Every electrician cost search starts the same way: you have a job that needs doing and no idea what it should cost. Search online and you will find guesswork, national averages that mean nothing in Leeds and price-comparison sites that never actually book the work. None of it tells you what your job will cost.
We do not publish a single Leeds electrician price list, because no accurate one can exist. What a job costs depends on the property, the access, the age of the wiring and what the work actually involves, and any electrician naming a price before seeing that is guessing. What we can tell you is what drives the cost of every major job, what typically affects the price up or down and exactly how we estimate it, so you go into a phone call or an enquiry knowing what to expect rather than hoping for the best.
This guide covers the price factors behind every major electrical job in Leeds: rewires, EICRs, landlord certificates, EV chargers, consumer units, hourly rates versus written estimates and the smaller jobs in between. It also covers how to tell a qualified electrician from anyone else with a van and a website, because the cheapest estimate and the safest one are not always the same thing.
How we price every job: written estimates and a charge to attend faults
Before the job-by-job detail, the pricing model comes first, because it decides what you can expect from the number you are given.
Every planned job at Martin Day Electricians starts with a written estimate before any work begins. We study the photographs and information you send us about the property, the access, the materials needed and the work involved, and set out what we expect the job to cost. We do not publish an hourly rate.
An estimate is our best assessment of the job. It is not a fixed price. If we find something that couldn’t be seen at the start, such as a hidden fault, we will tell you what we have found and what it means for the price before carrying on. You decide whether to go ahead.
When you call us about a fault, we charge for the first hour to attend. That hour includes up to an hour to resolve the fault, and we explain what we find and what any further work will cost before you decide.
The process is short:
- Tell us what’s wrong, by phone or through the contact page, with as much detail as you can.
- We study what you send us, including photographs and any details of the property, and ask follow-up questions if we need them.
- You get a written estimate before anything starts, so you can see the likely cost first.
- We do the work on the date agreed. If something comes to light that changes the price, we explain it before carrying on.
What drives electrician costs in Leeds
Four things move the price on almost every job, regardless of what the work actually is:
- Property size and scope. More circuits, more sockets, more rooms and more outbuildings all mean more work, whether that is a rewire, an EICR or a fuse board upgrade.
- Age of the existing installation. Older wiring and older consumer units generally take longer to work on safely and are more likely to need extra remedial work alongside the main job.
- Access. A consumer unit, loft or under-stairs cupboard that is easy to reach makes any job faster. Restricted access adds time to almost everything.
- Materials and specification. Consumer units, cabling, sockets, switches and EV charger units are priced separately from labour, and the specification you choose changes the total.
Because these variables stack differently on every property, a single Leeds-wide price list would be fiction dressed up as fact. What follows is how each of those variables plays out job by job, so you understand what an estimate covers.
Full house rewiring
A full rewire replaces the entire electrical installation in a property: every cable, socket, switch, light fitting and the consumer unit itself, brought up to current wiring regulations. Cost here is driven almost entirely by property size (a one-bed flat and a five-bedroom house are not comparable jobs), how accessible the walls, floors and ceilings are and whether the existing wiring needs to be chased into plaster or can be run more simply. A typical rewire on an average 3-bed Leeds home usually takes 1 to 2 weeks, though the exact time and cost depend on the specific property. Most rewires also include a new consumer unit, since an old fuse box is rarely worth keeping once everything else has been replaced.
See our full cost of rewiring a house in Leeds guide for the factors that move the price by property size, or go straight to the full house rewiring service page for what the job includes.
EICR testing and certificates
An Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) is a formal inspection of a property’s fixed wiring, tested and examined against the UK wiring standard, with a signed certificate issued at the end. Cost is driven by the same factors as a rewire, property size, age of the installation and access, plus the number of circuits and any outbuildings that need testing separately. A typical one to three bedroom home usually takes a few hours to test in full; larger or older properties, or homes with restricted access, take longer.
If a property fails, the certificate is not a dead end. Findings are coded C1, C2 or C3 depending on severity, and we can usually estimate and carry out any remedial work as part of the same visit or a fast follow-up.
Read the full EICR certificate cost breakdown, or see the EICR testing service for what a visit involves.
Landlord electrical safety certificates
If you are letting a property rather than living in it, an EICR is not optional. Under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, landlords must have the installation inspected and tested at least every five years, or sooner if the last report says so. A new tenancy does not need a fresh EICR. Cost follows the same drivers as any EICR (size, age, access). Any remedial work the report calls for must be done within 28 days, or sooner if the report says so.
Our landlord electrical safety certificate requirements article covers what the law actually requires and the penalties for non-compliance. The landlord electrical safety service page covers how we handle it for Leeds landlords directly.
EV charger installation
Home EV charger costs are driven by the unit specification (tethered or untethered, charging speed), the length of cable run from your consumer unit to the charging point and whether your existing consumer unit needs upgrading first to support the extra load.
See the full EV charger installation cost in Leeds guide, or the home EV charger installation service page for what a typical install involves.
Consumer unit and fuse box upgrades
A consumer unit (fuse box) upgrade is one of the most common jobs we estimate, often triggered by an EICR finding, a mortgage lender’s requirement or simply an old unit with wire fuses instead of modern RCD-protected switches. Cost depends on the number of circuits the new unit needs to cover and whether any additional remedial work is needed to bring existing circuits up to standard alongside it. Most upgrades are completed within a single day.
Read the consumer unit and fuse box upgrade cost guide for the warning signs an old fuse box needs replacing, or see the consumer unit upgrades service page directly.
Hourly rates versus written estimates
Ask five electricians what they charge per hour and you will get five different answers, and none of them will tell you what your job actually costs. An hourly rate never captures the whole picture: attendance charges, minimum charges, materials and any out-of-hours premium usually sit on top of it, and you often do not see the full total until the invoice arrives.
That is why we do not publish an hourly rate. We study the information you send us, account for access, materials and the work involved and give you a written estimate before anything starts. The final cost depends on what the job turns out to need. If the scope changes once we are on site (a rewire that uncovers old cabling behind a wall, for example), we tell you what we have found and what it means for the price before carrying on, rather than let an hourly clock run unchecked.
See the full breakdown in how much electricians charge per hour in Leeds.
Smaller jobs and everyday repairs
Not every job is a rewire or a certificate. Light switch replacements, extractor fan installation, smoke and CO alarm fitting, security lighting, garden sockets and general electrical maintenance are all priced the same way as everything above: estimated from the photographs and information you send us and set out in a written estimate. Where the job is a fault, we charge for the first hour to attend. That hour includes up to an hour to resolve the fault, and we explain what we find and what any further work will cost before you decide. If you are not sure whether your job counts as “small”, get in touch and describe it. We will tell you what is involved before you commit to anything.
Emergency call-outs
Electrical emergencies (a burning smell, sparking, exposed live parts, total loss of power) need a fast response. In working hours a genuine emergency goes ahead of routine bookings. We do not do out-of-hours work. We charge for the first hour to attend, which includes up to an hour to resolve the fault, and we explain what we find and what any further work will cost before you decide. See the emergency electrician service page for response times and coverage.
Commercial work
This guide covers domestic work. Shops, offices, industrial units and multi-site programmes are handled by our sister company, Martin Day Commercial Electricians, with similar accreditations and a similar approach to estimates.
How to vet a qualified electrician on price alone
The cheapest price is not automatically the best one, and the most expensive is not automatically the safest. Before you compare numbers, check the basics:
- Registered body membership. Look for NICEIC registration or an equivalent competent person scheme. It means the electrician is independently assessed, not just self-declared as qualified.
- Self-certification for notifiable work. Rewires, new circuits and consumer unit changes fall under Part P of the Building Regulations in England. An electrician registered with a competent person scheme such as NICEIC can self-certify this work without a separate council inspection; an unregistered one cannot.
- Public liability insurance. Ask what level of cover applies if something goes wrong on your property. We carry £5,000,000 public liability on every job.
- A written estimate, not a verbal figure. If a price is not written down before work starts, you have nothing to refer back to. Ask what could change it.
- Real reviews you can check. Ratings on independent review platforms are harder to fake than a testimonial page. On FreeIndex we are rated 4.9 stars from 215 reviews, ranked 3rd of 848 UK electricians and 4.9 on Google.
For the fuller version of this checklist, including how to check a NICEIC registration yourself, see NICEIC and Part P qualifications explained and our own why we’re worth choosing page. Our how to find a good electrician in Leeds checklist walks through the same questions from the buyer’s side, job by job.
If you are trying to work out whether your wiring is actually due attention rather than just old, our signs your home needs rewiring guide is the place to start before you request an estimate at all.
Electrician cost FAQs
How much do UK electricians charge per hour?
Hourly rates vary considerably across the trade, depending on experience, location and the complexity of the job. We do not publish an hourly rate. For planned work we give you a written estimate before anything starts, so you can see the likely cost first rather than watching an hourly meter run.
How much does a domestic electrician charge?
Domestic pricing depends heavily on the job: a fuse board upgrade, an EICR and a full rewire are all priced very differently. Rather than give an average day rate, we study the photographs and information you send us, then give you a written estimate covering labour, materials and certification before anything is booked in.
Do electricians usually charge to attend?
Many do. We charge for the first hour to attend a fault. That hour includes up to an hour to resolve the fault, and we explain what we find and what any further work will cost before you decide.
Why does electrician pricing vary so much between jobs?
Pricing varies because every property is different: the age of the wiring, how easy things are to access, the materials needed and any certification required all affect the final cost. We deal with this by giving you a written estimate before we start work, and by telling you if anything comes to light that changes it.
Is an estimate cheaper than paying by the hour?
It depends on the job, and sometimes an hourly rate works out lower on paper. An estimate is not a fixed price. Its benefit is that you see our assessment of the likely cost before work starts, and we explain any change before carrying on.
Get an estimate for your job
We are an NICEIC Approved Contractor, Part P registered and City & Guilds qualified, and Martin is JIB Approved and on the Register of Electricians. We are insured to £5,000,000 public liability and have been carrying out electrical work across Leeds for more than 30 years, around 400 jobs a year. On FreeIndex, Leeds homeowners rate us 4.9 stars from 215 reviews, ranking us 3rd of 848 UK electricians and we are rated 4.9 on Google.
Tell us what the job is, whether it’s a rewire, an EICR, an EV charger or something smaller, and we will give you a written estimate before any work starts. No hourly guesswork.
Get an estimate or read what other Leeds homeowners say on our reviews page first.
