House Rewire Cost Edinburgh: 2025 Scotland Price Guide

Edinburgh Rewire Costs by Property Type (2025)

• 1–2 bed flat (tenement or purpose-built): £2,800–£4,500 (3–5 days)
• 3-bed semi-detached or villa: £4,000–£6,500 (5–8 days)
• 4-bed detached: £5,500–£9,000 (7–11 days)
• Large stone-built villa (5-bed+): £9,000–£15,000+ (11–16 days)

• New Town Georgian flats (1770s–1840s): Stockbridge, the West End, and the New Town itself. Extremely high ceilings (3.5 to 4.5 metres), solid sandstone walls with no cavity, ornate plasterwork cornicing and ceiling roses, and Category A listing in most cases. The most complex and expensive Edinburgh properties to rewire.
• Victorian stone tenements (1860s–1900s): Marchmont, Bruntsfield, Dalry, Leith, and Gorgie. Solid sandstone construction with shared stairwells. Many tenement flats retain original wiring in poor condition, sometimes with aluminium conductors from 1970s upgrades. Communal areas require coordination with the factors (property management companies) common in Scottish tenement ownership.
• Victorian villas and semis (1880s–1910s): Morningside, Newington, Grange, and Trinity. Stone-built with plaster on lathe or stone directly. Accessible loft spaces and generally more straightforward cable routes than tenements, but solid external walls remain a challenge.
• 1930s–1960s semis and bungalows: Corstorphine, Liberton, Portobello, and Sighthill. Cavity brick construction — lighter and faster to rewire than stone properties. Many have VIR wiring approaching the end of its service life or early PVC wiring with no earthing on lighting circuits.
• Post-war estates (1960s–1980s): Craigmillar, Wester Hailes, Oxgangs, and Clermiston. Plasterboard or large-panel construction — the most straightforward to rewire. Consumer units often have BS 3036 rewirable fuses or early single-RCD boards.

• New consumer unit — metal enclosure with RCBOs or dual-RCD arrangement, surge protection device (SPD), and main switch.
• All circuit cables — twin and earth for ring finals, radials, lighting circuits, cooker, shower, and immersion heater circuits.
• Accessories — sockets, switches, ceiling roses, and fused connection units. Standard white plastic is included; upgraded finishes are extra.
• Earthing and bonding — main earth conductor, main bonding to gas, water, and oil pipework.
• Testing and certification — initial verification testing, EIC, and Building Standards completion certificate submission.

• Sandstone chasing is extremely dusty — cutting channels in sandstone walls with an angle grinder or chasing tool produces much more debris than brick or plasterboard. Plan to seal off rooms and cover all furniture.
• Power is off during first fix — the supply is isolated for extended periods. Many Edinburgh residents stay elsewhere during the first fix phase, particularly in smaller flats where space to escape the dust is limited.
• Replastering requires lime-based products — in Category A or B listed properties, heritage lime plaster must be used to match the original finish. This is specialist work and more expensive than standard plastering. Budget £800 to £2,000 for making good in a New Town flat.
• Cornicing and ceiling roses must be preserved — in Georgian properties with ornate plasterwork, the electrician must work carefully around ceiling roses and cornicing. Damage to listed plasterwork can require specialist restoration at significant cost.

• Verify NICEIC, NAPIT, or SELECT registration — SELECT is the Scottish electrical contractor trade association. Search by Edinburgh postcode on any of these registers. Non-negotiable for Building Standards compliance.
• Ask about sandstone and listed building experience — rewiring a New Town Georgian flat requires specific expertise. Ask for references from similar Edinburgh properties, particularly if your flat is listed.
• Confirm Scottish Building Standards knowledge — your electrician must be familiar with the completion certificate process used in Scotland, not just the Part P process used in England.
• Get three comparable quotes — ensure each quote specifies the consumer unit type, number of circuits, and whether making good is included. Quotes vary significantly for Edinburgh stone properties.
• Confirm EIC is included — the Electrical Installation Certificate is mandatory on completion of any rewire regardless of whether it is in Scotland or England.