What Work Is Needed After a House Rewire in 2026?

When most homeowners think about a house rewire, they picture the electrical work — new cables, a modern fuse board, fresh sockets and switches throughout the house. And they're right, that's the core of it. But what catches a lot of people off guard is the amount of making-good work that comes after the electrician packs up.

A full rewire involves chasing channels into walls, lifting floorboards, and running cables through every room in the house. It's unavoidable — to replace 30-, 40-, or 50-year-old wiring, you have to open things up. The good news is that all of this can be repaired, and if you plan for it properly, you'll end up with a home that looks and feels brand new — not just electrically safe.

1. Plastering — The Biggest Job After the Rewire

This is the single biggest piece of remedial work after a rewire. During the electrical work, your electrician will chase channels (narrow grooves) into the walls to run new cables. Every socket, switch, and light fitting needs a cable route, and that means a lot of walls get opened up.

What needs plastering?

• Chased channels in walls where cables were run — these need to be filled, skimmed, and finished flush with the surrounding wall
• Back boxes for sockets and switches — the area around each new fitting needs to be neatly plastered
• Ceiling patches where cables crossed from wall to ceiling or where new light fittings were installed
• Any areas where old surface-mounted wiring was removed, leaving holes or rough patches behind
• The fuse board area — a new consumer unit is usually larger than the old one, so the surrounding wall often needs patching

How GES handles plastering

We include plastering as part of our rewire package. Our plasterers come in as soon as the electrical work is signed off, so there's no gap where you're left with open walls. They fill and skim every chase, patch every ceiling repair, and leave a smooth finish ready for painting. You don't need to find a separate plasterer or coordinate schedules — we take care of it.

2. Painting and Decorating

Once the plastering is done, every room that was chased will need repainting. Even with the best plastering, you'll see the repaired areas unless the walls are painted over. This is one of the costs that homeowners most commonly underestimate.

What to expect

• Most rooms will need at least two full walls repainted to get a consistent finish — touch-ups over plaster repairs rarely blend perfectly
• Ceilings that were patched will need a full coat, particularly in bedrooms and living areas where you're looking up at them daily
• Hallways, stairs, and landings almost always need a complete repaint — these are the main cable routes and tend to have the most chasing
• Skirting boards and architraves may need repainting if they were disturbed during the work

Typical painting costs in Dublin (2026)

Many of our customers take the opportunity to do a full redecoration after the rewire. If you're going to have painters in anyway, it makes sense to freshen up the whole house rather than just patching the areas that were disturbed.

3. Flooring — Upstairs and Downstairs

Flooring is the other big one. To run cables between floors and along rooms, electricians need to lift floorboards upstairs. In most cases, floorboards are carefully lifted and refitted after the work. But depending on the age and condition of the existing flooring, you may need to plan for replacements.

Upstairs flooring

• Floorboards are lifted to run cables beneath — they're refitted afterwards, but older boards can crack, split, or warp when lifted
• If you had carpet over floorboards, the carpet usually needs to be re-laid or replaced. Grippers and underlay are often disturbed
• Laminate or engineered wood flooring is very difficult to lift and refit without damage — in most cases, it'll need replacing in affected rooms
• If the subfloor is chipboard (common in houses built from the 1980s onwards), access hatches are cut rather than lifting full sheets. These are screwed back in place and are generally fine under carpet, but may show through under thin laminate

Downstairs flooring

• Ground floors with concrete screed generally don't need to be disturbed — cables run through the walls and ceiling void above
• Wooden ground floors (older houses) may need boards lifted, similar to upstairs
• Tiled floors in kitchens, bathrooms, and hallways are usually unaffected unless the cables need to come up through the floor rather than down the wall
• If tiles do need to be removed, matching the existing tiles can be difficult — you may need to retile the area or the full room

Typical flooring costs

For a typical 3-bed semi, replacing carpet in three bedrooms and the landing might cost €1,500 – €3,000 depending on quality. If you're replacing laminate or engineered wood in bedrooms, expect €2,000 – €4,000.

4. Kitchen Tiles and Splashbacks

Kitchens are a common source of concern during a rewire. Sockets above the worktop, cooker connections, and lighting circuits all need new cable runs — and if your kitchen has tiled splashbacks, some tiles may need to come off to access the walls behind.

• If tiles need to be removed for socket or switch access, matching replacements can be hard to find — especially if the kitchen is more than a few years old
• In many cases, it's worth retiling the full splashback area rather than trying to patch in individual tiles
• If the kitchen is due for renovation anyway, the rewire is actually the ideal time — all the cabling is fresh and positioned exactly where the new layout needs it
• Floor tiles in the kitchen are usually unaffected, as cables are typically run through the ceiling void from below or chased into the wall above

A new splashback tiling job in a standard kitchen typically costs €400 – €800 for labour and tiles. Full kitchen floor retiling ranges from €800 – €1,800 depending on the tile type and room size.

5. Bathrooms

Bathrooms tend to need less making-good than you might expect. Most bathroom lighting and fan circuits are run through the ceiling void, so the walls are often left untouched. However, there are a few things to watch for:

• Extractor fan installations may require a small ceiling patch where the new fan is positioned or the old one is replaced
• Electric shower circuits require a dedicated cable run from the fuse board — this cable sometimes needs to pass through bathroom walls or ceilings
• If tiles are disturbed around a new pull-cord switch or shower connection, they'll need replacing
• In older houses, the bathroom may have surface-mounted cables that are being moved into the walls — this creates new chases that need plastering and potentially tiling over

6. The Clean-Up

A rewire creates a significant amount of dust and debris. Chasing into masonry walls produces fine brick and plaster dust that gets into everything — carpets, curtains, furniture, kitchen surfaces, appliances. Even with dust sheets down (which we always use), a professional clean is essential before the house feels liveable again.

How GES handles cleaning

We include a professional deep clean as part of our rewire service. Once the electrical work and plastering are complete, our cleaning team comes through the house before we hand the keys back. This includes:

• Full vacuum and mop of all rooms, hallways, stairs, and landings
• Wiping down all surfaces — windowsills, skirting boards, shelving, kitchen countertops
• Cleaning inside wardrobes and cupboards where dust has settled
• Window cleaning (interior) to remove plaster dust film
• Removal of all construction waste, offcuts, and packaging

This is one of those things that sounds minor but makes a huge difference. Coming back to a clean, dust-free home after a rewire completely changes the experience. It's included in every GES rewire — you don't need to organise it separately.

What GES Covers vs. What You'll Need to Arrange

Here's a clear summary of what's included in a GES rewire and what you'll need to organise yourself:

Realistic Total Budget: Rewire + Making Good

Here's what a full rewire plus all the follow-on work typically costs in Dublin in 2026. This gives you a realistic all-in figure so there are no surprises:

These are broad estimates — your actual costs will depend on the finishes you choose, the condition of your existing floors and walls, and how much of the house you decide to redecorate. But this should give you a solid starting point for budgeting.

How Long Does the Making-Good Take?

Once the rewire itself is complete (typically 5–8 working days for a 3-bed), here's a realistic timeline for the follow-on work:

1. 1Plastering: 2–3 days (done by our team, starts immediately after electrical sign-off)
2. 2Drying time: 2–3 days (plaster needs to cure before painting)
3. 3Painting: 3–5 days depending on how many rooms and whether ceilings are included
4. 4Flooring: 1–3 days depending on scope
5. 5Deep clean: 1 day (done by our team — either after plastering or after all trades finish)

In total, you're looking at roughly 2–3 weeks from start of rewire to a fully finished home. The electrical work and plastering are the critical path — painting and flooring can often be scheduled in parallel.

Practical Tips for Planning the Full Project

1. 1Get your rewire quote first — our estimator gives you an instant figure so you know the baseline cost before budgeting for the rest
2. 2Budget an additional 30–50% on top of the rewire cost for making-good work (painting, flooring, and any tiling)
3. 3Decide on paint colours and flooring materials before the rewire starts — suppliers can have 2–3 week lead times
4. 4If your carpet is older than 10 years, plan to replace rather than relay — it rarely survives the process well
5. 5Consider the whole house, not just affected rooms — a freshly painted hallway next to a tired-looking living room will stand out
6. 6Keep a contingency of 10–15% for unexpected issues like rotten floorboards or damp patches uncovered during the work
7. 7Ask about skip hire if you're replacing flooring and old kitchen fittings at the same time — a mixed-waste skip costs €300–€450 in Dublin

Get a Clear Picture of Your Rewire Cost

The rewire is the foundation of the whole project — once you know that cost, you can plan everything else around it. Our free online estimator walks you through your home room by room and gives you a realistic price range in minutes. From there, you can book a site visit to get a final quote and a clear timeline.

Or if you'd prefer to skip the online estimate and talk to one of our team directly, you can book a free site visit at a time that suits you. We'll survey your property, give you a fixed-price written quote, and walk you through exactly what's involved — including the making-good work afterwards.