Electrician's Quote - What Should It Actually Include?

Electrician quotes have a reputation for being vague. You ask for a rewire and get back a single line: "Full rewire: £4,800." No circuit breakdown. No mention of what happens to the walls after the cables go in. No certification details. Just a number.

That's not good enough. Electrical work is one of the most heavily regulated trades in the UK. It has specific legal requirements around certification and Building Regulations. A vague quote isn't just unhelpful - it's a warning sign.

Here's what a proper electrician's quote should look like, what the work actually costs, and where homeowners get caught out.

What a good electrician's quote looks like

A decent electrical quote should feel like a specification document. It should tell you exactly what you're getting - circuit by circuit, room by room.

For a full rewire, that means something like:

• Strip out existing wiring back to the meter
• Install new 18-way consumer unit (the box of circuit breakers, sometimes called a fuse board) with RCBOs (individual circuit breakers that also detect earth faults - safer than the older MCB-plus-RCD setup)
• New ring main circuits: kitchen, ground floor, first floor (these are the power socket circuits)
• New radial circuits: cooker, shower, immersion heater, EV charger (dedicated circuits for high-power appliances)
• New lighting circuits: ground floor, first floor, landing/hallway
• Smoke and heat detectors: interconnected, mains-wired with battery backup (minimum of one per floor plus kitchen heat detector)
• Outdoor circuit: security light, garden sockets
• Socket and switch schedule: 42 double sockets, 18 light switches, 8 downlight positions, 2 outdoor IP65 sockets
• First fix (running cables through the structure before plastering) and second fix (fitting the actual sockets, switches, and light fittings after decoration)
• Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) - the formal certification that proves the work meets BS 7671 (the UK wiring regulations)
• Building Regulations notification via Part P competent persons scheme

That's the level of detail you should expect. If you're getting one line and a price, you're getting a guess, not a quote.

For context on what good trade quotes look like generally, our guide on what a builder's quote should include covers the principles.

What electrical work costs in 2026

These are typical UK prices outside London. Add 20–30% for London, 10–15% for the South East.

The big variable is access. Rewiring a house with lifted floorboards and exposed walls (during a renovation) is much quicker than rewiring a finished house where every cable run means lifting carpets, drilling through joists, and chasing into plaster.

If you're rewiring as part of a bigger renovation project, get the electrician involved early. Doing the electrical first fix while the walls are open saves hundreds in making good.

Red flags in electrical quotes

No mention of Part P or a competent persons scheme

Part P of the Building Regulations covers electrical safety in dwellings. Most electrical work in your home - new circuits, consumer unit changes, bathroom electrics, outdoor wiring, anything in a kitchen within a certain distance of a sink - is notifiable. That means it either needs a building control inspection or the electrician must be registered with a competent persons scheme like NICEIC, NAPIT, or ELECSA.

Registration with one of these schemes means the electrician can self-certify their own work and notify Building Regulations on your behalf. It's included in their annual membership, so it shouldn't cost you extra.

If the quote doesn't mention Part P, certification, or scheme registration, ask directly. An unregistered electrician can still do the work, but you'll need to arrange a building control inspection yourself (typically £200–£400), and you'll get a building control completion certificate instead. That's legitimate, but it's your responsibility to organise.

If the electrician doesn't know what Part P is, find a different electrician. For more on why building regulations matter, see our post on what happens when your quote is missing building regs.

Quoting without a survey

Any electrician who quotes a rewire without visiting the property is guessing. The price depends on too many variables - property age, number of floors, accessibility, condition of existing wiring, number of circuits needed, whether there's a loft and what's in it.

A proper survey takes 30–60 minutes. The electrician should look at the existing consumer unit, check the cable types (old rubber or lead-sheathed wiring is a different job to updating PVC-insulated circuits), assess access routes, and discuss your requirements room by room.

A quote that arrives by email without a site visit should be treated as a rough estimate at best.

"Rewire" without circuit detail

"Full rewire: £4,500" means nothing if you don't know what circuits are included. How many socket circuits? How many lighting circuits? Is the cooker on a dedicated circuit? What about the shower? The immersion heater? Smoke alarms?

A rewire without a circuit schedule is like ordering a car without knowing what engine's in it. Get the detail in writing before you agree.

No mention of the Electrical Installation Certificate

On completion of notifiable electrical work, the electrician must issue an Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC). This is a legal requirement. It confirms the installation has been designed, constructed, inspected, and tested in accordance with BS 7671 - the UK wiring regulations.

If the quote doesn't mention an EIC, ask whether one will be provided and whether it's included in the price. You'll need this document when you sell the house.

What's often missing from electrical quotes

Making good - the plasterwork nobody wants to talk about

This is the biggest hidden cost in any rewire. Running cables through a finished house means chasing channels into walls - cutting grooves in the plaster (and sometimes the brickwork underneath) to bury the cables.

Once the electrical first fix is done, those channels need filling and replastering. That's not the electrician's job. It's a plasterer's job. And it's usually not in the electrical quote.

For a full rewire of a 3-bed semi, expect the plastering bill to be £800–£1,500 on top of the electrical quote. If you're also redecorating, add paint on top of that.

Clarify this upfront. Who is responsible for making good? Is it included? If not, get a separate plastering quote before you commit.

Building Regulations notification fee

If the electrician is registered with a competent persons scheme, the notification fee is usually absorbed into their annual membership. But some electricians pass it on as a separate charge - typically £30–£60.

If the electrician isn't scheme-registered, you'll need to arrange building control yourself. That's £200–£400 for an inspection. Make sure you know who's handling this before the work starts.

Testing and certification

A rewire should include full testing at the end - insulation resistance, earth fault loop impedance, RCD trip times, polarity checks. These aren't optional extras; they're part of the certification process.

Some quotes say "rewire" but don't mention testing. The electrician might be planning to test anyway (they should be), but if it's not written down, it's hard to enforce if they cut corners.

DNO involvement - meter disconnection and reconnection

For a consumer unit replacement or full rewire, the supply needs to be temporarily disconnected at the meter. In many areas, only your DNO (Distribution Network Operator - the company that manages the electricity network in your area, like UK Power Networks or Western Power) can disconnect and reconnect the supply.

This can cost £100–£300 and usually needs booking in advance with a lead time of 1–4 weeks. Some electricians arrange this as part of the job. Others expect you to do it. Clarify who's responsible and who's paying.

Smoke and heat detector upgrades

Building Regulations require mains-wired, interconnected smoke alarms on every floor of the property when electrical work is done that falls under Part P. If your house currently has battery-only smoke alarms, the electrician should be upgrading them as part of the job.

Some quotes include this. Many don't. The cost is modest - £300–£600 for a typical three-storey house - but it's mandatory, and it needs to be in the quote. Heat detectors in kitchens are also required as part of the same system.

How to compare electrical quotes

The same rules apply here as with any trade - get at least three quotes and compare them properly. But electrical quotes need some specific checks.

Compare circuit for circuit. Line up the circuit schedules from each quote. Are they all quoting the same number of circuits? The same number of sockets? If one electrician is quoting 35 double sockets and another is quoting 48, they're pricing different jobs.

Check who handles making good. If one quote includes plastering and another doesn't, the "cheaper" quote might actually cost more once you add the plasterer.

Check certification is included. EIC, Part P notification, and testing should all be in the price. If they're listed as extras, factor them into the total.

Verify registration. Check the electrician's registration number against the relevant scheme's website - NICEIC, NAPIT, or ELECSA. It takes 30 seconds and confirms they can self-certify.

Ask about warranty. Most electricians offer a 12-month warranty on workmanship. Some competent persons schemes include a 6-year warranty backed by the scheme itself (e.g. the NICEIC Platinum Promise). That's worth knowing about.

Once the work is done, use our guide on how to check electrical work to inspect the installation before signing off.

The hidden costs of home renovations often include electrical items that weren't on the original quote. Checking these details upfront saves arguments later.

Get a benchmark before you commit

Wondering whether your electrical quote is in the right ballpark? Use our free cost estimator to get a realistic figure for your specific job and location before you commit.

Already have a quote? Upload it to MyBuildAlly and we'll check the pricing against regional benchmarks, flag missing items like certification and making good, and tell you if anything looks off. It takes a couple of minutes and gives you confidence that the numbers stack up.