A whole-home rewire is the biggest residential job most electricians will quote, and it is the one most likely to be guessed at. There is no line item for it in any price book, including mine, and that is not an oversight. A rewire is not a task. It is an assembly of tasks, and the only honest way to price one is to build it up room by room.
Here is how that build works, with real labor hours at a $135 loaded rate.
Why there is no "whole-home rewire" price
Two 1,600 square foot houses can differ by $8,000 on the same scope. Plaster versus drywall, balloon framing versus platform, a finished basement versus an open one, accessible attic versus blown-in insulation over 2x4 ceiling joists. A single number for "rewire a house" is a number you will be wrong about in one direction or the other, every time.
What does hold steady is the per-room labor, because a bedroom is a bedroom. Build from those and the estimate survives contact with the house.
The room-level numbers
| Unit | Hours | Material | Good | Better | Best | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rewire bedroom, average | 6.0 | $95 | $1,490 | $1,860 | $2,310 | 37% |
| Rewire kitchen, average | 8.0 | $145 | $2,010 | $2,510 | $3,120 | 37% |
| Rewire bathroom, average | 4.0 | $65 | $1,000 | $1,240 | $1,540 | 38% |
| Knob and tube replacement, per circuit | 4.0 | $55 | $980 | $1,230 | $1,520 | 38% |
| Add new circuit, 15A or 20A | 2.5 | $28 | $610 | $760 | $940 | 39% |
| Dedicated kitchen counter circuit | 1.5 | $25 | $370 | $470 | $580 | 36% |
| Aluminum wiring pigtail, per outlet | 0.75 | $8 | $180 | $230 | $280 | 38% |
Note the margins. Every line sits at 36 to 39 percent, which is the highest of any category in residential electrical, and it is because rewiring is almost pure labor. A bedroom is $95 of wire and devices against six hours of your time. Nobody is passing equipment cost through you on this job.
Building a real number
Take a three bedroom, one and a half bath house with a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, and knob and tube throughout. Here is the assembly.
| Component | Qty | Each | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bedrooms | 3 | $1,490 | $4,470 |
| Living room and dining room (bedroom equivalent) | 2 | $1,490 | $2,980 |
| Kitchen | 1 | $2,010 | $2,010 |
| Full bath | 1 | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| Half bath | 1 | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| Service upgrade, 100A to 200A | 1 | $2,450 | $2,450 |
| Hardwired interconnected smoke detectors | 5 | $270 | $1,350 |
| Panel labeling and circuit map | 1 | $340 | $340 |
| Total at Good tier | $15,600 |
That is roughly 68 billable hours, or nine working days for one electrician. Now you have a number you can defend line by line, and a customer who cuts the scope can see exactly what comes off.
The same house at Better tier is about $19,500. At Best, about $24,200.
The knob and tube fork
There are two ways to quote a knob and tube house and they produce very different numbers.
By room, as above. You are rewiring the space regardless, so the circuits come along with it.
By circuit, at $980 each, when the customer wants only the knob and tube gone and is not remodeling. Twelve circuits is $11,760, and it leaves the existing devices and layout alone.
Which one you use is a scope question, not a pricing question, and getting it backwards is how a rewire quote ends up thousands of dollars off. Ask what they actually want before you count anything: all the old wiring out, or a house that passes an insurance inspection.
That second reason is worth knowing about. Insurance carriers increasingly refuse to write or renew policies on houses with active knob and tube. A customer facing non-renewal is not shopping on price, and they usually have a deadline.
What this looks like at your rate
| Unit | $110 rate | $135 rate | $165 rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rewire bedroom | $1,240 | $1,490 | $1,790 |
| Rewire kitchen | $1,670 | $2,010 | $2,420 |
| Rewire bathroom | $830 | $1,000 | $1,200 |
| Knob and tube, per circuit | $810 | $980 | $1,190 |
| Whole house, the example above | $13,100 | $15,600 | $18,700 |
A 50% increase in labor rate moves the whole-house number 43%. That is the widest response of any job in residential electrical, and it is the direct consequence of a job that is 95% labor. If your rate is wrong, this is the job where being wrong costs the most.
Where this job loses money
Plaster. The per-room hours assume drywall. Lath and plaster adds fishing time, adds patching, and adds a conversation about who repairs the walls. Quote plaster houses separately or add 25% to the room hours and say why.
Wall repair nobody agreed to own. The single most common dispute on a rewire. Put it in writing before the first hole: you cut and patch to a paintable surface, or you cut and the customer's painter handles the rest. Either is fine. Silence is not.
The occupied house. Working around furniture, in a house where the family sleeps every night, is not the same job as an empty one. Working power has to exist at the end of every day. That coordination is real hours and it is never in the estimate.
Inspection staged wrong. A rewire needs a rough inspection before anything gets closed up. Miss that sequencing and you are opening walls you already patched.
The service that cannot carry it. A house with knob and tube almost always has a 60A or 100A service. The upgrade is not optional and it is $2,450 that has to be in the number from the beginning, not discovered in week two.
Quoting a square foot price. Somebody will ask you for one. Every rewire priced per square foot is a coin flip on framing, access and finish, and you are the one holding the downside.
The bottom line
A whole-home rewire prices by assembly, not by lookup. Bedrooms at $1,490, kitchens at $2,010, bathrooms at $1,000, plus the service upgrade the house is going to need anyway. A typical three bedroom lands near $15,600 at a $135 rate and roughly 68 billable hours.
The margins are the best in residential electrical at 37 to 39 percent because it is almost entirely your labor. The risk is equally concentrated: get the room count and the wall construction right and this is the most profitable work you do. Guess at it, and one plaster ceiling turns a nine day job into twelve.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a whole-home rewire take?
For a typical 3-bed home, plan for 2 to 3 weeks of work for a single experienced contractor with a helper. Larger homes can run 4 to 6 weeks. The schedule depends on access (gutted vs. lived-in), the trade coordination if drywall is being done after, and inspector availability for rough-in and finish.
Do customers need to move out during a rewire?
Usually not, but power will be off in sections of the house at various times. Most customers can stay if they're patient. Some choose to move out for the rough-in week when the most disruption happens.
Should I quote drywall repair separately?
Yes, almost always. Drywall is a separate trade and a separate skill set. Most electrical contractors who try to handle drywall as part of the job either lose money on the patching or do mediocre patching that the customer complains about. Quote labor and materials only, and recommend a drywaller.
What about insurance? Do I need a special policy for jobs this size?
Your standard general liability and workers' comp should cover a whole-home rewire as long as your policy limits are appropriate. The bigger insurance question is for the homeowner: their homeowner's insurance often won't cover damage during major renovation work, and they should talk to their carrier before the project starts.
What if the customer can only afford half of it now?
Phase it. Quote each phase separately. The most common phasing is panel and kitchen first (because kitchens are highest fire risk and most-used rooms), then bedrooms and living areas later. Per-room pricing makes phasing easy, and the customer can budget over time.