EICR Cost: Typical UK Prices and What Changes Them
Updated: 3 hours ago
Most UK EICRs cost between about £100 and £250 plus VAT for a typical home, with an average of around £200, according to Checkatrade's electrical safety check cost guide (price table last updated September 2024). Checkatrade's 2026 cost figures give a wider spread by size: from about £150 for a one-bedroom flat up to about £375 for a five-bedroom house. These are UK market ranges, not our prices, and the real figure for your property comes from a quote once the electrician knows the size, the number of circuits and the age of the installation.
How much does an EICR cost for a flat or a house?
Size is the biggest single driver, because a bigger property has more circuits to test and more accessories to inspect. Using Checkatrade's published figures as a UK guide:
Flats: from around £100, with a one-bedroom flat at about £150 in the 2026 rewiring guide
Houses: from around £250, rising with size
Five-bedroom house: up to around £375
Commercial premises: usually priced per circuit, typically £30 to £50 a circuit plus VAT
When you ask for a quote for EICR reporting, expect the first questions to be the number of bedrooms and the number of consumer units, because those two facts predict the time on site better than anything else.
The time on site follows the same pattern. A flat or smaller home usually takes 1 to 2 hours, and a larger property, more circuits or older wiring all add to that. We explain what fills that time in our guide to how long an EICR takes.
What pushes an EICR price up?
Two houses with the same number of bedrooms can still be priced differently. The things that change the quote are:
Number of circuits and consumer units. A house with a separate garage board, an outbuilding supply or a second consumer unit takes longer than one board with eight circuits.
Age and condition. Older wiring, missing circuit charts and previous DIY alterations slow testing down, because the electrician has to trace what each circuit feeds before testing it.
Access. Sockets behind fitted furniture, a consumer unit in a cramped cupboard or a loft with no boards all add time.
Occupancy. A tenanted property needs appointments arranged and power interruptions agreed, and an HMO has more rooms, more accessories and often more circuits.
Commercial use. Business premises are priced on circuit count and the need to work around trading hours, which can mean evening or weekend visits.
Landlord electrical safety certificate cost
A landlord's "electrical safety certificate" is an EICR, so it costs the same as any other EICR for a property of that size. Checkatrade's guide suggests landlords budget from around £100 for a flat and £250 or more for a house.
What landlords should budget for on top is the follow-up. Under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, any C1 or C2 fault and any further investigation must be dealt with within 28 days (or sooner if the report says so), and the tenant and the council must get written confirmation that it has been done. That repair work is never in the EICR price.
Why remedial work is priced separately
An EICR is a report on condition, not a repair job. Electrical Safety First's guidance for inspectors says an observation should describe what is wrong, not what it will take to fix it, and the report is not meant to be a proposal for work. So the EICR fee covers the inspection, the testing and the paperwork, and any faults are quoted afterwards.
This is where the real cost of an EICR lies. A report with a handful of C3 observations costs you nothing more. A report with a C2 for missing earthing, an RCD that fails its trip test or signs of overheating at the consumer unit may lead to anything from a small repair to a new board or partial rewiring. Checkatrade gives typical UK electrician rates of about £40 to £70 an hour or £250 to £500 a day plus VAT for that kind of work (September 2024 figures). The report's codes tell you how urgent each item is; our guide to EICR codes explains what each one means.
The one exception is immediate danger. If the inspector finds a C1, such as exposed live parts, they should make it safe before they leave, with your agreement, even if the permanent repair is quoted separately.
What a suspiciously cheap EICR skips
A very low price usually means less testing, not a more efficient electrician. Some of the shortcuts to look for:
Sampling instead of testing everything. Aviva's risk guidance for business customers notes that some contractors test only around 10% of circuits and that this reduced service may not be enough for compliance. In a house, every circuit should normally be tested.
Long lists of limitations. Rooms not entered, a loft not inspected, sockets not tested because of furniture. Each limitation must be written on the report, and the more there are, the less the report is worth.
No schedule of test results. Without circuit-by-circuit readings, you have no evidence the dead and live tests were done.
A time on site that does not add up. An EICR on a three-bed house finished in 45 minutes has not been done properly.
A report that misses a fault is worse than no report, because it gives you, your tenants or your insurer false confidence.
How to compare EICR quotes
Ask each electrician the same questions so the prices are comparable:
Will you test every circuit, or a sample?
Is the price for one consumer unit, and what if there is a second board?
Does the price include VAT and the written report?
How will you deal with anything dangerous found on the day?
How will remedial work be quoted, and can you issue the confirmation a landlord needs once it is done?
Also check they are a registered electrician who can self-certify notifiable work under Part P, which matters if the report leads to a new consumer unit or circuit.
EICR cost questions, answered
Does the price include PAT testing?
No. An EICR covers the fixed installation. Portable appliances are tested separately, and PAT testing is priced as its own job.
Is an EICR cheaper if my house was rewired recently?
Sometimes slightly, because a modern, well-labelled installation with an up-to-date circuit chart is quicker to test. The circuit count still sets most of the price.
Can I get a fixed price before the visit?
Most electricians can give a firm price from the number of bedrooms, the number of consumer units and whether the property is occupied. Complex or commercial sites usually need a look first.
Getting a quote
SM Electrical carries out EICRs for homeowners, landlords and businesses across Shropshire, Wolverhampton, Telford and the West Midlands, and any remedial work is quoted separately once the report is done. Send us the property size and the number of consumer units through our contact page for a quote.
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