How to price a rewire: per point, per room or per job?

Ask five electricians how they price a rewire and you will get per point, per room, per job, and two people who do not want to talk about it. All three methods work. The trouble starts when you mix them mid-quote, or when the method hides so much detail that the customer cannot see what they are buying. Here is how each one works, what a sensible 2026 figure looks like, and how to present it so the quote wins.

Figures below are typical ranges for domestic work in the UK. London and the South East run higher, and every house built before 1970 is its own adventure. Keep the method, plug in your own numbers.

Per point: the most defensible

A “point” is a single accessory position: a socket outlet, a switch, a light position, a cooker point. You count them, multiply by your rate, and add the fixed items. Typical domestic per-point rates in 2026 sit somewhere around £45 to £75 first and second fix combined, with the consumer unit, bonding, testing and certification priced separately.

Per point is the most defensible method because the count is a fact. When the customer adds four sockets in the kitchen during the walkaround, the price moves by an amount you can both see, not by a shrug. If you price this way, put the count on the quote: “62 points at £55” reads as measured, not guessed.

Per room: the fastest to quote

Per room works from experience: a bedroom is roughly this, a kitchen is roughly that, because the point counts in each room type do not vary much. A three-bed semi rewire priced per room takes minutes. The risk is the outlier room, the kitchen with an island, the loft conversion with downlights everywhere. Per room is fine as a method as long as you re-count the two or three rooms that carry most of the points.

Per job: fine for you, opaque for the customer

Whole-job pricing (“full rewire, three-bed semi: £4,800”) is quick and it is how many firms think internally. But presented as one line, it gives the customer a single number to compare against every other single number they were texted, and the cheapest wins. If you price per job, still show the parts on the quote: board, points by area, testing, making good. Same total, very different conversation. The general rule is the one in how to price a job as a tradesperson: a price with visible parts gets challenged less.

The lines that go on every rewire quote

However you price the points, these belong as separate lines:

• Consumer unit supply, fit and test
• Earthing and bonding upgrades
• Chasing and making good (or state plainly that plastering is excluded)
• Testing, certification and Building Control notification
• Floor lifting and access, if the boards are glued or tiled

Making good is the classic dispute. Say what you do and do not include in writing, on the quote, every time.

A worked example

Three-bed semi, full rewire:

• 58 points at £55: £3,190
• Consumer unit, supply and fit: £520
• Earthing and bonding: £180
• Testing and certification: £260
• Chasing and making good to plaster finish: £450

£4,600, in five lines the customer can read and a point count they watched you take. When they ask for the garden socket and the EV-ready circuit, those are two new lines, not a renegotiation.

Deposits and stage payments

A rewire is materials-heavy at the start: cable prices move, and the board and accessories are bought before second fix. Take 20% to 25% on acceptance, by card, when they say yes. On bigger jobs, invoice first fix when it is done. If a customer on a £5,000 rewire will not commit to any money down, that tells you something worth knowing this week rather than in week three. The argument in full: should you take a deposit.

Add the extras as tickable options

EV charger circuit, garden power, extra downlights per room, USB sockets: put them on the quote as priced optional add-ons the customer ticks. During a rewire, the marginal cost of an extra circuit is the lowest it will ever be, and customers understand that instinctively. Options ticked at acceptance are planned first-fix work; the same request in week two is disruption.

Send it the same day

The rewire quote that arrives while the customer is still hoovering the survey dust wins disproportionately often. Snapquo built for electricians keeps your point rates, board prices and extras as saved items, assembles the quote on-site in about a minute, takes a deposit by card at acceptance, and chases the quote politely until there is an answer. The first few documents are free, so the next survey can be the test.