Just priced my first rewire, why is it so cheap?

[Tidy Max]

Hello everyone!

Just priced my first domestic rewire and i appear to be pretty darn cheap. I spent all of yesterday doing the quote, couldn't believe what it came out at. So i slept on it and have been back through it all again this morning and i can't seem to find where i have gone wrong.

I really wanted to avoid starting the old 'how much for a rewire' thread as other than the fact its been done to the death nobody can price a rewire without going seeing the job!

Anyway,
2 x men x 4 days
250m 2.5 t+e
150 1.5 t+e
100 3core 1.5t+e
10way wylex CU
all the breakers + 1xrcbo for appliance circuit
tails
bonding conductors
+ a contingent for the house being lived in

The client asked me to price the job WITHOUT fittings and the price came to £2200. I then priced up with the second fix being completed also just with basic white fittings and even then with the additional labour it only came to £2600.

The house is a medium sized council house, 2 up 2 down but large kitchen/garage. I am not making good after as she is getting plasterer/painter and decorator.

Of the jobs i've been pricing the passed couple of months a rewire should be very straight forward to quote but i can't help but feel i'm missing something!

Any help/advice would be much appreciated. Maybe i am just not putting enough profit on, not only do i not want to do myself out of money but i don't want to be massively under cutting other sparks too.

I charge 360 a day per 2 man team (inc myself!) and the other lad gets 150 a day.

Any advice as always is much appreciated!

 

[Sparks1962]

Can't say I like CEF's boards much either.....

 

[Tidy Max]

I wouldn't know mate ive never given them the chance. Went sorting out another sparks (NIC registered) terrible mess and he had fitted a BG board, and it was the most terrible piece of crap ever, you could of wrapped your buttys in the plastic it was that thin.

Whenever i do quotes i always give the customer abit of a lecture about crap gear and that my labour costs will probably be cheaper than the next mans but i refuse to install crap because its complete and utter false economy so my price may come abit higher but to bear in mind that it's worth it. This strategy has paid off so far!

 

[Jdsparky]

I think you also need to factor in the time you have spent quoting already, as you said you've spent yesterday and this morning sorting it out so looks like your going toward the 3 grander sort of figure for this one, I think you've over estimated some of the material (although this is a good thing) ie 100 mtrs 3 core is way too much for a start and 250m of 2.5 also too much probably <150m more like it

 

[Jdsparky]

Also u could use 1.0mm rather than 1.5 dependant on loadings for domestic, easier to connect in smokes etc and save a bit over the year

 

[kingeri]

I see you haven't included any 6mm or 10mm T&E in the list, so there is no electric cooker or shower? Just checking you haven't forgotten about them

 

[KAS1]

Have you allowed for capping/metal boxes/fixings/grommets it all adds up, wood bits/masonry bits , knee pads lol

 

[Tidy Max]

Yep all allowed for Kingeri.
Included 2 x smoke detectors + a heat detector for kitchen.

I appreciate the 1mm/1.5mm argument. However i know she has mentioned putting some spots in the kitchen and she has a massive back garden which she isn't doing anything with this year but i chose the 1.5 in the event i end up there next year to do some outside lighting as the kitchen lighting circuit would be the easiest to come off!

I agree 100m of 3 core is too much, i have a reel of 3 core ready anyway but i just banged it on there to make myself feel better about how the price was looking. Which seems daft now!

I actually think the 2.5m isn't too far off, she had got kitchen gadgets up to the eye balls so i am installing a ring main for the kitchen AND a dedicated ring main feeding a dreaded appliance grid switch. But you are spot on with including how much time i have already spent pricing the job.... if i don't get it maybe i will send her a invoice anyway lol

And Kingeri i intentionally haven't included any provisions for shower/cooker. When i was looking at the job i went through that with her mentioning that if she comes to sell the house in a year or two having the cable already in for a power shower/electric cooker could be a deal breaker for someone buying a house but she wouldn't have it. Needless to say i will be stickering up the CU with my details so when the next owner moves in ill go back and pull them in.

 

[davethsparky]

I assume you mean by that you will install 1.5 so that you can up the breaker to accomodate an extension to the circuit at a later date? Not the best plan in the world in my opinion, just run an feed in to a suitable place to pick up for the outside lights, it'll make life easier in the long run when water gets into the outside lights (surprise!) and takes out the circuit.

It sounds like you are running a ring to solely feed a grid switch for appliances? That's not really a ring is it, that's a radial run as two parallel cables. Why not just run a 20amp radial to it?

 

[telectrix]

or even a 4mm radial. as regards, price you quoted, i'd add at least 2 days, making it 6.

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Just waiting for the "I rewired a house with everything in it in 4 hours" reply.....

 

[MDJ]

Hello everyone!

Just priced my first domestic rewire and i appear to be pretty darn cheap. I spent all of yesterday doing the quote, couldn't believe what it came out at. So i slept on it and have been back through it all again this morning and i can't seem to find where i have gone wrong.

I really wanted to avoid starting the old 'how much for a rewire' thread as other than the fact its been done to the death nobody can price a rewire without going seeing the job!

Anyway,
2 x men x 4 days
250m 2.5 t+e
150 1.5 t+e
100 3core 1.5t+e
10way wylex CU
all the breakers + 1xrcbo for appliance circuit
tails
bonding conductors
+ a contingent for the house being lived in

The client asked me to price the job WITHOUT fittings and the price came to £2200. I then priced up with the second fix being completed also just with basic white fittings and even then with the additional labour it only came to £2600.

The house is a medium sized council house, 2 up 2 down but large kitchen/garage. I am not making good after as she is getting plasterer/painter and decorator.

Of the jobs i've been pricing the passed couple of months a rewire should be very straight forward to quote but i can't help but feel i'm missing something!

Any help/advice would be much appreciated. Maybe i am just not putting enough profit on, not only do i not want to do myself out of money but i don't want to be massively under cutting other sparks too.

I charge 360 a day per 2 man team (inc myself!) and the other lad gets 150 a day.

Any advice as always is much appreciated!

Sounds okay, I'd allow a week for a pair and then 15 percent on materials, then vat so approx £2'500 to £3'000.00plus vat sounds right, your not far away IMO

 

[Sparks1962]

It wont be long now.... there was a bloke around here who worked out of the back of a Volvo 740 who said he could re-wire a 3 bed council house ( occupied ) on his own in 3 days.....

 

[telectrix]

surface wiring, 1 socket per room, easy.

 

[MDJ]

The op did say it was a 2 up and 2 down, not a three bed semi guys,2.6 sounds okay for that IMO

 

[Tidy Max]

I assume you mean by that you will install 1.5 so that you can up the breaker to accomodate an extension to the circuit at a later date? Not the best plan in the world in my opinion, just run an feed in to a suitable place to pick up for the outside lights, it'll make life easier in the long run when water gets into the outside lights (surprise!) and takes out the circuit.

It sounds like you are running a ring to solely feed a grid switch for appliances? That's not really a ring is it, that's a radial run as two parallel cables. Why not just run a 20amp radial to it?

I thought 20amp may be cutting a bit fine to be honest. Thinking about it isn't the way though i know, calculating it is! But i am only in the initial stages of the quote. I was avoiding the 4mm radial just because of linking the terminals out with 4mm. I thought i could pull 2 x 2.5mm to the grid switch, in one side, link out with 2.5s (using the switches with the fuse carriers) Then back out the other side! I personally wouldn't class that as a radial using parallels because to me its the equivalent of having a ring with 5 x SFCU on it.

However, i'm sure you do know a lot more than me and i have probably just opened a can of worms and i am probably about to get a serious chunk taken out of me by you lot!

Regardless i'd rather not have the grid switch and i would rather run a separate ring with SFCU above the work tops and flex outlets behind the appliances but the client wants a grid switch and what the client wants the client gets!.....(pretty much).

You are right about the lighting circuits. I suggested running in cables but she said she didn't want it doing because she had no idea what was happening with the back yard. I should really just pull in a cable and leave both ends coiled in the ceiling and not mention it until i get a phone call to go back and do the lighting rather than pretty much bodging it onto an existing circuit. Cheers Dave