How much do electricians charge per hour in the UK? Every electrical contracting company has its own electrician prices list for the range of services they offer. Your electrician, once they’ve qualified and they’ve undergone a number of years of on-the-job training offers you and your family a wide range of services which not only make living in your property more comfortable but which also protects them against real risks of fire and electrocution.
But the problem for many of us is that we have no idea how much an electrician will charge us for an individual job – many of us don’t really know what a fair rate would actually be. In this article, HouseholdQuotes looks at:
- electrician hourly rates
- the importance of electrical safety certificates
- central heating repair service costs
- light fitting costs (including outside lights)
- shower fitting costs
- earth bonding services costs
- smoke alarm fitting cost
- light fitting cost
- fan fitting cost
- the qualifications your electrician needs and whether they should belong to any trade bodies
- how to save up to 40% on electrician costs
You can get 3-4 quotes from local, trusted, experienced electricians and electrical contractors by clicking on the button below. We’ve done all the background checking on them (as have our partners, Rated People) meaning that you’ll be receiving quotes from time-served professionals who actually do have the knowledge and the skill to do what you need them to do.
Click To Get QuotesEvery time we recommend an electrician to you, they also know they’re in competition with each other to win your work and our clients have told us that the cheapest quote they receive can be up to 40% less expensive than the most expensive quote. It always pays to shop around so please do fill in the form below.
Electrician hourly rate UK
How much do electricians charge per hour in the UK? Electrician day rates vary according to the experience of your electrician and the part of the country you live in. According to TradeSkills4U, an experienced electrician in the South East of England charges £45 an hour or £350 a day.
Electricians often charge a call out fee which is priced at up to double their hourly rate but which also includes the first hour’s worth of labour.
Electrical safety certificates
Before getting any electrical work done on your property, many professionals believe that having an inexpensive electrical safety certificate inspection carried out on your home is important. That’s because the inspection will give you a strong idea of any work that you need to have carried out now and an indication of further work that may need to be done in the next 10 years.
Quotes you receive for an electrical inspection of your property should be close to the following guide:
- One bedroom apartment – £100 – £150
- Two bedroom apartment – £120 – £170
- Three bedroom apartment – £180 – £230
- One to two bedroom home – £150 – £200
- Three to four bedroom home – £200 – £250
- Five bedroom home or larger – £300 plus
There is no legal requirement for a homeowner to get an electrical safety for their primary property however landlords now must have one carried out every five years.
The report you receive will contain the information you need to bring your property’s electrical system up to modern regulations and to make you aware of any installations not compliant with current wiring regulations. You can then use the information contained on the report to work out a plan of action with your electrician over what work needs to be carried out and when.
Click To Get QuotesFull re-wire and consumer unit replacement
Most electricians recommend that you re-wire your home fully every 20 to 25 years, especially if a homeowner is preparing a major decorating project, planning an extension, or considering putting their property on the market. Re-wiring a house takes time and it can be a little bit messy so having it done prior to making changes in your home will save you money and inconvenience.
Signs you need your home re-wiring
Other than the length of time it’s been since your last re-wiring, what are some of the signs you should look for which will let you know that now is the time to get the work done?
The first place to look at is your fuse box, nowadays more likely to be called your consumer unit. If the switches are made of iron, the back is wooden, or the fuses are ceramic, you certainly need a new consumer board and just as likely a full re-wiring.
Next, what about the cables around your consumer unit? If they or your meter are fabric-, lead-, or rubber-covered, your wiring needs placement – lead was last used in the 1950s and fabric in the 1960s.
Last, does your consumer unit has built-in residual circuit devices (RSDs) and circuit breakers? If not, it’s time to get an electrician out to provide you with a full electrical inspection with a view to having a re-wiring completed as soon as possible.
Why home re-wiring is so important
Why is it so important to have modern wiring in your home? Old wiring was designed for the electrical demand and items of an era that’s passed – we use far more electricity now than we did even 30 years ago. Making sure that your internal wiring can safely handle the demand of electricity created by you and your family’s devices reduces the risk of fire and injuries caused by electrical fires.
How much do home re-wirings cost and how long do they take?
It depends on the size of your property and where you live but a 1-bedroom property re-wiring will cost between £1,900 and £3,000 taking 4-7 days and a 5-bedroom property will cost you between £4,400 to £6,500. You may need a little remedial decorative & painting work done after the re-wiring and you should ask your electrician to quote on doing that work if you don’t want to do it yourself.
Find out more about home re-wirings
You can find a full guide on home re-wirings on HouseholdQuotes – just click on the link.
Central heating repair service
Although most boilers and modern central heating systems are powered by gas, the inner workings of them are powered by electricity. Within each boiler, there is a sophisticated computer system regulating the output of hot water and heating to your home. Given that most boilers have guarantees lasting between 2 and 10 years, they are normally very reliable domestic appliances but things do go wrong.
If your boiler is out of its guarantee period and if your can’t reach the plumber who initially installed it, you can call out an electrician for help. Areas an electrician can help you with include:
- Diagnosis of central heating system problems – £40-100 for first hour, £25-75 for each subsequent hour. Most of the time, your electrician will diagnose the problem within 1 hour but, of course, that depends on the complexity of the problem.
- Supply and fit of a room thermostat – £75-£105
- Supply and fit of a cylinder thermostat – £95-£125
- Supply and fit of a control clock, supply and fit – £90 to £150
Click To Get QuotesLight fitting (including outside lights)
To replace or to relocate a light switch with a like-to-like housing unit should cost you between £75 and £145 depending on where the light switch is in your home and the amount of time the electrician needs to complete the work.
The cost will be higher if you want to fix outside lights to your home and outer buildings however the price you end up paying will depend on whether the electrician supplies the light fittings, where the light switches will be located, and the length and complexity of the cable run from your mains supply to your light switch.
Shower fitting
Most electricians have the necessary experience and qualifications required to fit a shower to your bathrooms. Two particular types of service are generally offered:
- getting the shower space ready for shower installation by the fitting of the electrics – £100 to £225
- the fitting of the shower, the plumbing in of the shower, and the installation and connection of the electricity supply – £150 to £275 (the shower unit itself will be an additional cost).
Earth bonding
What is earth bonding? Earthing and bonding new electrical installations protects you and your family from the dual threats of electrocution and fire caused by faulty appliances and equipment. Since 2008, earth bonding is now required on all electrical installations in rooms which contain or will contain a shower or a bath – those installations must also be protected by a residual current device.
Earthing allows electricity to flow safety to the ground and it’s this flow which allows a fuse or a circuit break to work. Bonding connects metallic water and gas pipes which come into you home to the earthing terminal – this prevents the occurrence of electric shocks.
The process of earth bonding to water and gas pipes costs between £150 and £250 – the job itself takes around three to seven hours to complete.
Smoke alarm fitting
There are around 250 fire-related deaths in the UK every year (source: FullFact) and 80% of fires occur in homes, flats, and maisonettes (source: UK Government).
There are two types of smoke alarm – battery powered and mains-powered. Battery powered units are often cheaper and they’re easy to affix to ceilings in your home. However, batteries do have a lifespan and there is a risk, even though modern alarms warn homeowners that there is not much power left in a battery, that replacing your batteries might just slip your mind.
To hire an electrician to supply and fit a mains-powered smoke alarm, you should expect to pay £80-£130 for the first alarm and £40-90 for each alarm thereafter.
If you’re worried about fire in your home and you want to know more about fire and how to prevent it, click to read the HouseholdQuotes Keep Safe From Fire guide.
Click To Get QuotesFans
Damp air which is not allowed to escape from a property builds up over time making the appearance of mould in your home even more likely. Many homes have bathrooms either with no window or with a window which, when opened, does not provide a significant enough degree of ventilation to remove the damp air from the property.
Damp is not only unsightly – it’s a major health hazard particularly for households containing very young and older family members. This is something that you need to get sorted out as quickly as you possibly can.
If you want to install a new extractor fan, the cost of fitting and connection to the mains will be between £250 and £475. To replace an existing extractor fan with a newer model, expect to pay between £125 and £225. Both prices quoted do not include the actual extractor fan unit itself.
What qualifications does my electrician need and should they belong to any trade bodies?
Qualified electricians need to have passed Level 3 industry qualifications before they’re allowed to call themselves a “competent person” and before they’re allowed to carry out the work listed in this article without supervision from others.
When you’re getting quotes, you can feel extra assurance in the skills, recognition, and experience of your electrician or electrical contracting firm by looking out for these names:
- The BSI Kitemark
- Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA)
- ELECSA
- National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting (NICEIC)
Save up to 40% on electrician costs
Once they have gained the trust of a customer, most electricians know that a particular customer will come back to them again and again when problems arise. That’s why it’s always best to get 3 or 4 quotes from local electricians for any work you want carrying out – particularly the higher value orders. Because each electrician knows that they’re in competition for your business, you’ll pay a lower price because your electrician not only wants your business now – they want it for the years to come too.
Click the button below to arrange 3 or 4 quotes from checked and vetted tradesman. Our service is free and there’s no obligation on you to accept any of the quotes given to you.
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Can I have an approx quote for fixing our electricity keeps tripping out.
And we would like to move a plug socket.