A whole-house rewire replaces the branch circuits, usually the panel, and often the service. It is one of the more disruptive things that can be done to an occupied house.
What is included
A new panel, and frequently a service upgrade with it, since a rewired house has far more circuits than the original.
New circuits to current requirements: kitchen small appliance circuits, dedicated circuits for the major appliances, bathroom circuits, laundry, and general lighting and receptacle circuits with AFCI and GFCI protection as required.
Receptacles to current spacing, which in an older house means many more than exist.
A grounding electrode system and bonding brought current.
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, interconnected and mains-powered, which are usually required as part of the work.
Making good — the drywall or plaster repair, and the redecoration.
What decides the cost
Access, more than anything else.
A two-storey house with an unfinished attic and an unfinished basement is the easy case: most runs go up or down and only the middle-floor walls need fishing.
A single-storey slab house with no attic, or a house with plaster and lath, is the hard case: every run means opening a wall.
Whether the house is occupied, since working around furniture and a household is slower.
Finishes. Restoring painted drywall is straightforward; matching a plaster cornice or a period finish is not.
The staged alternative
Very few houses are rewired in one operation outside a gut renovation.
The practical pattern:
Do the panel and the service first, because everything else lands in it and because it is where the safety benefit is concentrated if the existing panel is one of the obsolete types.
Do the kitchen and bathrooms when they are renovated, which is when the walls are open anyway.
Do bedrooms next, for AFCI protection.
Take opportunities: any wall opened for plumbing, insulation or a window is a wall that can be wired for the cost of the cable.
Over a decade a house can be almost entirely rewired at a fraction of the disruption, and each stage stands on its own.
What not to leave for later
The panel, if it is a type with a documented failure history.
Any circuit that has ever tripped repeatedly, warmed a cover plate, or shown scorching.
Ungrounded receptacles replaced with three-prong outlets, which is common and which gives the appearance of a ground where none exists. The correct interim measure is a GFCI with the required "no equipment ground" labelling.
Preserving what does not need replacing
Not all old wiring is failing. Cable in good condition with intact insulation and a proper ground can remain.
An assessment that opens a sample of boxes distinguishes it, and it is worth doing before assuming the whole house needs new cable — the answer is frequently that some circuits do and most do not.
Permits, throughout
Every stage is permitted and inspected work, and the rough-in inspection before the walls close is the point of it.
Staged work means several permits over several years, which is normal and which produces a documented history that is worth having when the house is sold.
Living in it while it happens
A staged rewire is done room by room with the household in place, and each stage means a few days of dust, an open wall and a room out of use.
A whole-house rewire in one operation is faster overall and much harder to live through. Households that can vacate for two or three weeks generally do, and it is worth pricing both ways because the disruption cost is real even though it does not appear on the quote.
What it is worth at sale
A documented rewire with permits is a genuine selling point in an old house, and its absence is a standard negotiating item.
It is rarely recovered dollar for dollar, and it removes the objection that otherwise recurs with every buyer's inspection — which for a house that will be sold within a few years is most of the value.