DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi, I wonder if anyone could please help me with this. I'd be very grateful for any thoughts and suggestions from those more knowledgable than myself...

Background is: I have recently puchased a 3 bed victorian terrace (brick walls) which needs rewiring and I would like to do as much as I possibly can to reduce the costs of rewiring it. So, i'm basically thinking of things that take no real expertise but can be time consuming for the electrician - things such as burying the boxes for switches and sockets and drilling joists to run cable. I was also thinking that i should be able to run cable for the lights easily enough (but not connect it).

My questions are:

1) Are there diagram available for running standard lighting and socket circuits? (I think that the house wont require more than a 5A mcb circuit on each floor) Again this would just be laying the cable, leaving some excess etc, not trying to connect anything to the fuse box.

2) Is this realistic - would an electrician be likely to give me a favourable quote on the basis that this work has been done?

3) Would i be able to lay new cable alongside the old initially, so that we can use the old circuits before the new one is connected up?

4) Are there any other things which i could realistically do to save money?

Many thanks!!!

Cam

You should get an electrician b4 you do anything yourself and ask him if he doesn't mind you doing any 1st fix work. An electrician is responsible for the whole rewire and has to sign certification stating that. He will not be too keen to finish a job he has had no control over.

For an electrician to sign an installation certificate he must be in control. This included the routes etc. So you need to find an electrician first and he needs to basically sub contract you to do as he says.
Second is electricians have wall chasers and box sinkers which can do the job quicker and neater than you can do by hand.
Third because floor boards are lifted living in the house while the work is being done is very problematic and has health and safety issues which would need to be discussed with the electrician I know temp supplies for freezers etc. have been provided but living in the house would depend on the electrician selected as to if he was willing to work around you and it is likely to increase the cost.
I am sure there are diagrams some in projects on this site but every electrician has person ideas and also new set of regulations are about to come in so all this needs to be on a one to one basis.
You will of course have to decide on what you want, a customer who changes his mind once the job has started really bumps up the price. Sockets back to back can lower price. But again what to include, TV points, LAN points, Phone points, Alarm system, etc. So easy to simply ask can you fit that two foot to left without realizing you have added £50 to the bill due to extra work and of course you would have to pay by the hour rather than set figure for job so you would be unaware of what you have done. Electricians will normally quote more for doing a rewire than they think it will take to allow for things to go wrong. If you take the risk by paying by hour you could save on the other hand risk is yours and if anything goes wrong you pay to correct it. Plus if you are making good walls after he may not be as careful and if he doesn't have much work on he can drag it out or if he has loads of work he can be missing for days at a time and you can be in a building site for a long time. I know you want to reduce costs but sometimes worth going to the blitz it type firms who put 4 or 5 men on the job and is started and completed in a couple of days. If you need to live in hotel while being done can be cheaper plus you know up front what the cost will be.