Guide
How long common electrical jobs take
Most domestic jobs are shorter than people expect and most rewires are longer. The variable that decides nearly all of it is not the work at the end of the cable, it is the route the cable has to take.
Half an hour to half a day
Changing a light fitting where a point exists: twenty minutes. Replacing a socket front: fifteen. A new socket spurred from a nearby point: one to two hours. An outdoor socket on an outside wall: two to three. Replacing an electric shower like for like: two to four, and more if the tiles have to come off.
Add the minimum charge to any of these and the arithmetic explains itself: the shortest jobs are priced by the visit rather than by the clock.
Most of a day
A consumer unit replacement is a full day on a normal house, and the reason is the testing rather than the board. Every existing circuit is tested and recorded before the certificate can be signed, and on an older installation that is where the time goes and occasionally where the day goes wrong.
An electrical installation condition report on a three bedroom house runs two to four hours. A home EV charger is a half day where the cable run is short and a full one where it is not. Six or eight downlights in one ceiling is most of a day once the cutting, the routing and the making good are counted.
Days to weeks
A full rewire of a three bedroom house is five to ten working days, split into first fix and second fix with a plasterer in between. An empty house is at the short end. An occupied one worked around furniture is at the long end, and a house with solid floors downstairs is beyond it.
Solar with a battery is two to three days on the roof plus the scaffolding going up before and coming down after, which adds a week to the calendar without adding a day of work. A commercial fit out is scheduled around other trades and is measured in weeks by the programme rather than by the electrical content.
What actually decides the duration
Access, almost every time. A loft that can be walked in, floorboards that lift, and a route from the board to the work is a fast job. A boarded loft, laminate flooring glued down, and a solid concrete ground floor is the same job taking three times as long.
The second factor is what testing turns up. On any job where existing circuits are brought into scope, the possibility of a pre-existing fault is real, and it is the commonest reason a day becomes a day and a half.
Common questions
Can a rewire be done while we live there?
Yes, and most are. Work moves room by room and power is restored each evening. It is dusty, and it is normal.
Why does a board change take all day?
Because every circuit in the house is tested and the results recorded before the certificate can be issued. Swapping the board itself is the quick part.
Will one visit cover several small jobs?
Usually, if the list is given when booking rather than produced on the doorstep. Parts have to be on the van, and that is a phone call the day before.