Who to hire for a house that needs rewiring

Short answer

A licensed electrician, and for a whole house, one who does rewires as a normal part of their work rather than as an exception — it is as much a planning and make-good job as an electrical one. Get more than one opinion on whether the whole house needs it, because partial rewires are common and honest.

Plan itThere is time to get more than one quote, which is where the money is.

When it is someone else

Calling the wrong trade costs an attendance fee to be told so. These are the cases where this problem belongs to someone other than a Electrician.

  • a plasterer and a painter

    always. Making good after a rewire is a substantial part of the disruption and is frequently not in the electrician's price.

  • a builder

    the rewire is part of a renovation. Doing it while walls and ceilings are open is dramatically cheaper than doing it afterwards.

What to do before anyone arrives

  1. Establish what wiring you actually have. Rubber-insulated cable and old cotton-braided runs are the genuine trigger; PVC cable from the 1970s onwards is usually serviceable.
  2. Get the age of the house and any previous electrical work documented as far as you can.
  3. Plan the layout you want before anything is opened up — outlets, lighting, data, outdoor points. Adding one more after the walls are closed is expensive.
  4. Ask whether it can be staged by area so you are not without power everywhere at once.

What to ask when you book

  • Is this a full rewire or can some circuits be retained? Which ones and why?
  • Does the price include making good, or only the electrical work?
  • How long will each area be without power, and can you stage it?
  • Is there asbestos in the switchboard backing, the eaves or the sheeting you will be cutting?
  • What certificates will I have at the end?

What changes the price

No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.

  • House size, number of circuits and number of points.
  • Construction: a single-storey timber-framed house with a roof cavity and a subfloor is the best case; solid brick, double storey, or a slab on ground without ceiling access is the worst.
  • Whether it is done with the house occupied or empty.
  • Making good and painting.
  • Asbestos, which is common in houses old enough to need rewiring.

Is this licensed work?

Licensed electrical work throughout, with certificates required for the work. Where a rewire is part of a larger renovation it may also sit inside building approval.

There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.

Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.

Common questions

Who should I hire for a house that needs rewiring
A licensed electrician, and for a whole house, one who does rewires as a normal part of their work rather than as an exception — it is as much a planning and make-good job as an electrical one. Get more than one opinion on whether the whole house needs it, because partial rewires are common and honest.
How do I know if my house needs rewiring?
The honest indicators are physical rather than symptomatic: rubber-insulated or cotton-braided cable, a ceramic fuse board, no earth at outlets, and cable that crumbles when flexed. Frequent tripping and flickering can have far smaller causes, so an insulation-resistance test across the circuits is the measurement that answers the question rather than a walk-through opinion.
Can a house be rewired without removing the walls?
Often largely yes, in a house with an accessible roof space and subfloor, which is why the construction type dominates the price. Chasing is used where there is no other path, and a good electrician will tell you upfront which rooms will need it.

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Who to hire for

General information about who does what, not advice about your specific job. Licensing, consumer law and council rules differ by state and change; the regulator for your state is the current source. More guides to hiring a tradesperson.