What changes the price of a rewire in Kent?

Short answer first. We do not publish a price for a rewire, because the same number of bedrooms can be two very different jobs. A rewire is quoted as one fixed price after a free look, and the price you agree is the price on the invoice. This page explains what moves that price, what a quote covers and how the look works, so the number makes sense when you get it.

What changes the price of a rewire

These are the things that decide it, roughly in the order they matter.

• How much of the house is being done. A full rewire replaces every circuit. A partial rewire takes only the circuits that are failing, often the kitchen and the upstairs sockets. Doing it room by room is another route, and it suits a house where the kitchen or a bathroom is being done anyway.
• Size. The number of rooms, the number of circuits and the number of points. More of each means more cable and more time.
• Access. Whether the loft is boarded, whether the floors lift easily or are solid, and how hard it is to get cable to each room. Easy access saves time, and awkward access costs it.
• Floors. A bungalow, a two storey house and a three storey terrace are different amounts of cable run over different distances.
• Plaster and decoration. A rewire involves cutting into walls and lifting floors, so what follows matters: how much plastering and decorating is needed, and whether you are arranging it yourself. We say at the look what the quote does and does not cover.
• The board. The new consumer unit that goes in, and how many circuits it has to feed. Our piece on what a consumer unit upgrade costs goes through what moves that part.
• Whether people live there. A lived in house is done one area at a time, around furniture and the family, with the power back on at the end of the day wherever it can be.

What a quote includes

A rewire quote from us is one price, in writing, agreed before anything starts. It sets out the work it covers, so you can see what you are paying for, and it says plainly what it does not cover.

• A fixed price. The price agreed is the price invoiced. We do not quote by the hour for a rewire.
• The certificate. All completed work is inspected, tested and certificated through a registered contractor we work with, and we provide all the required certificates. Where the work is notifiable, the notification to Building Control is handled as part of the job.

No VAT is charged on domestic work.

How the free look works

The look is free and there is no obligation attached to it. Louis visits, goes through the rooms with you, looks at the board, the loft and the floors where he can get at them, and finds out what you want done and what you are doing at the same time, such as a new kitchen or an extension. You then get the price in writing.

Quote visits are usually Friday evenings and Saturday mornings, because Louis is on the tools Monday to Friday. Before the visit, it helps us if you send:

• A photo of the fuse board or consumer unit with its door open, close enough to read the switches.
• A floor plan, or just a room count: bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, living rooms and how many floors.
• A photo of the loft hatch, or of anything that worries you, such as old cable or round pin sockets.

That lets us plan the visit. It does not replace it, because a rewire is only priced once we have seen the house. The page on house rewires in Folkestone and across Kent covers the stages in more detail, and the rest of our figures are on the price guide.