How Long Does a House Rewire Take? (Day-by-Day Breakdown)

For a typical three-bedroom semi-detached house, a full rewire takes between 3 and 5 working days. That’s the short answer. The actual number depends on a few things, and knowing what the process looks like each day makes the whole thing less stressful to plan around.

What Affects the Duration

Property size. More rooms and more circuits mean more cable runs. A two-bedroom flat might be finished in two days; a large four-bedroom detached could run to six or seven.

Construction type. Suspended timber floors and accessible loft space are much faster to work through than solid concrete floors or dot-and-dab plasterboard walls, where there’s no easy way to route cables. Harder access means more time.

Whether the property is occupied. Rewiring an empty house is faster than working around furniture and family routines. If you can clear a room before the electrician reaches it, it helps.

Whether other trades are involved. If the rewire is running alongside a kitchen fit or a builder’s first fix, timings need to be coordinated. Sequential work (electrician finishes, builder continues) is straightforward; overlapping trades on the same day requires more planning.

A Typical 3-Bedroom Rewire, Day by Day

This is based on a standard three-bedroom semi-detached with suspended timber floors and accessible roof space.

Day 1 — First fix: ground floor

The job starts with isolating and removing the old consumer unit. Cabling for the ground floor is run first: the kitchen circuits (cooker, fridge, dishwasher), the ring main for sockets, and the lighting circuit. Floorboards come up where needed. Where cables need to run behind plasterboard, channels are chased into the wall.

Day 2 — First fix: upper floor

The same process continues upstairs. Cables are run through the loft space wherever possible, then dropped into bedrooms, the bathroom, and the landing. Specialist circuits — shaving sockets, extractor fans, any additional lighting requirements — are first-fixed at this stage.

Day 3 — Consumer unit and start of second fix

The new consumer unit is installed and the cables from every circuit are brought in and terminated. Second fix begins: back boxes go in, and socket outlets and light switches start going up throughout the property.

Day 4 — Second fix complete and testing

Second fix is finished across all rooms. The electrician then runs through the full test sequence: insulation resistance testing, continuity checks, polarity verification, and earth fault loop impedance tests. This isn’t a quick tick-box exercise — it’s what actually proves the installation is safe to use.

Day 5 — Snagging, certification, and handover

Any final snagging is dealt with. The Electrical Installation Certificate is completed and handed to you. You get a schedule of all the circuits in your new consumer unit, and your electrician runs through anything you need to know about the new installation.

Do You Need to Move Out?

For a full rewire, sections of the property will be without power for most of each working day. Most families manage without moving out by planning around it: the evenings are largely unaffected, and a good electrician will try to keep at least one circuit live during the working day where possible.

An empty property is faster, but it’s rarely necessary. If you can clear out the loft before work starts, that’s the most useful thing you can do.

What Happens After the Rewire

The property will need some decorating work. Chased walls need filling and painting, and any lifted floorboards need to be relaid and touched up. This is typically done by a decorator after the electrical work is finished. A good electrician will leave the first fix as tidy as possible, but some plaster dust and minor repairs are normal and expected.

The Electrical Installation Certificate you receive has no expiry date. Keep it somewhere safe — you’ll need it if you sell the property, remortgage, or make an insurance claim involving the electrics.

What About Partial Rewires?

If your property only needs part of the wiring replaced — a single floor, the kitchen, or a specific set of circuits — the timeline is proportionally shorter. Partial rewires are sometimes the right approach where the rest of the installation has been recently tested and passed. Your electrician can advise on this during a quote visit.