Rewiring a house - including the parts nobody quotes

What is whole house rewire?

A whole house rewire replaces the branch wiring throughout the building - the cables running from the panel to every outlet, switch, light and appliance - along with the boxes, devices and usually the panel itself. It is the most disruptive residential electrical job there is, because the wires are inside finished walls and ceilings. The honest headline: the electrical work is rarely the expensive part. Access and making good is.

Signs you need whole house rewire

• The house still has knob-and-tube or early cloth-covered wiring in service, not just abandoned in the attic
• You have aluminium branch wiring from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s and remediation has already been judged impractical
• Outlets are two-prong throughout, meaning there is no equipment ground anywhere in the branch circuits
• Insulation on cables is visibly cracking, crumbling or falling away when disturbed
• Repeated burning smells, warm outlets or scorch marks in more than one location - a pattern, not a single fault
• An insurer has refused cover, surcharged the policy or set a deadline for the wiring to be replaced
• You are already gutting the house for a renovation, which is the one time the access cost disappears

Seeing something not on this list? Browse electrical problems by symptom →

How whole house rewire actually works

1. 1

   Assessment - and the partial-versus-whole question

   A competent electrician opens a sample of boxes, looks in the attic and basement, and establishes what is actually in the walls. Many houses turn out to be mixed: some circuits replaced in the 1980s, some original. The finding that matters is whether the bad wiring is confined to identifiable runs or is genuinely everywhere.

   Watch forA whole-house quote produced from a walkthrough and the year the house was built. If nobody has opened boxes and looked in the attic, they are pricing a guess - and the guess is always the bigger job.

2. 2

   The circuit plan, written before anything is opened

   A rewire is a chance to redesign, not just replace. Kitchen and laundry circuit requirements have changed substantially, bedrooms now typically need arc-fault protection, and outlet spacing standards are tighter than in any pre-war house. This is also where you decide what you want that you do not have - outdoor circuits, a garage feed, data cabling pulled while the walls are open.

   Watch forA like-for-like replacement. Rewiring to the same layout you had spends the disruption budget and leaves you with a 1950s circuit plan in new cable.

3. 3

   Deciding how the cable gets from A to B

   This is where the real cost sits. Cables can be fished through existing stud bays from above and below, which is slow and needs limited access holes, or walls can be opened along the runs, which is fast and destructive. Balloon-framed older homes often allow long vertical fishes; homes with fire blocking, plaster and lath, or spray foam frequently do not.

   Watch forA quote that does not say which method is assumed. "Minimal drywall damage" is a marketing phrase unless it is accompanied by a specific statement of where holes will be cut.

4. 4

   Opening up - the disruption map

   Expect access holes at every outlet and switch, along the tops and bottoms of wall runs, and at ceiling boxes. Plaster and lath does not cut back neatly the way drywall does, and rewiring a plaster house realistically means larger repairs. Furniture moves, floors get covered, and rooms come out of use in sequence rather than all at once.

   Watch forWhether patching is included. In most quotes it is not, and drywall repair, plaster repair, texture matching and repainting across a whole house is a five-figure surprise on top of a five-figure job. Get it priced by someone, in writing, before you start.

5. 5

   Rough-in and inspection

   New cable is pulled, boxes are set, and everything is left open for a rough-in inspection before anything is closed. In many jurisdictions this inspection is mandatory and covering work before it happens means opening it again.

   Watch forAny suggestion of closing walls before rough-in is signed off. It is a hard failure and the cost of undoing it lands on you.

6. 6

   Panel, service and the old wiring

   A rewire almost always includes a new panel, and frequently a service upgrade too - doing them separately means paying twice for panel work and coordinating two inspection cycles. Old cable is disconnected at both ends and, where it cannot be pulled out, made permanently dead rather than left live in a wall.

   Watch forAbandoned wiring left energised "just in case". It is the thing that hurts the next person who opens that wall, and a rewire is the moment to end it.

7. 7

   Trim-out, final inspection and making good

   Devices, plates, fixtures and covers go on, protective devices are tested, the panel directory is written from actual tracing, and the final inspection follows. Then, separately, the building gets repaired: patching, sanding, priming, painting.

   Watch forA final walkthrough done before the making-good. Sign off the electrical work and the repair work separately, and hold retention against the second one.

What does whole house rewire cost?

Rewiring a house is priced largely by size and by how hard the cables are to run - a small, accessible, single-storey home sits at the bottom of the range and a large plaster-walled house with finished ceilings at the top. Assume five figures, and assume drywall repair and repainting are extra unless the quote says otherwise.

See the full whole house rewire cost guide - by material, size and region →

If the number is the problem, here are the ways people pay for it →