Cost of wiring in refurbishment - think it seems way too high

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We've just had a quote from a builder recommended to us. the building work seems fairly reasonable, but the plumbing and electrics seem way over the top. the wiring is all new in 2 bedrooms, a living room and bathroom. This is to be run from the existing fuse board. It includes halogen spots, fans in 2 bathrooms, and extractor in the kitchen and 3 double sockets in each room. Nothing unusual. I would say as it's a big 2 bed flat that it might compare to an average 3 bed house. It's quoted at £9250!!!! That's with us supplying all of the switches and sockets on top. Surely this is too much???
Plumbing for a kitchen and two bathrooms is nearly £4000 does include moving one waste pipe but is without any of the sanitary ware - surely too much too????
We are in East London.
thanks in advance...

Rewiring costs the same as a second hand car. If you are using a general builder he is almost certainly contracting the work out to a local independent electrician and adding on his own costs of co-ordinating the work plus a margin towards his villa in Marbella. Alternatively he might be going to use someone unqualified and pay the council to inspect and certify it (or possibly not).

If I were you I would ask around for recommendations, and use an independent who has been in business for some years. Ask him which self-certification scheme he is in, and how long he has been a member. He will be pleased to tell you (unless he isn't). He must be a member of a Competent Person scheme, and he must issue a certificate when the work is finished. You have probably heard of NICEIC but there are others. You can check him on their website. He will show his scheme membership on his van, business cards and invoice.

www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/buildingregulations/competentpersonsschemes/existingcompetentperson/

here we are

www.niceic.com/Page/SearchContractors

www.napit.org.uk/fastSearch.asp

www.elecsa.co.uk/householders.aspx

We were having an extension done last year and our builder recommended an elec firm he uses and when we worked out everything that needed doing fir the extension plus sorting out the rest of the house (large, Edwardian, messy electrics) we decided it was easier in the long run to completely re-wire. They charged us 20k for everything and have also done lots of stuff above and beyond. Just to help you put your quote in perspective. It does sound high.

How much?!?!?!? Bloodyhell! We are in the middle of a renovation & for complete rewiring of a 4 bed cottage, 1 study, kitchen, utility/porch, 2 outside lights, livingroom/diner & sockets, lights etc....its £4445. With no VAT cos the business opted out last year. Plumbing is £6000 inc VAT for new Worcester Bosch combi boiler 37 CDI, 2 heated towel rails, 6 new radiators & all new plumbing.

These are trades men in the industry for yrs & we have used them before & they're so good our builder uses them too.

thats way too much..

put it this way, on the materials you woulndt pay more than 400-600 from a wholesaler for the lot (in white, standard fittings and 2.5 lne) so the rest is labour...divide 9k by the day rate...thats shocking..

so, i would say if its all accesable 5 days inc materials 2 to 2.5k tops

if the walls need chasing out and plastering the cost would go up, but not considerably

without seeing the plumbing, its harder to price, if you need groundworks to move or break a stack that will cost a fair bit

WE've got a small 3 bed house in the SE, we got a very good deal as the bloke and just lost a 6 month contract. We vacated the house it took him 10 long days and it cost £6k about 3 years ago.

So £9k in London does sound not extreme but I would def ask around for some quotes.

Way tooo much!

We had total rewire for 5 bed house, premium London. Completely new electrical system, including data cables for computers, brand new fuse box, all kitchen appliances etc cost £6,5000 - only cost outside of this was the spotlights and sockets. Went through NICEIC company.

Plumbing a bit harder to estimate - does the £4K include boiler etc?

Similar story here - 5 bed house completely refurbished and rewired including three bathrooms with LED stuff, playroom, study, utility, living room, large kitchen diner, ooutside lights and all the rest - £4,500

Our new plumbing including Valliant boiler and complete new central heating system was £8,700. Price correct autumn 2011

I'm watching - planning house refurb in Dartmoor; 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, kitchen/diner, lounge, inner hall, boot room and utility. Have been advised by quantity surveyor to allow £12,750 (excl fittings) for rewiring and £15,00 for all new plumbing and heating (inc boiler). Not including any sanitary ware and there is a separate cost for fitting the bathrooms... Then add VAT to both.

I thought they were both a bit high, so it's interesting to see the others on here.

We had a 4 bed house in London rewired for 5k

far too much!!!

we had an entire house rewired including new fuse boards - the lot - took a week and cost about £2500 - think we had quotes ranging from £2000 - £4000 but whoever is quoting £9500 is having a chuffing laugh! Its not a popular job and we found plenty of "one man bands" that wouldnt do it, but found plenty who would! in the end a small local company did it for us, 3 workmen for about 4 or 5 days i think.

shop around.

We rewired the house more than ten years ago so no good to you, but the electrician we use for odd jobs has just charged us £150 for installing three new halogen spotlights in new loft conversion bathroom, changing three light switches to dimmers (to be fair, not a particularly tricky job but since he was coming anyway...) and installing a fan (which he supplied) in the downstairs loo. I think he charged about £200 last time he came, which was to supply and install a fan in the kitchen, plus two electric oil-filled towel warmers/radiators in the upstairs and downstairs loos. These seem pretty reasonable prices to me; he's done other stuff for us in the past too, so I don't know what he'd charge for rewiring but I'd trust his quote, IYKWIM.

We're in Greenwich, he lives in Brockley. Not sure how far he travels or where you are, but maybe worth asking, especially as it's a fairly big job? He's called Murat, phone number's on Yell.co.uk under MB Electrical Installations (try SE4 or Brockley for location). He was recommended by a few people to me, I see he's recommended on the Brockley forum too. Only thing is that I know his wife must be about to give birth, she's a bit ahead of me and I'm 34w, so he may be short-notice unavailable.

it seems very expensive. My DH said about 3k for our house in Greater London

My biggish 3 bed house (victorian detached) was rewired last year at just over 3k, with everything included. That's in Dorset.