How Long Does a House Rewire Take? A Dublin Electrician Explains

One of the first things people want to know when thinking about a rewire is: how long will I be without power? More practically — how many days will there be dust, cables, and strangers working in my home? The honest answer is that it varies, but it varies in predictable ways.

Typical Rewire Timelines by Property Size

These are working-day estimates based on a standard two-person crew, on a property that is fully accessible — no need to keep rooms operational:

Add 1–2 days for properties with solid concrete floors, complex layouts, or older wiring types that are slower to extract safely.

How Does the Work Actually Progress?

Understanding the phases helps you plan around it. Here is roughly how a standard rewire unfolds:

1. 1Day 1: Isolation and strip-out — power is turned off at the ESB meter, old wiring is removed, and chasing begins on the first floor
2. 2Days 2–3: First fix — new cables are run through walls, floors, and ceilings; back boxes are fitted throughout
3. 3Days 4–5 (larger homes): Continued first fix upstairs and to any outbuildings; consumer unit is installed
4. 4Final 1–2 days: Second fix — sockets, switches, light fittings, and smoke detectors are fitted and connected
5. 5Final half-day: Testing, commissioning, and inspection — the Safe Electric cert is issued once everything passes

What Factors Make a Rewire Take Longer?

Several things can add days to a rewire — most are identifiable at the survey stage:

• Occupied property — if you are staying in the house, certain rooms need to stay functional, forcing a phased approach that adds time
• Solid concrete floors — chasing concrete is slower than lifting timber floorboards, and surface trunking is sometimes necessary
• Period properties — coving, cornices, and original plasterwork require extra care around penetrations
• Rubber or aluminium wiring — careful removal is required to avoid contamination; sometimes HEPA vacuuming is used
• Additional circuits added mid-job — if you decide during the work to add an EV charger, a home-office circuit, or underfloor heating
• ESB Networks delays — meter reconnection is handled by ESB Networks, not your electrician. In busy periods this can take 2–5 business days after the work is complete

The ESB Networks Reconnection: The Part Most People Miss

When a property is rewired, the ESB meter is disconnected at the start of the job and reconnected at the end. The reconnection is arranged by your electrician and carried out by ESB Networks — it's not something we can do ourselves. In most Dublin areas the reconnection happens within 1–3 working days, but in peak building periods it can take up to 5 days.

This matters if you are planning around a move-in date or a sale completion. We notify ESB Networks at the earliest opportunity, but it is worth building a buffer into your schedule rather than assuming reconnection is immediate.

Do I Need to Move Out?

Strictly speaking, no. Many rewires are done in occupied homes, particularly for older homeowners or families who cannot temporarily relocate. But it is genuinely disruptive — dust from chasing, no power for stretches of the day, and the ground floor potentially out of action on certain days.

Our advice for most families: if you can stay with family or rent short-term for 5–10 days, it makes everything faster, cheaper (no phasing constraints), and significantly less stressful. If moving out is not possible, we plan the work carefully and always ensure you have a working kitchen before the end of each day.

What Happens After the Electricians Leave?

After the electrical work is complete, your walls will have chased channels patched with filler — but not smoothly finished. A plasterer is typically needed to skim the affected walls before redecorating. We make our patches as tidy as possible, but a rewire is an invasive job and finishing it properly requires a plasterer. We can recommend tradespeople we work with regularly.

Factor in an additional 2–5 days for plastering and drying, plus however long your decorator needs. The total disruption from deciding to rewire to a fully redecorated room is typically 3–5 weeks — but the electrical work itself is usually complete in under two.

How to Plan a Rewire Without Stress

1. 1Book as early as possible — good electricians get busy, and 4–6 weeks notice allows proper coordination
2. 2Clear rooms before day one — removing furniture yourself saves time and keeps costs down
3. 3Tell us everything upfront — extra circuits, smart home plans, EV charging — adding things mid-job costs more and takes longer
4. 4Arrange plastering and decorating in advance — plasterers are as busy as electricians
5. 5Build a buffer around the ESB reconnection window — do not schedule a move-in for the day we finish

If you have questions about your property — particularly if it is older, has solid floors, or has any unusual features — call us on 01 963 6636. We survey the job before giving a definitive timeline, but a quick conversation usually gives a realistic ballpark straightaway.