How much does it cost to rewire a house?

Whole-house rewiring is priced from the labor hours needed to run new circuits plus the cost of cable, boxes and devices. Using the rates behind this page, a 400 square foot work area works out to about 20 labor hours at 90 dollars an hour plus 1,400 to 5,600 dollars in materials depending on the quality tier. Costs vary significantly by region and by how much of the house has open walls, so treat any figure as a planning baseline and get local bids.

Do I need a permit to rewire a house?

Yes. Rewiring, replacing a service panel and adding branch circuits require an electrical permit in essentially every US jurisdiction, and inspections are part of the process. The permit is normally pulled by the licensed electrical contractor doing the work. Requirements and fees are set locally, so confirm the specifics with your city or county building department.

Can I rewire my own house legally?

In most places an unlicensed person cannot legally perform this work, though many jurisdictions have a limited homeowner exemption for a home you own and occupy. Even where that exemption exists it still requires a permit and inspection, and it does not cover rental property or service equipment. Given the fire and shock risk and the insurance and resale consequences of bad work, hiring a licensed electrician is the right call.

Why is rewiring an older home more expensive?

Older homes usually mean finished walls, plaster and lath, fire blocking and no easy cable path, all of which add labor hours to every circuit. They are also more likely to hide conditions that must be corrected before new work passes inspection, such as knob-and-tube wiring, aluminum branch circuits, an undersized service or a missing ground. Labor is the largest line in an electrical estimate, so anything that slows the work down moves the total.

How much does it cost to add a dedicated 20 amp circuit?

A dedicated circuit is priced as a home run: cable from the panel to the outlet, a breaker, a box, and the labor to get there. The main variables are the distance from the panel and whether the walls are open, since fishing cable through finished drywall can take several times as long as an open-wall pull. If your panel has no free breaker space, a panel upgrade may have to happen first, which is a separate and larger job.

Should I upgrade my electrical panel before remodeling?

If the remodel adds load, such as a kitchen with new appliance circuits, an EV charger or an HVAC change, the panel capacity has to be evaluated before the new circuits can be permitted. Doing the panel work as part of the same project is usually cheaper than returning for a second job later. A licensed electrician can perform a load calculation and tell you whether your existing service is adequate.

What is not included in an electrical rewiring estimate?

Most electrical estimates cover cable, boxes, devices, breakers and the labor to install them. They typically exclude drywall patching, texture and paint, permit and inspection fees set by your jurisdiction, utility charges for a service drop or meter relocation, and remediation of conditions discovered once the walls are open. Ask each bidder in writing which of these are in or out before comparing prices.

Electrical Rewiring Cost: Panels, Circuits and Permits

Published August 22, 2026

Electrical rewiring cost is driven by three things: how much cable has to be pulled, how hard the walls and ceilings are to get into, and whether the service panel can carry what you are adding. The estimator on this page builds a planning figure from a material rate per square foot, a consumables rate, and labor at 90 dollars an hour applied at 0.05 hours per square foot. Every figure here is a baseline for budgeting, not a quote, and prices vary widely by region. One thing does not vary: residential rewiring, panel work and new circuits are licensed, permitted, life-safety work, and this guide is written on the assumption that a licensed electrician will do it.

Estimated cost for 400 square feet of electrical work, including a 10% contingency buffer.

Quality tier	Materials	Labor	Consumables	Total	Per sq ft
Budget	$1,400	$1,800(20 hrs)	$120	$3,652	$9
Mid-range	$2,720	$1,800(20 hrs)	$120	$5,104	$13
Premium	$5,600	$1,800(20 hrs)	$120	$8,272	$21

Figures are generated by this site's estimator using a labor rate of $90/hour and 0.05 hours per sq ft. They are planning baselines, not quotes, and will vary with your region, site conditions and contractor.

How the cost of rewiring is actually built up

An electrical estimate is not really a per-square-foot number. It is a labor number with material stacked on top. At the rates this tool uses, a 400 square foot work area comes out to 20 labor hours, which at 90 dollars an hour is 1,800 dollars of labor before a single foot of cable is counted.

Material is the part that swings. The same 400 square feet runs 1,400 dollars in basic materials, 2,720 dollars at the mid-range rate, and 5,600 dollars at the premium rate in this dataset. Basic here means standard 12/2 non-metallic cable and builder-grade devices. Premium means things like conduit, commercial-grade devices, a subpanel, or an EV charger circuit.

Consumables are small but real. At 0.30 dollars per square foot, the same job carries about 120 dollars in staples, wire nuts, connectors, cable clamps and fire-caulk.

Put those together and labor is roughly 39 percent of a mid-range job in this model. That ratio is why access matters more than brand of switch: anything that slows the electrician down moves the biggest line item.

Use the calculator above to change the square footage and quality tier. The numbers quoted in this section are the same math run at 400 square feet.

What drives electrical rewiring cost up or down

The single largest variable is whether the walls are open. Rewiring during a gut renovation, when studs are exposed, is dramatically faster than fishing cable through finished drywall and insulation. Retrofit work adds hours for every drop, and it adds drywall patching and paint that are not part of the electrical estimate at all.

House age and construction method come next. Plaster and lath, balloon framing, fire blocking, brick veneer and old knob-and-tube all slow a pull down. So does a finished basement or a floor with no attic above it, because the electrician loses the easy path for horizontal runs.

Scope creep is the third driver, and it is usually discovered rather than planned. Once a panel is opened, an electrician may find double-tapped breakers, undersized service, an unbonded ground or aluminum branch wiring, and those findings often have to be corrected before new work can be inspected.

Open walls versus finished walls, which can double the labor hours on the same circuit count
Distance from the panel, since long runs burn cable and time and can force a larger wire gauge
Number of dedicated circuits, because each one is a separate home run back to the panel
Whether the existing service is adequate, or a panel or service upgrade has to come first
AFCI and GFCI protection requirements, which vary by room type and by the code edition your jurisdiction has adopted
Ceiling height, attic access and crawlspace clearance

Panel upgrades and new circuits price differently

A panel upgrade is not measured in square feet. It is a fixed piece of work: coordinate a disconnect with the utility, set a new panel and meter base, re-land and label every existing circuit, install a proper grounding electrode system, and get it inspected. That means the square-foot model on this page will understate a standalone service upgrade, and you should treat a panel replacement as its own line item when you gather bids.

Dedicated circuits are easier to reason about. Each one is a home run: cable from the panel to the device, a breaker, a box, and usually a hole in something. A 20 amp appliance circuit, a range circuit, a dryer circuit and an EV charger circuit all follow that pattern, but the wire gauge and breaker size differ, and heavier wire is meaningfully more expensive per foot.

The order matters financially. If you are adding load and the panel is already near capacity, the panel work has to happen first. Bundling both into one job usually costs less than two separate mobilizations months apart.

Scope items the square-foot estimate does not model on its own

Work item	Why it prices separately
Service or panel upgrade	Fixed-scope job with utility coordination and its own inspection
Utility service drop or meter relocation	Priced and scheduled by the utility, not the electrician
Drywall patch, texture and paint	A separate trade; retrofit rewiring almost always creates this work
Trenching for a detached garage or subpanel	Excavation, depth and burial requirements are their own scope
Knob-and-tube or aluminum branch remediation	Discovered condition; scope is unknown until walls are opened
Permit and inspection fees	Set by your local jurisdiction, not by the contractor

Permits, licensing and inspection

Rewiring, panel replacement and new branch circuits require an electrical permit in essentially every jurisdiction in the United States, and the permit is pulled by a licensed electrical contractor. Codes are adopted locally, so the exact requirements, fee schedule and inspection sequence depend on your city or county. Check with your local building department before you plan a schedule around anything.

Permitting is not bureaucratic overhead you are paying to skip a step. The rough-in inspection happens while the walls are open and is the only practical chance anyone has to verify box fill, cable support, grounding, and clearances. Once drywall goes up, that evidence is gone.

Unpermitted electrical work also follows the house. It surfaces during a sale inspection, it can complicate a homeowners insurance claim, and a buyer can reasonably ask for it to be opened up and corrected.

Electrical work carries shock, arc-flash and fire risk. Requirements vary by jurisdiction, and this page is general planning information, not code guidance for your specific project.

DIY versus hiring a licensed electrician

For most projects on this site, that question is a genuine trade-off between your time and your money. Rewiring is the exception, and it is worth being direct about why rather than hedging.

First, it is generally not legal for an unlicensed person to perform or permit this work. Many jurisdictions allow a narrow homeowner exemption for work in a home you own and occupy, but that exemption is limited, still requires a permit and inspection, and does not extend to rental property or to the service equipment. Assuming it applies to you is a bad assumption to build a budget on.

Second, the failure mode is not cosmetic. A loose connection in a junction box does not look wrong. It heats up over months or years behind finished drywall, and the first symptom can be a fire. Bad tile is annoying and bad wiring is dangerous.

Third, the downstream costs are real. Unpermitted work has to be disclosed at sale and typically has to be opened up and corrected by a licensed contractor anyway. The money saved is borrowed, not earned.

What you can reasonably do yourself is everything around the electrical work. Clearing rooms, removing baseboards and trim, moving furniture and appliances, pulling up carpet, opening access to the crawlspace or attic, and handling drywall patching and paint afterward all reduce billable hours without touching a conductor. Ask your electrician which prep actually helps, because it is not always what you would guess.

Do not treat rewiring, panel work or new circuits as a DIY project. Hire a licensed electrician and pull a permit, even when a homeowner exemption technically exists in your area.

Getting bids you can actually compare

Ask every bidder to price the same written scope: the circuit count, the device count and type, the panel work, and whether patching is included. Electricians who quote different scopes will produce numbers you cannot compare, and the lowest one is usually the one that left something out.

Ask how discovered conditions are handled. A good answer is a written change-order process with an hourly rate attached. A vague answer is a budget risk, because on retrofit work something is almost always found.

Confirm license and insurance directly with your state or local licensing board rather than taking a card at face value. Then ask who pulls the permit. If a contractor suggests you pull it as the homeowner, that shifts responsibility for the work onto you, and it is a reason to keep looking.

Get the scope in writing before you get the price. Two bids on the same document tell you far more than three bids on three different assumptions.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to rewire a house?: Whole-house rewiring is priced from the labor hours needed to run new circuits plus the cost of cable, boxes and devices. Using the rates behind this page, a 400 square foot work area works out to about 20 labor hours at 90 dollars an hour plus 1,400 to 5,600 dollars in materials depending on the quality tier. Costs vary significantly by region and by how much of the house has open walls, so treat any figure as a planning baseline and get local bids.
Do I need a permit to rewire a house?: Yes. Rewiring, replacing a service panel and adding branch circuits require an electrical permit in essentially every US jurisdiction, and inspections are part of the process. The permit is normally pulled by the licensed electrical contractor doing the work. Requirements and fees are set locally, so confirm the specifics with your city or county building department.
Can I rewire my own house legally?: In most places an unlicensed person cannot legally perform this work, though many jurisdictions have a limited homeowner exemption for a home you own and occupy. Even where that exemption exists it still requires a permit and inspection, and it does not cover rental property or service equipment. Given the fire and shock risk and the insurance and resale consequences of bad work, hiring a licensed electrician is the right call.
Why is rewiring an older home more expensive?: Older homes usually mean finished walls, plaster and lath, fire blocking and no easy cable path, all of which add labor hours to every circuit. They are also more likely to hide conditions that must be corrected before new work passes inspection, such as knob-and-tube wiring, aluminum branch circuits, an undersized service or a missing ground. Labor is the largest line in an electrical estimate, so anything that slows the work down moves the total.
How much does it cost to add a dedicated 20 amp circuit?: A dedicated circuit is priced as a home run: cable from the panel to the outlet, a breaker, a box, and the labor to get there. The main variables are the distance from the panel and whether the walls are open, since fishing cable through finished drywall can take several times as long as an open-wall pull. If your panel has no free breaker space, a panel upgrade may have to happen first, which is a separate and larger job.
Should I upgrade my electrical panel before remodeling?: If the remodel adds load, such as a kitchen with new appliance circuits, an EV charger or an HVAC change, the panel capacity has to be evaluated before the new circuits can be permitted. Doing the panel work as part of the same project is usually cheaper than returning for a second job later. A licensed electrician can perform a load calculation and tell you whether your existing service is adequate.
What is not included in an electrical rewiring estimate?: Most electrical estimates cover cable, boxes, devices, breakers and the labor to install them. They typically exclude drywall patching, texture and paint, permit and inspection fees set by your jurisdiction, utility charges for a service drop or meter relocation, and remediation of conditions discovered once the walls are open. Ask each bidder in writing which of these are in or out before comparing prices.