Dear friends,
My husband and I just purchased our home, a 1952 rambler under 1800 ft2. The previous dearly-departed owner was an amateur electrician, thus *many* things are really wierd with the wiring. We would like to get a quote for totally rewiring the house (there are no three-prong outlets, nor GFIs, nor even a safe 220v for the washer/dryer). We can’t find any info online, because of course, every situation is different. Can anyone give us a ballpark quote (say within $1000), and does anyone have any recommendations of things a homeowner can do on their own to save costs (we can add fixtures, etc,).
Much appreciated,
grace
Edited 4/20/2005 11:33 am ET by methylgrace
Replies
Things that affect cost of rewiring : bungalow or 2 storey .
is the basement finished including ceiling.
normally a new panel is pretty straight forward as per quoting after a electrician has a look at your current and projected needs .
the other circuits being replaced are usually a dogs breakfast as for problems that can be encontered . If you were posibly going to gut the rooms to add new insulation drywall then thats the time to do them even if only 1 room at a time or maybee 2 rooms at a time.
Ive done this for customers who have fell in love with older homes & don't have enough money to do it all at once . The thing I have found is they find the money after their first experience with the demo dirt.
most electricians don't like fishing a house load of wiring as they know better ways of going insane.
Grace,
Well, the cost of labor varies a lot depending on location.
Where are you/where is the house located?
If the state or local government has electician or electrical contractor licensing requirements, you should engage a licensed tradesman/woman.
Also someone who has a legitimate business, meaning commercial casualty insurance, and workers comp (if they have employees). Homeowners who hire someone under the table, often someone who's a commercial or industrial electrician and moonlighting, are looking for a world of hurt. Re-wiring an old house (unless as mentioned, the walls are open) is very different than any other electrical work.
As to cost--well, let me tell you about the situation out here in Sacramento, California. If the house was typical (built on a tight crawl space and with a low attic), walls plaster over button board (sheet rock lath), you want to minimize the size and number of holes cut in the walls to run wire, and you want the house brought up to better than minimum Code requirements (in terms of the number of branch circuits, receptacles, light fixtures, and so on, and better quality materials, with you buying the main light fixtures)--I'd give you a ball park of $18-22,000. This would include a 200 amp service with overhead drop, some house exterior lighting (porch lights and a couple of floodlights), and several telephone jacks and cable TV outlets.
That's a lot of money, certainly. But "old work" (rewiring an existing house) with minimal collateral damage is a complex, difficult, dirty job. And that's on top of having all the technical knowledge to ensure that all the Code requirements are met, and cost-effective enhancements are added in.
I've found that doing a project like this in stages is possible, but ends up costing more money (about one-third more) to cover the inefficiencies.
E-mail me if you'd like to get into specifics.
Best of luck.
Cliff Popejoy
Apex Electrical Contracting
Sacramento, California
http://www.ApexElectricalContracting.com
Dear Cliff -Thanks! I just followed up with our contractor and was given a quote of $22,000, which was way, waaay over what I had expected. I was a little disappointed to get a very poorly itemized quote, which listed $275/GFI, $250/outlet, X/switch etc, etc. with no indication of how many of each the contractor was referring to, merely the total + tax at the bottom. Is this standard?Obviously, this price is way out of our league, and we must consider doing the work in stages. Can you tell me if this is a reasonable approach? I would first want to hire someone (perhaps even the same contractor, no red flags with this person/company's ability) to ensure that the power to the house and the two switch boxes are up to/exceeding local code (Seattle, WA). There is one box to an addition that is about 15 years old, and the original box still on fuses (wow!) I would also want to ensure that the high power danger areas of kitchen/laundry with no 3-prong grounded plugs are up to snuff. This would involve, I assume, rewiring through the easily accessible attic, and might end up with a couple of small wall-holes, which I can repair myself. The kitchen/laundry are close together and run off the same fuse box.The second phase would be largely an owner project. I would map the existing circuits, and see if I could attach new cabling to old and pull it through the existing path, and hook up the new wiring to the new circuit boxes. I'ld put on the proper rated outlets and switches, etc.Then I would get a licensed professional to inspect the job and sign off on it. Is this a reasonable approach? Is there something else I should consider? Obviously I should ensure that I've calculated the proper loads for the high-use areas (one entertainment center area, and one high-level computer lab area).Your advice, and comments from all, are much appreciated. -grace
p.s. thanks for the article "http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/bh0019.asp" and link to Code Check!
Grace,
Not a bad strategy. First, upgrade the service (200 amps, unless appliances [space heat, water heat, range, dryer] are gas). Then run new circuits to kitchen, laundry, and computer area.
You'll have no luck using the old wire to pull in new, as the original wire should be stapled securly inside the walls.
If the previous owner was a DIY electrician and wasn't competent, well, there could be danger lurking anywhere. Make sure that the smoke detectors are new (the effectiveness declines with age, and the general recommendation is to replace an ionizing smoke detector about every ten years), and the batteries are fresh.
Some problems can be detected by measuring voltage drop. See the old wiring online extra article a couple of issues ago for more info on voltge drop testing.
Lastly, I think you'll have a tough time finding a licensed electrician to come in and inspect and "sign off" (or just hook up the panel end of circuits that you've installed). First issue is profit, second is liability. On the liability point, if you've made a mistake and there's a problem, as in a fire for instance, the electrician may be on the hook for it. The general principle is that the last professional to touch a system owns it. For this reason, I've refused to do any work on systems that are clearly accidents ready to happen, because the owner does not want to pay to have all the serious problems taken care of.
The amount of your time and effort to learn how to competently re-wire a house will be considerable, the work itself will be hard and dirty, and you'll make mistakes along the way. The mistakes will cost you time and materials to correct.
Don't expect the municipal or state electrical inspector to provide quality control, except in the most gross sense. They can't possibly check every cable staple, connection, or splice. You will be responsible for the quality and safety of the work.
Also, you will not know the best way to design the system. That will only result in lost opportunities to provide efficiency and convenience, not safety issues.
So, while it's possible to rewire a house yourself, it's not easy to do right or well.
As to cost, I've found that in Southern California, the large pool of immigrant labor and of poorly qualified, non-licensed contractors has severly depressed the prices for work done by the skilled trades. People want Wal-Mart prices, and they can get them, and they get usually get very poor quality, too.
Best regards,
Cliff
Dear Cliff and friends,I've had a busy weekend reading up on as much literature as I could. It sure looks like the project would take much longer for us to do safely and correctly than we really have time to do.I'll spend some time getting a more accurate quote, to ensure that I've calculated/budgetted enough for the proper permits, and any extras like wiring in additional plugs in the kitchen (can't have too many, right?). I really appreciate your help and links to additional materials. While cringing at the cost, better to do it now than later, and better to do it right than risk burning down the house. And better too to hire someone with experience and education; that's why you're called a *professional*.thanks for taking the time to discuss the project with a newbie!
-grace
Grace,
I'm not an electrician, but I think it could be less expensive if you just demo walls where needed so it is more like new construction and they don't have to fish stuff . Perhaps you could work a deal where the electrician marks the walls that need openings and you rip out the drywall in those stud cavities?
Drywall is fairly inexpensive to have done.
Ahh, but it's plaster and lath. I think there may be way more demolition than I want ...
Ouch, that makes it harder. Possibly you could demo the plaster and replace with drywall and it might still be less expensive (you'd need a contractor to look into that).
You could look into wiring along the baseboard to reduce the amount of fishing. There are baseboards sold that are specifically for this purpose.
I am in the middle of a rewire with new 100 amp service, sub panel in the detached garage new wire in the garage. I had one quote for 8,500, Got it done for about $6,500. This is a 940 sq ft mid 40's house in Southern Calif. There was no cutting of the button board walls he just took a hammer and made the holes he needed. This included phone lines, cable lines and hardwired smoke detectors.