How long does a rewire take?
The electrical work on a three-bedroom house is 5 to 7 days. That is the number you will be quoted, and it is accurate. It is also about a third of the answer — because the rewire is not finished when the electrician leaves, and the house is realistically disrupted for three to four weeks.
The electrician's part
| Property | Electrical work |
|---|---|
| Two-bedroom flat | 4–6 days |
| Three-bedroom house | 5–7 days |
| Four-bedroom detached | 8–10 days |
| A single room | About a day |
That splits into first fix — floors up, walls chased, cables run, back boxes in — and second fix, where accessories go on, the board is installed and everything is tested and certified. First fix is the destructive half and the noisy one. Second fix is quieter but it is when the power goes off and on repeatedly as circuits are terminated and tested.
The part nobody schedules
Here is the full timeline for a three-bed, written the way you will actually live it:
| Stage | Duration | What it is like |
|---|---|---|
| First fix | 3–4 days | Floorboards up, walls chased to brick, dust everywhere, power off in sections |
| Second fix, testing, certification | 2–3 days | Quieter; power comes and goes; you get the certificates at the end |
| Plastering | 2–4 days' work | Usually a different trade, and usually not in the electrician's quote |
| Plaster drying | A week or more | Nothing happens. You cannot decorate. This is the stage that is always forgotten |
| Decorating | 3–7 days | Mist coat first, then proper coats |
| Floors and carpets back | 1–2 days | The end |
| Total | 3–4 weeks |
Can you live in it?
Yes, and plenty of people do and wish they had not. The honest picture: floors are up, so the route between rooms changes daily. Plaster dust gets into everything, including things in closed cupboards. Power is off circuit by circuit, so the kettle, the router and the freezer are all periodically unavailable. It is manageable for an adult working elsewhere. It is genuinely hard with small children, a newborn, anyone working from home on calls, or anyone shielding.
The fix: ask for it staged
Almost every rewire can be sequenced floor by floor so that one half of the house stays habitable while the other is worked on — upstairs first, then down, or the reverse. You keep a working kitchen or a working bedroom throughout.
It costs a little more in labour, because the electrician sets up and strips out twice and cannot run cables in the most efficient order. It costs far less than renting somewhere for a month. The critical thing is to ask for it before the quote is written — staging a job that was priced as a single continuous run is a variation, and variations are where quotes go wrong.
What makes it take longer
- Solid floors. No void to run cables in, so routes go overhead or get chased into walls. Slower and messier.
- Lath and plaster. Chases badly, and repairs need a plasterer who can work with it.
- A boarded or insulated loft. Lifting and reinstating insulation and boards is real time.
- Fitted kitchens and wardrobes. Cables have to get behind them without removing them, or they come out.
- Scope changes mid-job. Deciding on two more sockets per room in week one is the single most common cause of slippage.
- Discovering the board needs replacing too — which on a rewire it almost always does. See replacing a consumer unit.
What makes it quicker
- Decide the socket and light positions before day one, room by room, in writing. Walk the house with a pencil.
- Clear the rooms properly. Every item still in a room is an item that has to be moved twice.
- Lift the carpets yourself if you can — it is unskilled time you are otherwise paying for.
- Book the plasterer before the electrician starts, for the day after second fix. Waiting to find one afterwards adds a week of nothing.
- Only do a partial if a partial is what you need. Read whether you need a full rewire first — a partial is days rather than weeks.
Before you commit
Get the timeline and the making-good in writing together, because they are the same question: a quote that ends at second fix is a quote that ends with chased walls. The full cost picture, including the plastering that is usually excluded, is on the full rewire cost breakdown. And confirm whoever you hire is on the Registered Competent Person Electrical register, because a rewire is notifiable and the certificate is what you are really buying.
Get a rewire quote with a timeline in it
Tell us the property size and whether you need the work staged to stay in the house. A quote with a sequence in it is worth more than a cheaper one without.
What we will not do: we do not sell your details on, we do not add you to a marketing list, and we do not require a phone number. If you would rather not be called, leave the phone out — email is enough.