Rewiring a House: Cost, Signs You Need It, and How the Work Is Done

Rewiring a whole house usually costs $3 to $6 per square foot including new receptacles, switches and fixtures, according to Fixr's January 2025 cost data. For a 2,200 square foot house that is about $7,300 to $13,300. Wall and ceiling repair, a panel or service upgrade, and permits come on top. Fixr also reports that the wiring alone, without devices, runs $1.00 to $1.85 per square foot, which shows how much of the cost is labor and access rather than wire.

The spread comes from access. An electrician who can work from an open basement and an accessible attic moves quickly. One who has to fish every cable through plaster walls with finished floors above and below spends far more hours, and leaves more holes to patch.

Cost by house size

Add to these:

• Panel or service upgrade. Most houses old enough to need rewiring have a 60 or 100 amp service or a fuse panel. A 200 amp service upgrade is typically $1,800 to $4,000 on our state pages. See the cost to upgrade from 100 to 200 amp service.
• Wall and ceiling repair. Patching access holes, especially in plaster, is often done by a separate trade.
• Permits and inspections. Usually a few hundred dollars. A rough-in inspection happens before walls are closed.
• Current code items. New circuits must meet current rules for AFCI and GFCI protection, kitchen and bathroom circuits, and receptacle spacing. See AFCI and GFCI requirements.

State labor rates move the total. Our cost pages scale the labor share by what electricians earn in each state; see what drives electrical cost.

Signs a house needs rewiring

Knob-and-tube wiring. Common in houses built before the 1940s. It has no ground, its insulation was not designed for modern loads, and it was meant to run in open air, so insulation blown into walls over it can cause overheating. Many insurers restrict or refuse coverage for houses with active knob-and-tube. See knob-and-tube and old wiring.

Cloth-sheathed cable with rubber insulation. Common from the 1940s to the early 1960s. The rubber becomes brittle and cracks, especially near light fixtures where heat has cooked it.

Aluminum branch circuit wiring. Used in some houses built from about 1965 to 1973. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has documented overheating at connections in these circuits. Full rewiring is one fix; the CPSC also recognizes specific repair methods, such as approved connectors at each connection, done by a qualified electrician.

Two-prong receptacles throughout, meaning no equipment ground. Grounded circuits can be added room by room, or ungrounded receptacles can be protected with GFCI devices under NEC 406.4(D) as a code-recognized alternative.

Warm switch plates, flickering, burning smell, or breakers and fuses that trip often. These can have simpler causes, but they warrant an inspection.

How rewiring is done

Electricians avoid tearing walls open. The usual method:

1. Map the existing circuits and plan new ones, with separate circuits for the kitchen counters, bathrooms, laundry and large appliances.
2. Work from the basement and the attic. Cables run along joists in the open spaces and up or down into wall cavities through the top and bottom plates.
3. Fish cable through walls using flexible drill bits and fish tapes, entering through existing box locations.
4. Cut small access holes where a fire block, a header or a turn stops the fish tape, usually at the top of the wall, at the ceiling line, or behind baseboards.
5. Install new boxes and devices, then pass the rough-in inspection before holes are closed.
6. Disconnect and remove or abandon the old wiring once the new circuits are live.

In a two-story house with plaster walls and finished spaces on every floor, the second floor is often reached through the attic and the first floor through the basement, with the hardest part being the walls between them.

Staging a rewire

A full rewire of an occupied house usually takes one to two weeks of electrical work, and more for large or difficult houses. Fixr describes a standard full rewire as a little over a week. Many owners stage it instead:

• Room by room, usually starting with the kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms, where the loads and the risks are highest.
• With other renovation work. When a kitchen or bathroom is gutted, rewiring that room costs a fraction of fishing cable through finished walls later.
• Panel first. Upgrading the service first gives the new circuits somewhere to land and fixes the most common capacity problem.

Staging costs more in total than doing everything at once, because each phase has its own setup and inspection. It spreads the cost, keeps parts of the house livable, and matches work to renovation.

Plaster walls

Plaster houses cost more to rewire. Plaster cracks around cuts, lath makes fishing harder, and patching plaster to match is slower than drywall repair. Electricians experienced with old houses cut fewer, neater holes, and some coordinate with a plaster repair contractor. Ask how many access holes they expect per room and who repairs them.

Smoke alarms and other items that come with it

A permitted rewire often triggers other requirements. Many jurisdictions require interconnected smoke alarms, and in some places carbon monoxide alarms, to be brought up to current code when a house is substantially rewired, because the walls are open and power is available. Hardwired interconnected alarms are far easier to install during a rewire than after. Ask whether they are in the quote.

Is partial rewiring enough

It can be. An inspection may show that only some circuits are original, or that the problem is limited to specific rooms or to connections that can be repaired. A reasonable approach is to have a licensed electrician inspect the whole system, identify circuits that must be replaced and those that can stay, and price both.

What to ask in a rewiring quote

Rewiring quotes are hard to compare because the scope varies. Ask each electrician to state:

1. Which circuits are replaced and which stay, and whether old wiring is removed or abandoned in place.
2. How many new circuits the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry will get.
3. Whether the price includes new receptacles, switches, light fixtures, and smoke alarms.
4. Whether AFCI and GFCI breakers are included.
5. Whether the panel or service upgrade is included.
6. How many access holes they expect and who patches them.
7. Permit and inspection fees, and how many inspections.

A lower quote that leaves out the panel, the protective breakers, and the patching can end up costing more.

Who does this

Rewiring is permitted and inspected work that, in most jurisdictions, requires a licensed electrician. It involves the panel, new circuits, and connections throughout the house. A homeowner can reduce cost by clearing access to the attic, the basement and every room, and by coordinating wall repair.

FAQ

How long does it take to rewire a house? About one to two weeks of electrical work for a typical house, longer for large houses or plaster walls, plus inspection scheduling and wall repair.

Can I live in the house during a rewire? Usually, yes. Power is off to parts of the house during the day and restored in the evening. Some owners move out for a few days when the work reaches bedrooms or the kitchen.

Does homeowners insurance require rewiring? Some insurers require knob-and-tube or fuse panels to be replaced before they issue or renew a policy. Ask your insurer what they accept.

Does rewiring include the panel? Not always. Many rewire quotes exclude the panel or service upgrade. Ask for it as a separate line.