Electrical rewiring costs, panel upgrades and planning guides
Licensed, permitted, and priced by how much wall has to come off to reach the wire.
What rewiring a house costs
Rewiring a house runs $4,000 – $30,000, priced per square foot of the area the wire has to reach. The scope moves that figure far more than the copper does: a partial rewire and a knob-and-tube removal use the same materials and are entirely different projects.
Electrical work is the most heavily permitted trade on this site, and rightly. Every circuit ends behind a wall where nobody will look again, so the inspection is the only independent check the work will ever get, and a quote without a permit line is a quote without one.
Every guide here works from that logic. The cost guide prices each scope per square foot, scales it by house area, and lists what follows the electrician: the panel upgrade, the drywall repair, and the code-required devices an older house never had. No estimate asks for your phone number.
What moves the price of rewiring
$4,000 $30,000
House rewiringEvery electrical quote moves on:
- Scope; a partial rewire against a full knob-and-tube removal
- House area, and how much of it the wire has to cross
- Wall construction: drywall, or plaster and lath
- Panel capacity, and the devices current code now requires
Figures on this page are indicative national brackets, not quotes. Your number depends on the size, complexity and condition of the job itself, and on what local crews are charging when you buy. Use them to judge a bid, not to replace one.
What each rewiring scope costs
| Scope | Installed cost per sq. ft. of house | Lifespan | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partial rewire | $2 – $6 | 40 – 70 years | Kitchen, baths and the circuits that actually fail code, left in walls that mostly stay closed. The pragmatic scope on a house that is otherwise sound. |
| Full rewire | $5 – $17 | 50 – 70 years | Every circuit replaced back to a new panel. The house is opened room by room, which is why the drywall trade follows the electrician everywhere. |
| Aluminum branch remediation | $6 – $17 | 50 – 70 years | The 1960s and 1970s problem. Either every branch circuit is replaced, or every connection is pigtailed with an approved connector, and insurers care which. |
| Knob-and-tube replacement | $8 – $20 | 50 – 70 years | Pre-war wiring with no ground, often buried under insulation that should never have covered it. The most expensive rewire because the demolition is the job. |
Installed cost covers wire, boxes, devices and labor for the scope named. The panel upgrade, drywall repair, code devices and any added circuits are priced on top; the cost guide sets out what each one adds.
How Home Palais reads an electrical quote
Every circuit ends somewhere nobody will ever look again. The permit and the inspection are the only independent check that what is in there is safe
Electrical questions, answered
How do electricians price a rewire?
Per square foot of the area being rewired, adjusted for how the walls are built and how much of the house is finished. A plaster-and-lath house with a finished basement costs far more than the same floor area in open drywall.
Does my house need a 200 amp panel?
If it is on 100 amps and you are adding an EV charger, a heat pump, or an induction range, usually yes. A panel upgrade on its own runs a few thousand dollars, and it is dramatically cheaper done while the house is already open.
Is knob-and-tube wiring dangerous?
Not inherently, and it is not the wire that fails: it is a century of modifications, no ground, and insulation packed over conductors designed to shed heat into open air. Many insurers now decline to cover a house that still has it.
What about aluminum branch wiring?
Houses wired in the 1960s and 1970s may have aluminum branch circuits, which expand and loosen at connections. The fix is either full replacement or approved pigtail connectors at every device, and insurers care which one you did.
Can a rewire be done in stages?
Yes, and by circuit rather than by room: kitchen and bathrooms first, since those carry the load and the code requirements. Expect to pay a mobilisation premium each time and to live with two systems in the meantime.
The calculator prices rewiring per square foot on the same national data as every guide on this page; no phone number, no lead form.
Price the scope Before the first quote