Electrician Jobs Kitchen rewire and new main board

[Kitty0307]

Hi,

We have recently purchased an 1800s 3 bed terraced house and have been told we need the electrics looked at.

The main board has not been changed since the 1960s and we wanted to find a competent electrician who can get this done for us over the next few weeks. We're in the Scottish Borders.

We also have been told we should rewire the whole property and decided to do it on a room by room basis starting with the kitchen, which needs (so we have been told) a total rewire, new sockets, new cooker socket and switch etc.

We'd like whoever quotes us to take a look at the lighting as we were informed it needs to be updated too.

Basically I want to find somebody competent who isn't going to charge us the earth and can come out before Christmas to do the essentials for us - the rest after New Year. Anybody?

 

[Rpa07]

Hello Kitty and welcome to the forum. Someone will be along soon from your end of the Earth and help you out.
Until then . . . .

 

[Kitty0307]

Hello Kitty and welcome to the forum. Someone will be along soon from your end of the Earth and help you out.
Until then . . . .

Ha; thank you!

In the meantime....if anybody wants to give an idea of ballpark price we would be looking at then that would be great. I can provide a breakdown of what we think needs doing if that's helpful.

 

[Midwest]

It would be wrong to give you a figure of costings from afar. However, if you describe you property, members may give you some price ranges. Different properties present different installation difficulties.

Will you be living in the property, whilst the proposed work takes place?

 

[Octopus]

Welcome

I think you need to be a little bit more precise about your location...... Scottish Borders as a little vague IMHO

 

[Taylortwocities]

I didn’t know there even was electricity in the Scottish Borders?

Blimey!

 

[Kitty0307]

It would be wrong to give you a figure of costings from afar. However, if you describe you property, members may give you some price ranges. Different properties present different installation difficulties.

Will you be living in the property, whilst the proposed work takes place?

Yes i appreciate that

I don't have a picture of the main unit but was told it's 1960s (black individual sections). The house has 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, living room and attic.

We will be living there while work is being carried out- another electrician told us one day to do the main board and a further 2 days for the kitchen rewire which will include fitting sockets, installing cooker etc.

 

[diditrain]

Doing it bit by bit will probably cost you more in the long run.

 

[Kitty0307]

Doing it bit by bit will probably cost you more in the long run.

I thought that might be the case but nfortunately doing it all at once isn't an option for us financially with Christmas coming up

 

[Midwest]

Doing it bit by bit will probably cost you more in the long run.

Perhaps arrange the rewire for when you go away on holiday next year Kitty?

 

[Midwest]

Yes i appreciate that

I don't have a picture of the main unit but was told it's 1960s (black individual sections). The house has 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, living room and attic.

We will be living there while work is being carried out- another electrician told us one day to do the main board and a further 2 days for the kitchen rewire which will include fitting sockets, installing cooker etc.

To start things off, I would charge around £400ish for a bog standard dual RCD CU change, including short distance meter tail change, but not including replacment of any required gas & water bonding.

Rewires were not my bag.

 

[Midwest]

I thought that might be the case but nfortunately doing it all at once isn't an option for us financially with Christmas coming up

Is there a rush?

 

[The Ghost]

Hi @Kitty0307 from the south so prices are usually a bit higher here. I have done electrical work in Scotland when I moved from London, I got a lot of complaints about my "London" prices! However that aside I notionally work on £1000 per bedroom i.e. £3000 for your house. That would be a no frills sockets and lights up and down, a separate socket circuit for the kitchen. Now if you also add the attic then more. If you have an outbuilding and lights outside even more! Putting you off yet? It at least gives you a reference point to plan your budget. Finally any good electrician will be booked up to christmas and there is no chance of getting one imho. Make sure they are properly registered and bona fide sparks!

 

[Kitty0307]

Perhaps arrange the rewire for when you go away on holiday next year Kitty?

Would have loved to do this but we were told by the electrician who came out that the wiring isn't safe- the lights in particular are 1940s lead coated (?) And he said that we need to address the rewire urgently. Would have been my preference to avoid it until spring so we could escape for a bit while it was being done (and avoid the Christmas broke period). However we need some sockets and cooker hooked up in our kitchen and the electrician we saw said he couldn't do that and would recommend the new board and kitchen rewire first.

 

[Kitty0307]

Hi @Kitty0307 from the south so prices are usually a bit higher here. I have done electrical work in Scotland when I moved from London, I got a lot of complaints about my "London" prices! However that aside I notionally work on £1000 per bedroom i.e. £3000 for your house. That would be a no frills sockets and lights up and down, a separate socket circuit for the kitchen. Now if you also add the attic then more. If you have an outbuilding and lights outside even more! Putting you off yet? It at least gives you a reference point to plan your budget. Finally any good electrician will be booked up to christmas and there is no chance of getting one imho. Make sure they are properly registered and bona fide sparks!

Ha! Thanks for your reply not putting me off - it's sort of what I expected to be honest. We've been quoted £850 Just for the kitchen rewire and £700 for replacing the main board..felt this was kind of high but then I don't know anything about electrics so who am I to say?!
We got told rewiring the lights in the house would be more on top of this (and obviously any other rooms we choose to do later more again). What does anybody think?

 

[Kitty0307]

Is it totally naive of me to think that if the sockets and lights are all working fine - and the previous owners were using them without issue- then we could put off work until after Christmas? Feel free to say if I'm being naive here. Would I be as well to get a condition report/safety check done to see if that's an option?

I'm not too sure why the cooker can't be installed as things stand as the last homeowner had a cooker- the switch and socket was removed as they were doing damp proofing to the kitchen wall. I guess maybe because the house's electrics are so outdated? At this rate we'll be having an outdoor Bbq in the Scottish snow for Christmas dinner

 

[Kitty0307]

I didn’t know there even was electricity in the Scottish Borders?

Blimey!

There's even internet now!

 

[Kitty0307]

Welcome

I think you need to be a little bit more precise about your location...... Scottish Borders as a little vague IMHO

It's not that vague hehe....near Berwick Upon Tweed.

 

[telectrix]

Ha! Thanks for your reply not putting me off - it's sort of what I expected to be honest. We've been quoted £850 Just for the kitchen rewire and £700 for replacing the main board..felt this was kind of high but then I don't know anything about electrics so who am I to say?!
We got told rewiring the lights in the house would be more on top of this (and obviously any other rooms we choose to do later more again). What does anybody think?

does sound ott. esp for the main board. we have a member lives scottish borders.might get back soon.and as fot the lead sheathed cable.if the core insulation has not degraded. it might be good for a few more years. you need an honest sparks to assess what's needed.

 

[Kitty0307]

Is there a rush?

Not really - we were just planning to get our cooker hooked up and a cooker switch installed and were going to make do until after New Year, at which point we would look at what needed to be done.

However had an electrician out the other day who said that wasn't possible, house needed new main board, kitchen would need rewired and lights were unsafe and should be disconnected and all rewired.

Left me in a bit of a panic to be honest as we knew it would need doing at some point but didn't expect to have to have it done right now just to get a cooker put in!