What quantities does a full rewire job need?

It depends on the measurements, so this page asks for yours. At the size it opens on — Floor area of the house, every storey added up 90 m² · Wall round the living rooms and bedrooms, added up 64 m · Sleeved runs through a fire-separating wall or floor 2 · Each sleeve across, outside 0.03 m · Walls and ceilings replastered after the chases 30 m² · Loose waste, as a depth over the floor area 0.01 m — the lines come to: Fire stopping: sealant round the sleeves, 0.04–0.05 L; Skim over the replastered walls and ceilings, 78.8–86.3 kg; Mist coat or sealer on the new skim, 7.57–8.71 L; Skip (dumpster) or bags for the strip-out, 0.9 m³. In imperial units — Floor area of the house, every storey added up 970 sq ft · Wall round the living rooms and bedrooms, added up 210 ft · Sleeved runs through a fire-separating wall or floor 2 · Each sleeve across, outside 1 in · Walls and ceilings replastered after the chases 320 sq ft · Loose waste, as a depth over the floor area 0.39 in — they come to: Outlets (receptacles, sockets) by the North American spacing rule, 18 outlets (minimum); Fire stopping: sealant round the sleeves, 0.01 gal; Skim over the replastered walls and ceilings, 172–188 lb; Mist coat or sealer on the new skim, 2–2.3 gallons; Skip (dumpster) or bags for the strip-out, 1.17 yd³.

What does a full rewire quote often leave out?

The reading names every line of the job that nothing on the quote reads as — any of the 5 lines the takeoff measures. The takeoff also lists 8 things it does not measure, shown under the reading, and each is worth asking about: a scope missing from a quote tends to become a cost after work has started.

Can I paste the quote exactly as it came?

Yes — from an email, a PDF or a spreadsheet, one item to a line. Amounts of money are taken out before anything is read, headings and totals are skipped, and each line is shown with what it was read as, so a misreading is one correction. Quantities in the other unit system are converted and the conversion is shown; a count of boxes is never compared with a count of tiles.

Does this check the price as well?

No. It reads quantities, never prices, and this site publishes none: an installed price moves with the market, the season, the access and the specification, so a figure for what the work ought to cost would give you confidence in a number nobody can defend. A quantity against your own measurements is checkable, and every figure here links to the calculator that produced it.

Quote check

Check a full rewire quote

Paste the quote you were given and enter your measurements. Every line is read against the job: what the quote leaves out, what it adds, which quantities sit outside the computed range, and what to ask. Quantities only — never prices.

54Lines the job needs
6Measurements
QuestionsNever a verdict

Timber-framed house under construction with ladders, sawhorses and lumber

How the quote is read

Each line of a full rewire quote is matched to the line of the job it names, or marked as something the Full house rewire takeoff does not measure — labour, removal, hire, fees, or anything else. Work the takeoff lists as part of the job but gives no quantity for is read as that work, not as something the quote adds.

The job’s own figures come from 6 measurements — floor area of the house, every storey added up, wall round the living rooms and bedrooms, added up, sleeved runs through a fire-separating wall or floor, each sleeve across, outside, walls and ceilings replastered after the chases, loose waste, as a depth over the floor area — run through the same calculators as the takeoff, so the two give the same figure for the same job.

Reading a full rewire quote

A rewiring quote prices two trades under one heading: the electrician's circuits, and the builder's chasing, lifting and making good around them. Worth asking whether a quote is priced per point, per circuit or as one sum, how many points it assumes in each room, and whether filling the chases, relaying the boards and any replastering are in the figure or left for a plasterer and a decorator to pick up afterwards.

The paperwork is part of what is being bought. Worth confirming who notifies the work or takes out the permit, whether the certificate and the schedule of circuits come with the final invoice, and whether the board is named by make and model rather than by type. The supplier's isolation, alarms of the kind the house needs, the main bonding and any fire-stopping round a garage wall are each worth seeing named, since a quote that leaves one out reads lower here without being the same job.

Three steps

Give your measurements. The page opens on a typical job so it has something to show.
Paste the quote's lines as they came, or add them one at a time. Leave the prices in — they are taken out, never read.
Read the report: what is left out, what is added, what sits outside the range, and one list of questions to send.

Your measurements

Floor area of the house, every storey added upsq ftWall round the living rooms and bedrooms, added upftSleeved runs through a fire-separating wall or floorEach sleeve across, outsideinWalls and ceilings replastered after the chasessq ftLoose waste, as a depth over the floor areain

How to take each of these, and what each one feeds, is under the same field on the full house rewire takeoff.

Worked from. Floor area of the house, every storey added up 970 sq ft · Wall round the living rooms and bedrooms, added up 210 ft · Sleeved runs through a fire-separating wall or floor 2 · Each sleeve across, outside 1 in · Walls and ceilings replastered after the chases 320 sq ft · Loose waste, as a depth over the floor area 0.39 inFloor area of the house, every storey added up 90 m² · Wall round the living rooms and bedrooms, added up 64 m · Sleeved runs through a fire-separating wall or floor 2 · Each sleeve across, outside 0.03 m · Walls and ceilings replastered after the chases 30 m² · Loose waste, as a depth over the floor area 0.01 m

What the job needs

For these measurements, by the site’s calculators.

Outlets (receptacles, sockets) by the North American spacing ruleat least 18 outlets (minimum)
Fire stopping: sealant round the sleeves0.01 gal
Skim over the replastered walls and ceilings172–188 lb
Mist coat or sealer on the new skim2–2.3 gallons
Skip (dumpster) or bags for the strip-outat least 1.17 yd³

Fire stopping: sealant round the sleeves0.04–0.05 L
Skim over the replastered walls and ceilings78.8–86.3 kg
Mist coat or sealer on the new skim7.57–8.71 L
Skip (dumpster) or bags for the strip-outat least 0.9 m³

Your quote

The full rewire quote you were given

Paste from an email, or open or drop a PDF, Excel, CSV or text file, or a photo of the quote. Amounts of money are taken out before anything is read — this page compares quantities, never prices.

Nothing you paste or open leaves this device.

or one the job needs:

The reading

What the quote says, against the job

Full rewire · Floor area of the house, every storey added up 970 sq ft · Wall round the living rooms and bedrooms, added up 210 ft · Sleeved runs through a fire-separating wall or floor 2 · Each sleeve across, outside 1 in · Walls and ceilings replastered after the chases 320 sq ft · Loose waste, as a depth over the floor area 0.39 inFloor area of the house, every storey added up 90 m² · Wall round the living rooms and bedrooms, added up 64 m · Sleeved runs through a fire-separating wall or floor 2 · Each sleeve across, outside 0.03 m · Walls and ceilings replastered after the chases 30 m² · Loose waste, as a depth over the floor area 0.01 m

What it leaves out
Every line the job needs that nothing on the quote reads as, with the quantity your measurements produce.
What it adds
Lines this job's takeoff does not measure — labour, removal, hire, fees, anything else — each named for what it is.
What sits outside the range
Quantities above or below the computed range, by how much, in the quote's unit or converted and shown.
What to ask
One list of questions, in the quote's order, ready to copy and send. Questions, never a verdict.

Paste the quote above, or add its lines one at a time. The reading appears here as each line is read.

Outside what this takeoff measures

Nothing in the reading measures these. Whether the quote covers each is worth asking in its own right: a scope missing from a quote tends to become a cost after work has started. Why each is left out is on the takeoff.

The supply side
The circuit design
The certificate or the inspection record itself, and the building control or permit fee behind it
Circuits outside the house or for a new appliance
New floor coverings where boards are lifted
Decorating as a quantity
Taking out asbestos
Notches, holes and chases beyond the limits the building regulations or code set for joists and walls

The reference

Every line the reading looks for

For Floor area of the house, every storey added up 970 sq ft · Wall round the living rooms and bedrooms, added up 210 ft · Sleeved runs through a fire-separating wall or floor 2 · Each sleeve across, outside 1 in · Walls and ceilings replastered after the chases 320 sq ft · Loose waste, as a depth over the floor area 0.39 inFloor area of the house, every storey added up 90 m² · Wall round the living rooms and bedrooms, added up 64 m · Sleeved runs through a fire-separating wall or floor 2 · Each sleeve across, outside 0.03 m · Walls and ceilings replastered after the chases 30 m² · Loose waste, as a depth over the floor area 0.01 m. Each is the calculator linked under it, run with those measurements; a range is that calculator at both ends of one choice, not a margin for error.

Outlets (receptacles, sockets) by the North American spacing rule
at least 18 outlets (minimum)
A starting count for the whole perimeter as one wall space; each doorway or fireplace starts a new space, so the code minimum can be higher.
Open the Outlet Spacing Calculator
Fire stopping: sealant round the sleeves
0.01 gal
Fire-stop sealant is bought by the cartridge, and the end of every cartridge stays in the gun; a quote may list the tested system rather than a volume. The net figure and 15% over it round to the same purchase.
Open the Penetration Firestop Caulk Volume Calculator
Skim over the replastered walls and ceilings
172–188 lb
172 at 5% waste allowance, 188 at 15%.
Open the Skim Coat Plaster Calculator
Mist coat or sealer on the new skim
2–2.3 gallons
Primer is bought by the can, and new board soaks up more of it than a painted wall. 2 net, 2.3 with 15% added.
Open the Paint Primer Calculator
Skip (dumpster) or bags for the strip-out
at least 1.17 yd³
The loose volume the waste takes up; the container quoted is at least this big, and a bigger one is a choice.
Open the Skip & Dumpster Size Calculator
Dust sheets over the floors
9 items
Worked out, not compared with a quote
Dust sheets and tape together, which a quote prices as preparation rather than listing.
Open the Masking and Protection Materials Calculator

Fire stopping: sealant round the sleeves
0.04–0.05 L
Fire-stop sealant is bought by the cartridge, and the end of every cartridge stays in the gun; a quote may list the tested system rather than a volume. 0.04 net, 0.05 with 15% added.
Open the Penetration Firestop Caulk Volume Calculator
Skim over the replastered walls and ceilings
78.8–86.3 kg
78.8 at 5% waste allowance, 86.3 at 15%.
Open the Skim Coat Plaster Calculator
Mist coat or sealer on the new skim
7.57–8.71 L
Primer is bought by the can, and new board soaks up more of it than a painted wall. 7.57 net, 8.71 with 15% added.
Open the Paint Primer Calculator
Skip (dumpster) or bags for the strip-out
at least 0.9 m³
The loose volume the waste takes up; the container quoted is at least this big, and a bigger one is a choice.
Open the Skip & Dumpster Size Calculator
Dust sheets over the floors
9 items
Worked out, not compared with a quote
Dust sheets and tape together, which a quote prices as preparation rather than listing.
Open the Masking and Protection Materials Calculator
Outlets (receptacles, sockets) by the North American spacing rule
18 outlets (minimum)
Worked out, not compared with a quote
The spacing rule is North America's, and BS 7671 sets no socket spacing, so in metric the count is a figure to read a socket schedule against, never a minimum a quote can fall below.
Open the Outlet Spacing Calculator

How the ranges are taken

Where the choice is cutting waste, the ends are the site’s own allowances: 5%, the tight buffer of a crew with a planned set-out, and 15%, the wider one a first-timer orders. Where the calculator decides between patterns or materials, the ends are the options it offers. Where it adds nothing for loss, the range runs from the net quantity to 15% over it.

A minimum — the fewest hangers a spacing allows, the least airflow a room needs — has no upper end. A single figure carries an allowance the material itself needs, such as a lap, and names it.

What a reading like this cannot see

It does not know your prices, your market, or what the work ought to cost.
It does not know the building — the access, the condition of what is there, or what has to happen first.
It cannot check a lump sum, because there is no quantity in one.
A line it reads as missing may be priced under another name. A quantity outside the range is not evidence of anything. Each is a reason to ask a question.
Two quotes are not comparable until their scopes are.
It is not advice, and it is no substitute for a second quote.

The full takeoff

Every quantity for this job, with its working

The Full house rewire takeoff runs the same calculators on the same measurements and shows what sits under each line here.

Open the takeoff Every quote check

Base, allowance, order
Each line's quantity before and after its allowance, and what to buy.
Every allowance editable
Change a waste figure and the order follows, with its source named.
Into a project
Add the whole job to a workspace with your own prices.

Frequently asked questions

What quantities does a full rewire job need?: It depends on the measurements, so this page asks for yours. At the size it opens on — Floor area of the house, every storey added up 90 m² · Wall round the living rooms and bedrooms, added up 64 m · Sleeved runs through a fire-separating wall or floor 2 · Each sleeve across, outside 0.03 m · Walls and ceilings replastered after the chases 30 m² · Loose waste, as a depth over the floor area 0.01 m — the lines come to: Fire stopping: sealant round the sleeves, 0.04–0.05 L; Skim over the replastered walls and ceilings, 78.8–86.3 kg; Mist coat or sealer on the new skim, 7.57–8.71 L; Skip (dumpster) or bags for the strip-out, 0.9 m³. In imperial units — Floor area of the house, every storey added up 970 sq ft · Wall round the living rooms and bedrooms, added up 210 ft · Sleeved runs through a fire-separating wall or floor 2 · Each sleeve across, outside 1 in · Walls and ceilings replastered after the chases 320 sq ft · Loose waste, as a depth over the floor area 0.39 in — they come to: Outlets (receptacles, sockets) by the North American spacing rule, 18 outlets (minimum); Fire stopping: sealant round the sleeves, 0.01 gal; Skim over the replastered walls and ceilings, 172–188 lb; Mist coat or sealer on the new skim, 2–2.3 gallons; Skip (dumpster) or bags for the strip-out, 1.17 yd³.
Which line on a full rewire quote varies the most?: The Mist coat or sealer on the new skim: 7.57–8.71 L for a job measured Floor area of the house, every storey added up 90 m² · Wall round the living rooms and bedrooms, added up 64 m · Sleeved runs through a fire-separating wall or floor 2 · Each sleeve across, outside 0.03 m · Walls and ceilings replastered after the chases 30 m² · Loose waste, as a depth over the floor area 0.01 m, depending on how much is allowed for loss over the net figure, up to 15%.
What does a full rewire quote often leave out?: The reading names every line of the job that nothing on the quote reads as — any of the 5 lines the takeoff measures. The takeoff also lists 8 things it does not measure, shown under the reading, and each is worth asking about: a scope missing from a quote tends to become a cost after work has started.The reading names every line of the job that nothing on the quote reads as — any of the 4 lines the takeoff measures. The takeoff also lists 8 things it does not measure, shown under the reading, and each is worth asking about: a scope missing from a quote tends to become a cost after work has started.
Can I paste the quote exactly as it came?: Yes — from an email, a PDF or a spreadsheet, one item to a line. Amounts of money are taken out before anything is read, headings and totals are skipped, and each line is shown with what it was read as, so a misreading is one correction. Quantities in the other unit system are converted and the conversion is shown; a count of boxes is never compared with a count of tiles.
Does this check the price as well?: No. It reads quantities, never prices, and this site publishes none: an installed price moves with the market, the season, the access and the specification, so a figure for what the work ought to cost would give you confidence in a number nobody can defend. A quantity against your own measurements is checkable, and every figure here links to the calculator that produced it.