House Rewiring in Manchester
Full and partial rewires for terraces, semis and period houses, planned around how you live and finished with the walls made good.
- Full or partial, on evidence
- Fixed price, make-good included
- Certified and registered
A rewire is a decision, not a panic
Nobody wants to hear that their house needs rewiring. It is disruptive and it is not cheap. So we approach it as a decision to be made with evidence: we test the existing installation, we show you the readings, and we tell you whether the honest answer is a full rewire, a partial rewire, or a new consumer unit on wiring that is still sound. Plenty of houses that were told they needed a full rewire did not.
The houses that usually do
Manchester has a lot of housing from before the war and a lot rewired in the 1960s and 1970s. The Victorian terraces of Chorlton, Levenshulme, Withington and Prestwich are the ones we rewire most, and the pattern is familiar: sound sockets from a 1990s kitchen, original lighting with no earth, a fuse board that predates all of it, and an EICR from a buyer's survey that has coded the lot. The 1930s semis of Didsbury, Sale, Cheadle and Heaton Moor are the next most common, and there a partial rewire of the lighting is often enough. In Hale and Bowdon, larger Edwardian houses that have been extended several times sometimes have three generations of wiring in one installation.
How we plan it
A rewire is the one chance to get the sockets where you actually want them. At the survey we walk each room with you and plan socket positions, lighting circuits, outside power, a dedicated circuit for a car charger or an electric shower, and data points if you want them. Cable routes are planned to minimise chasing, and if you are decorating or fitting a kitchen we sequence the work so that walls are opened once.
First fix runs the cables with floorboards up and walls chased. Second fix installs the accessories and the new consumer unit. Then every circuit is tested, the installation is certified and registered with Building Control, and the chases and boards are made good. If you would like plastering and decorating done by the same company, our interiors team follows on.
If you have arrived here because the electrics keep tripping, our guide on why your electrics keep tripping explains that a rewire is rarely the first answer; usually fault finding is. If you are buying, an EICR before exchange tells you what you are taking on, and our guide on what an EICR covers explains the codes it uses. For anything urgent, our emergency electrician is available around the clock, and the main Manchester electrician page lists the rest. Please do not open the consumer unit or work on the wiring yourself; call 07343 065023 and we will assess it.
Rewiring a period house without wrecking it
Victorian and Edwardian houses in south Manchester have features worth keeping: cornices, picture rails, original floorboards, tiled hallways. A rewire does not have to damage them. We route cables through floor voids and existing service runs wherever possible, chase only where there is no alternative, and lift and refit boards rather than cutting through them.
Where a room has been recently plastered, we say so at the survey and plan around it. The aim is that when the decorator has finished, nobody can tell the house has been rewired.
Readings first. Full, partial or neither, decided on evidence.
Sockets where you want them. One price, make-good included.
Boards up, walls chased, cables in. The noisy part.
Accessories on, new board in, every circuit labelled.
Tested, certified, registered. Chases filled before we go.
How a rewire runs
From survey to certificate.
Signs a house may need rewiring
Testing confirms it. These are the things that prompt a survey.
Rewiring prices
Fixed after survey. These figures show the range.
- 01Two-bed terraceFull rewire, two-bedroom terraceFrom£3,200Includes new consumer unit, testing and certification
- 02Three-bed semiFull rewire, three-bedroom semiFrom£4,200Includes new consumer unit, testing and certification
- 03Lighting onlyPartial rewire, lighting circuits onlyFrom£1,400Typical for 1930s semis with modern sockets
- 04Extra circuitAdditional dedicated circuit, such as a car charger or showerFrom£280When added during a rewire
Indicative placeholder — confirm against /pricing before publishing. Plastering and decorating are quoted separately.
Full pricing and what is includedRelated electrical services
Usually considered alongside a rewire.
- Emergency Electrician24-hour emergency electrician across Manchester and Greater Manchester. Power loss, burning smells, sparking sockets and boards that will not reset. On the way within 60 minutes.within 60 minutes
- 02Fault Finding and RepairsElectrical fault finding across Manchester. Tripping circuits, dead sockets, flickering lights and intermittent faults traced to the cause and repaired, with the work certified.
- 03Fuse Boards and Consumer UnitsFuse board and consumer unit replacement across Manchester. Old rewirable boards and plastic units replaced with metal-clad, RCBO-protected consumer units, certified and registered.
- 04EICR ReportsEICR reports across Manchester for landlords, homebuyers and businesses. Plain-English findings, a fixed price for any remedial work, and the certificate your agent or council needs.
- 05Appliance RepairAppliance repair across Manchester. Washing machines, ovens, hobs, dishwashers and tumble dryers repaired at home by a qualified electrician, with the circuit behind them checked.
Ask me anythingQuestion 01 of 05Question 02 of 05Question 03 of 05Question 04 of 05Question 05 of 0501How do I know if my house needs rewiring?
The clearest signal is an EICR that codes the wiring itself, rather than an accessory, as unsatisfactory. Other signs are rubber or lead-sheathed cable, round-pin sockets, a fuse board that has never been changed, sockets that are few and far between, and lights with no earth. Houses last rewired before the 1980s are usually candidates. We test before we recommend, and a partial rewire is often enough.
02How long does a rewire take, and can I stay in the house?
A two-bedroom terrace takes around five to seven working days for first fix, second fix and testing. A three-bedroom semi takes seven to ten. You can stay in the house, but it is disruptive: floorboards up, chases in the walls, and power restricted room by room. Many customers time it with a move or a decoration project. If the house is empty, the work goes faster.
03What is the difference between a full and a partial rewire?
A full rewire replaces every cable, accessory and the consumer unit. A partial rewire replaces the circuits that have failed testing and leaves the sound ones in place, usually with a new consumer unit to protect everything. Partial rewires are common on 1930s semis where the sockets were redone in the 1990s but the lighting is original. Testing tells us which you need, and we do not sell a full rewire where a partial will do.
04Do you make good the walls afterwards?
Yes. Chases are filled and floorboards refixed as standard, and we can arrange full plastering and decorating through our own interiors team so that you deal with one company. If you are planning to redecorate anyway, tell us at the survey and we plan the cable routes to suit. We also plan around any kitchen or bathroom work you have in mind, so circuits go in once.
05Is a rewire certified?
A rewire is notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations. We notify it through our competent person scheme, test every circuit, and issue an Electrical Installation Certificate and a Building Regulations compliance certificate. Those documents are what your solicitor and your buyer's surveyor will want to see when you sell, and what your insurer may ask for after a claim. Our guide on what an EICR covers explains the testing.
Find out whether you actually need a rewire
- Recommended on evidence
- Fixed written price
- Walls made good
Cloth cables and round-pin sockets mean the wiring is older than most of the people using it.
