Small electrical jobs and alterations, priced per job.

What I count as a small job

An old light fitting coming down and a new one going up on the same point is a small job. So is swapping a cracked socket, or replacing a bathroom fan where the old one was. I supply a standard fitting, so you don't need to buy one first.

One extra socket counts as well, when it can be taken from a circuit that's already close by. Up to three fittings, switches or sockets go at one price, so it pays to save the little jobs up and have them done together.

The extractor fan price is for a standard fan. Some cost a lot more to buy, so the price depends on the one you've picked. I still fit downlights, though few people ask for them now.

Testing after a swap

Even a straight swap is tested before I pack up. For a light that means checking the earth reaches the new fitting and the switch breaks the live conductor, so the fitting is dead when it is switched off.

Some older lighting circuits have no earth conductor at all. A metal fitting can't go on one, because a fault inside it would make the metal live with nothing to clear it. The choice then is an earth run to that point first, or a plastic fitting.

When a job needs a new circuit

Some things can't share a circuit that's already there and need one of their own, wired back to the consumer unit. A cooker or an electric shower draws too much current to share, and a car charger always gets a dedicated circuit.

Connecting a new cooker or hob to a cooker circuit that's already big enough is a small job. With no circuit, or one too small for the new cooker, a new circuit goes in first, and that counts as notifiable building work.

A new circuit also needs a spare way in the board, and the cooker circuit price assumes there is one. If the board is full, the consumer unit may need changing first.

Small jobs and the building regulations

Part P of the Building Regulations covers all electrical work in a home in England, including the garden and any shed or garage that runs off the house supply. Only some of that work is notifiable, which means Building Control has to be told.

A new circuit is notifiable. So is a replacement consumer unit, and so is any change to the wiring in the zone around a bath or shower.

Everything else is not notifiable. Swapping fittings, repairs and adding to a circuit away from the bath or shower need no notice, but the work still has to meet the wiring regulations, and the council can act on work that is unsafe.

Notifiable or not, I test what I've done and give you the paperwork. A new circuit gets an Electrical Installation Certificate, and an extra socket on an existing circuit comes with a minor works certificate where one is needed.

Kitchen and bathroom electrics

In a kitchen, an extra socket over the worktop is usually a small job, and a new cooker circuit has its own line in the table. When the whole kitchen is coming out, that's the time to rewire the kitchen, before the units and tiles go back.

Swapping a bathroom fan or light like for like isn't notifiable, but new wiring near the bath or shower is. Electric showers need their own circuit from the board, sized for the shower.

Sheds, garages and the garden

A garden shed or garage wired from the house falls under Part P too, because it shares the house supply. Its power goes out in armoured cable to a small board in the building.

Outside sockets and garden lights come round with the seasons, sockets in spring and lighting once the nights draw in. Both need weatherproof fittings and RCD protection.

A hot tub wired to the board is a circuit job as well, with an isolator near the tub, and its earthing needs more thought than a shed's.

Board changes and car chargers

Board changes are one of the jobs I'm asked for most. An old fuse box is not illegal, and one with rewireable fuses can still protect its circuits, so whether it needs replacing depends on what a condition report finds.

A home car charger also needs the house's earthing checked first, because the wiring regulations set extra rules for earthing a charge point outdoors.

When something stops working

A fault is different, because nobody knows what the job is until it has been traced. A fault-finding visit is priced separately and covers finding the fault and making it safe. Then I price the repair once I know the cause.