You might be able to subsidize the whole affair to some extent by going solar and upgrading at the same time. The folks who do that are experienced electricians, they'll know how to keep your needs low and you might be able to piggyback some of the costs onto the solar incentives.

We upgraded a 1924 house less than 10 years ago I think and it was a couple thousand dollars. But it depends where you live and also the experience of worker you hire.

Plus fire. The main problem with shoddy electrical work is unwanted heat. I like the opportunity to engage solar or any off grid effort, since you have the opportunity and it seems to be a capital investment which is usually turned into the mortgage.

What on earth does your power bill have to do with regard to how much labor and materials will cost to rewire you house?

We can't say if $7000 is a good number or not, we have no idea of the scope and we have no idea what the local labor rates are in your area.

The answer is, as for many such personal services, get estimates from several contractors and check REFERENCES.

I don't know where you are located, but the typical cost for a 200 amp "heavy up" is about $2000-2500, depending on location.

If the electrician wires to code you will need to have AFCI protection on many of the circuits, two kitchen appliance circuits with GFCI, and usually separate circuits for the garbage disposal, microwave, stove, refrigerator, etc. He will also have to ensure receptacles are properly spaced on every wall, which means there will be more installed than you now have. Wall switches in rooms can no longer use switch loops (which just switch the black lead), so you need full power wired to each switch location . Bottom line - You can't just replace existing wiring and receptacles and use the same layout; you must upgrade to current code requirements.

If the electrician provides all wiring and devices to bring your house up to current code, and installs them and goes through inspection, $7k may be a very reasonable price.

Bruce

And there goes all the sheetrock.

That price would certainly be competitive here. $3K for a new service entrance and panel plus about $100/rough-in box installed as a quick ballpark and you get there pretty quickly.

I assume the OP has removed all the old plaster and old wiring and has not installed new sheetrock or any other wall surfacing.

Probably not removed the old wiring but he may have removed the devices/boxes. Anyhow, that part doesn't make much difference. In Northern Virginia a few years back I replaced a panel and ran a few new circuits up to the kitchen for about $2200 (not including the devices on the outlets). That didn't include changing the service at all. Running new service wiring, a large number of branch circuits, updating things to current code (as mentioned AFCI is pretty much required everywhere), and the price of all your boxes, devices, fixtures, can easily run it up there.

Plus- do you just love finding transient voltage on pipes and such? So many suprises. It makes for slow, careful work.

"What on earth does your power bill have to do with regard to how much labor and materials will cost to rewire you house?"

Where I live this is all considered as part of the task of converting to solar power . And if the wiring is not up to code or the task then that becomes part of the scope of the solar project. And a proportion of that is then eligible for federal incentives.

That's still irrelevant. The cost to recover the installation and federal incentives are largely unrelated to the cost to do the work.

As Ron said, you don't have to remove the old wiring, but if the wall is open, removing it now may eliminate later confusion, especially for the next owner who won't remember the history.

Um a new panel alone is like 3 grand with parts and labor in my area which is kind of low average cost. So, a new service line for the upgraded amps PLUS the rewire of the whole house sounds about right at 7 grand.

I had asked how much it would be to upgrade to 200 amps out of curiosity and he said around 2.5 to 3 grand. And he changed my fuse box to a breaker panel at about 2800 so thats how I get my numbers. Thats the bare cost for the breakers, panel, new wire to the meter, and labor in my opinion.

Upgrading the amps requires running a new line from the house out to the transformer. For starters the wire is expensive, and the work is not that easy or safe. Involves heights and live high amp current. Need a new weatherhead, etc. as well.

As far as removing old wires, get a fencing pliers, makes pulling electric staples easy. Then you can take all the old wire to the scrap yard for some cash.

I had a kitchen rewired (up to current code & walls/ceiling open), which required a larger box. Plus, I had some recessed lights added to my living room (6 in total - drywall in place). All in all, it was in the neighborhood of $6,000. So, for me (in my area-MN) to rewire an entire home for $7k is very reasonable.

At 720sqft, this is a tiny home.