How Much Does It Cost To Fit Sockets Flush into a Wall?



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Cost to Fit Electrical Sockets



Job
Description
Labour
1To fit just one, flush, plastered in socket, in a new position in a carpeted room. This will mean furniture and carpet moving, the boards coming up etc.  (Who decorates on completion)? 1 day for 2 men (inc. the plasterer and all materials)
£375
2To fit a surface mounted socket in trunking, 1 metre above an existing ring circuit socket (for ironing?) 1 man 1.5 hours (but he will probably charge for half a day) inc. materials
£110





Job

Description
Labour
1

Fit one socket in a lath & plaster wall with a handy ring circuit cable on tap. 2 men (a sparks and a plasterer) half a day, inc materials

£195

2

Same job in a stud wall. 1 man (sparks only) 1 hour, but he will probably still charge for half a day

£100




“Labour” at £175 a day (tradesman) £100 (labourer), includes incidental fixings etc. and tipping charges. “Materials” if mentioned, are larger things (a boiler) and stuff only you can choose (tiles etc).  Also VAT must be added all round.

Information Sheet on Fitting Sockets in a Solid Wall


Flush sockets are the (plastic) rectangles just above the skirting boards that you “plug things into”. Please don’t call them “plugs”. Plugs are the plastic things that you “plug” into the sockets. Or (singularly) can be found in the Beano.

I was a Dandy boy myself…Each to his own!

To fit a new flush socket will require belting out a hole in the wall for the “back box” then somehow tapping into the existing ring circuit cables. The only place in a room that a “sparks” can have a good chance of finding cables is in the wall, below or adjacent to existing sockets, or under the floor directly below one.

Even that’s not certain though because lots of sockets are wired in from the room above! Luckily though he will have a “Find the Cables Meter” in his kit.

Then there is the problem of him only finding a “spur” cable. A spur socket is one that isn’t part of a ring. It is an offshoot from the ring. Perfectly legal of course but it’s not legal to run two sockets from a spur cable.

As you see, siting a new socket is the easy bit. Supplying it with power can be a right old game.

What next? Well you can’t just run cables anywhere you like, they must follow prescribed routes. They must either be “chased in”, then capped with plastic or metal and then plastered over. Or they can also be surface run in trunking but it’s not a “proper” job is it? The sockets themselves can also be surface mounted (not plastered flush) but that’s not a “proper” job either is it?  It’s a damn site cheaper though!

Also how does the cable pass behind the skirting board? With difficulty is the answer.

Then there’s the problem of how to connect into the ring when it’s eventually exposed. Junction boxes are a godsend here BUT the regs. say you must leave these where they can be accessed. So under the floorboards is out.

Our prices above assume the work is done to “regulations” standard. They include plastering the cables into the wall (but not redecorating), and leaving junction boxes “accessible”.  All materials are included, assuming white plastic face plates, not posh ones.

A plasterer has to be brought in, as electricians don’t do their own plastering. The electrician will then have to come back to fit the face plate as the plasterer won’t plaster with it live and in place, because he uses loads of water.

All this “toing and froing” is an expensive process.
 

Information on Fitting a Socket in a Lath & Plaster, or Stud Wall


There are two descriptions for this job. If the socket’s going in just above the skirting, it’s a nightmare. If it’s going half way up the wall it’s an expletive nightmare.
(Not to be confused with an executive nightmare, which is young Nigel possibly being told he shouldn’t use his dictafone in front of the junior typists).

We won’t concern ourselves with how the cables are to be fed behind the skirting board or who is going to decorate afterwards (it will all need decorating!).

The problem is, screwing the metal back box in, or using plastic “plasterboard boxes” is impossible. There is nothing to screw in to and plastic boxes can’t be adapted. The wall can be “opened up” and a timber noggin fitted of course but you only want to fit a new socket, not demolish the bloomin’ house.

A botch is called for, that’s about the long and short of it! First, a hole way bigger than the socket is needed. Then with a couple of bricks for support, (if we’re just above the skirting), half a bucket of “bonding plaster”, mixed with cement and a particular type of water, will seriously stick the metal box to the inside of the wall in about one minute flat! In fact if he dawdles, it will all set in the bucket.

The mix has to “go off” quickly, you don’t want to pay him to stand there holding it till it eventually goes hard do you?

It can then be plastered up, the face plate fitted and the job’s done and believe me it won’t be going anywhere any time soon!

(Notice I didn’t give you the magic “sticky” formula did you? We’re not a DIY site remember, we like builders to stay in work).

Stud walls
All that’s necessary here is to cut out a “back box” shaped hole, fit the plastic box in it, connect the cables to the face plate and tighten it up. Job done!



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