaster out to precisely where they want sockets and switches, purchase the switches, sockets, and lighting, and possibly even assist with the installation as long as both you and your electrician are aware of the division of tasks prior to the start of work.
Although a professional frequently receives preferential trade rates, you should double-check whose prices are the best. You might find some good prices online.
8. Look Into Doing Certain Work Yourself
We do not recommend doing any of the work yourself. Doing any form of electrical work yourself carries a significant risk, both from a financial and health and safety standpoint. Also do not use somebody who knows a bit about electrical work the regulations (BS7671) are a huge and complicated document and even for soiem of the best electricians everyday is a school day as we certainly don’t know every regulation, due to the complexity we have to refer to the regulations to check our own knowledge reagurly.
If you would like to do any of the preparation work then this will be welcomed for any electrical work if your Electrician requires and assistance they should discuss this with you in advance. For example, lifting carpets, loosening floorboards, moving furniture, etc.
9.Saving Costs By Getting It Done Right The First Time
In so many cases we have seen our customers hire an electrician because their quote came in much cheaper. Similarly to plumbing, electrics is something you do not want to go cheap on because of the extra cost involved in correcting poor installations.
For example, a customer of ours hired a builder’s electrician because their quote was much cheaper. 3 months later we were called in to assess the installation which even the client recognised as dangerous and not compliant, we had to rectify the mistakes made and shortcuts taken to ensure compliance with the regulations BS7671 18th edition. In the end, this cost the customer £4,500 more compared to if they had accepted the most expensive quote initially.
10. Ignore Generic Quote.
If you choose an immediate and straightforward quote, it could have unfavourable effects, like electricians later adding extra hidden fees.
An detailled quote should have an itemised list and a cost breakdown, this ensures transparency and a smooth project with everybody knowing exactly where they stand.