A home rewire is a big yet often necessary project. But how much exactly will home rewiring cost you?
In this post, we’ll talk about what affects rewiring costs and roughly how much you should expect to pay for a full home rewiring. Additionally, we’ll give you a few tips to hopefully help you save money.
Factors That Affect Rewiring Costs
There are several factors that may significantly affect the rewiring costs of your house, including but not limited to:
- The size of your house. Needless to say, a larger house will imply higher costs since more work will need to be done.
- The age of your house. In older houses, costs may be higher because more works could be required to fully modernize your home.
- Materials used. Better materials can sharply increase rewiring costs.
- The scope of the work. Simple wire replacement will cost less than full house rewiring with an outlet, light fixture, or service panel upgrades.
- Whether the walls or floor need to be opened. If they do, then you will have to pay more due to added labor.
- Whether a permit is required or not. Some projects may require a permit, which will increase rewiring costs.
The house size is probably the most cost-intensive factor of them all, but the rest can also result in quite hefty cost increases when combined.
Keep in mind that you should request a quote from local professionals to get more or less accurate estimates of rewiring costs.
How Much An Electrician Costs In Ireland
It’s probably also worth talking a bit about the costs of hiring an electrician in Ireland.
In Dublin, expect to pay about €70-€90 (excluding VAT) per call out and €35-€45 per hour (excluding VAT and materials). This is during working hours. As for day rates, they typically are around €250 and higher.
Elsewhere in Ireland during normal hours, expect to pay €30-€40 per hour, plus VAT and material costs.
Outside of working hours and on weekends, you may have to pay 20% more. To avoid paying extra, you may pre-book an appointment – with pre-booked call-outs, standard rates usually apply.
Costs Of Rewiring A House
Now, let’s go through a few common rewiring jobs and see roughly how much they can cost you in Ireland. Keep in mind that these are just approximations and that your actual costs will differ based on the factors listed earlier.
Complete rewiring
This one will cost you the most since it incorporates every electrical device (wiring, fuse board, sockets, etc.) in all rooms. How much you will have to pay will depend on the size of your home.
From some perspective, a 3-bedroom home-sized at 140 square meters will probably cost you between €4500-€6500. Based on these numbers, expect to pay from €32 to €46 per square meter for a full rewiring project. Note that these figures exclude VAT and that the actual costs will depend on your current setup.
Time-wise, expect a complete rewire to take 5-7 days, depending on the complexity of the work and the size of the team. With a larger crew, the job may be done quicker, but you’ll probably end up paying roughly the same amount since labor costs would increase accordingly.
Also keep in mind that it will take more time for the electricians to rewire an occupied house, which will again increase labor costs. If possible, you should temporarily move out to allow the workers to do their job quicker.
Fuse board upgrade
Fuse board upgrades can be rather expensive – depending on the contractor and your current setup, you may have to pay as much as €300-€350 (plus VAT), if not more. A fuse board replacement usually requires up to a day, so labor is a big part of this project’s costs.
Small fixture & appliance fitting
The costs of rewiring or installing small fixtures or appliances are perhaps the hardest to estimate because there are so many different devices that you could be working with. Here’s what you can roughly expect to pay for electrical fixture or appliance fitting:
- Electric shower installation: €450-€950, will take about a day.
- Fitting an electrical socket: €150-€250, will take about 2-3 hours.
- Fitting a pendant: €130-€150, will take about 1-2 hours.
- Installing a kitchen appliance: €50-€80, will take about an hour.
Jobs like these don’t really make for a full house rewire. However, if you are intending to upgrade your house’s electrical system gradually, then it’s useful to know roughly how much you will have to spend.
How To Save Money When Having Your House Rewired
There are a few tricks you could make use of to avoid spending atrocious amounts of money on house rewiring. Here’s what you can do:
- Combine projects. If you are replacing a light switch in your bedroom, then perhaps you should also replace outlets and light fixtures as well in that room. By combining such small projects together, you may be able to save money in the long run.
- Avoid DIY. You can do many home projects on your own – rewiring is not one of them. One wrong move can result in a fire or electrocution, causing property and health damage and incurring added costs.
Shop Around To Find The Best Price
A final tip – get quotes from at least 3 contractors. You shouldn’t go for the cheapest one because they may do subpar work, but with several quotes at hand, you should be able to find the best price for your needs in the area. Contractors sometimes give high quotes in hopes that you won’t be researching their competitors.