House Rewiring, Dublin

A standard three bedroom house in Dublin usually lands somewhere between €11,000 and €14,000 including VAT. That is a typical range, not a quote for your house, and anybody who gives you a firm figure over the phone without seeing the place is guessing.

Making good the plaster afterwards is on top, normally another €2,000 to €5,000. Almost nobody in the trade includes it, which is why it is the classic surprise halfway through a job. Ask whoever is quoting you whether theirs does.

What moves the number

Two houses on the same road can be thousands apart. These are the reasons, in roughly the order they matter.

• Size and number of circuits. Every room needs its own runs. A four bed with an extension is a bigger job than a two bed terrace, and the gap is not small.
• Timber floors or solid concrete. Lifting floorboards to run cable is straightforward. Concrete downstairs means chasing walls instead, which is slower and creates far more making good.
• Access to the attic and under the floors. Open joists and an empty attic make it quick. A floored attic packed with insulation and forty years of belongings makes it slow, and slow is what costs money.
• How much existing cable is sound. Some of what is there may be fine and can stay. That is a decision made from testing, not from looking, and it is the single biggest swing in either direction.
• What you want that you do not have. Most people do not want the same two sockets a room they have lived with. Extra sockets, outside lights, a shower circuit or a charger all add points, and points add cost.