How Much Does It Cost to Rewire a House in Australia?

September 4, 2026

Rewiring a house in Australia typically costs between $4,000 and $15,000. A small two-bedroom home usually lands at $4,000 to $8,000, a standard three-to-four-bedroom home at $6,000 to $12,000, and large, double-storey or hard-access houses can go beyond $15,000. Priced per point, each power point, switch and light, the market runs roughly $80 to $150 a point, and a new switchboard usually joins the project.

A rewire is the biggest electrical job most homes will ever need, and it’s also the one where a wide quoted range narrows fast once someone has actually been in your roof space and looked at your board. So the useful work here is understanding what drives the number, and whether your house needs the full job at all.

How do I know if my house needs rewiring?

The wiring’s generation tells most of the story. Homes wired before the 1960s often carry cloth-covered or rubber-insulated cable, and that insulation is now brittle and crumbling, which is as hazardous as it sounds. Homes from the 60s and 70s may have early plastic cable in fair condition but undersized for what a modern household plugs in. And if the switchboard still runs ceramic fuses, the wiring behind it usually matches the vintage.

The signs worth acting on:

• Breakers or safety switches tripping under ordinary loads
• Lights that flicker or dim when appliances start
• A burning smell, discoloured power points, or switch plates warm to the touch
• Any tingle from taps or appliances (that one’s a call today, not a diary note)
• No safety switches on the board at all
• Cloth-covered or perishing cable visible in the roof space
• A ceramic fuse board doing its best against an induction cooktop and a wall of chargers

None of this is cause for panic, and all of it is cause for an electrical safety check. An inspection turns “the house is old” into a verdict: which circuits are sound, which are marginal, which need replacing now. Plenty of older homes need a partial rewire and a new board, not the whole catastrophe, and we’d rather tell you that than sell you the bigger job.

What moves the price

Access. Wiring travels through roof spaces and wall cavities. A walkable roof and an accessible subfloor make for an efficient job; a flat roof, cathedral ceilings or solid brick internal walls slow every single cable run.

The switchboard. Most rewires include one, because landing brand-new circuits on a ceramic fuse board defeats the point. Budget $800 to $2,000 within the project; our switchboard upgrade page covers what’s involved.

Points and layout. A rewire is the cheapest moment you will ever have to add power points, so most people add them. Each extra point adds modestly now and saves a whole separate visit later.

Making good. We keep wall damage to a minimum, but some access holes in plaster are part of the job. Patching and painting sit outside the electrical quote, and an honest quote says so out loud.

Occupied or empty. Rewiring an empty house mid-renovation is meaningfully cheaper than working around a furnished, occupied one, where the job runs circuit by circuit so the fridge and the kettle stay alive.

How long it takes, and how it ends

A small single-storey home typically takes 2 to 4 days, a standard family home 4 to 7, larger places longer. In an occupied house, power stays on overnight with individual circuits isolated through the working day. Every rewire finishes the same way: full testing, safety switches across the circuits, and a Certificate of Electrical Safety lodged as Victorian law requires, which is your proof of the work for insurance and for the day you sell.

One piece of sequencing advice from plenty of these jobs: if the loads that prompted the rewire include an EV charger, induction cooking or ducted air conditioning, read our guide to single phase versus three phase power before locking the scope. Upgrading supply while the walls and roof are already open is far cheaper than coming back for it, and our power upgrades team can fold it into the same project: one round of access, one make-good, one bill.

Suspect the wiring is past it? Call O’Shea Electrical on (03) 9900 1010 or book a safety inspection. Fixed price before a single cable moves, backed by our labour guarantee and REC 36928.