The short answer
EICR cost rises with the size of the property because there are more circuits to test. As a rough guide, a one-bedroom house is often around £120–£180, a two-bedroom house £140–£220, a three-bedroom house £180–£260, and a four-bedroom house £230–£300 or more. The link is not the bedrooms themselves but the number of circuits — larger homes have more sockets, lighting circuits, and often a garden or outbuilding supply. The inspection typically takes 2–4 hours, longer in bigger or older properties. Age, region and access also move the number. These are typical ranges for guidance, not quotations.
Bedroom count is a useful shorthand for EICR pricing, but the real driver is how many circuits the electrician has to test. The figures below are typical UK ranges for guidance, not quotations.
Typical EICR cost by bedrooms
- 1-bed house~£120–£180
- 2-bed house~£140–£220
- 3-bed house~£180–£260
- 4-bed house~£230–£300+
- Inspection time~2–4 hours
Cost by number of bedrooms
Each extra bedroom usually brings more sockets and lighting, and larger homes tend to add a garden supply, more dedicated circuits and sometimes a second consumer unit. Because an EICR is priced on the number of circuits inspected and tested, the cost climbs steadily with size. The table below shows typical ranges; an older home of any size can sit higher than a modern one because there is more to record.
These are the figures most cost guides converge on for a domestic EICR, but treat them as a starting point rather than a fixed tariff. A two-bedroom cottage with original wiring and an old fuse box can cost more to inspect than a two-bedroom new build, even though both have the same number of bedrooms, because the older installation has more to check and a higher chance of observations to write up. The bedroom bands are a guide to the typical middle of each range, not a ceiling or a floor.
The reason bedroom count works as a shorthand at all is that it usually tracks the number of circuits reasonably well: each additional bedroom tends to bring extra socket outlets and lighting, and a larger footprint often adds a utility area, an electric shower, or an outdoor supply. But the link is indirect, which is why a like-for-like quote always comes back to circuits rather than rooms. If two electricians give you very different figures for the same house, the usual explanation is a different assumption about how many circuits the board has, or whether the price includes VAT and the certificate — not a difference in how thoroughly they intend to test.
| Property | Typical EICR cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1-bed house | ~£120–£180 | few circuits |
| 2-bed house | ~£140–£220 | mid-low range |
| 3-bed house | ~£180–£260 | most common job |
| 4-bed house | ~£230–£300+ | more circuits, often older |
Indicative UK figures for guidance. Sources: Checkatrade and MyJobQuote cost guides.
Why circuits matter more than rooms
Two houses with the same number of bedrooms can cost different amounts to inspect if one has more circuits. A home with a separate garage supply, an electric shower circuit, a cooker circuit, outdoor sockets and several lighting circuits has more for the electrician to test than a stripped-back one. The inspector works through each circuit in turn — verifying earthing and bonding, testing insulation resistance, and checking for correct operation of RCDs and RCBOs, as well as looking for damage or deterioration — so the time, and therefore the price, follows the circuit count rather than the room count.
This is why some electricians quote on a per-circuit basis, or charge a base fee that covers a typical number of circuits with an additional amount for each one beyond that. For most standard homes the bedroom-band figures are a fair guide, but for an unusual property — a small house packed with extra circuits, or a larger one with surprisingly few — a per-circuit quote can be more accurate. If you can tell the electrician roughly how many circuits are in your consumer unit when you ask, the estimate will usually be closer to the final figure.
What else moves the price
Beyond circuit count, several factors nudge the figure up or down:
- Property age: older installations usually take longer and are more likely to record observations, because wiring standards and materials have changed over the decades.
- Region: London and the South East are generally higher than the Midlands and North, reflecting local labour rates.
- Access: a boxed-in consumer unit, a cluttered loft, or sockets hidden behind heavy furniture can add time.
- Condition: a tidy, well-labelled installation is quicker to work through than a heavily modified one with unlabelled circuits.
- Combined visits: booking an EICR alongside other work, or for several properties at once, can sometimes be arranged more efficiently.
None of these change the fundamental relationship — more circuits and more complexity mean more time — but together they explain why two four-bedroom houses might be quoted differently. The fairest way to weigh up two quotes is to make sure each is for the same scope: the whole installation, all circuits, inspection and report, with VAT and any certificate included.
It is also worth knowing what does not meaningfully move the figure, because that helps you spot a quote that is padded rather than fair. The value of the house is largely irrelevant — the electrician is pricing the work of testing the wiring, not the asking price of the property — and finding faults does not make the inspection itself dearer, since the fee covers the assessment and report whatever the outcome. A four-bedroom house in an expensive area does not automatically warrant a higher EICR fee than a four-bedroom house elsewhere with the same number of circuits, beyond the genuine regional difference in labour rates. If a quote seems high for the size, it is reasonable to ask which factors are driving it, rather than assuming a bigger or more valuable home must simply cost more.
What the figure covers, and what comes after
Whatever the size of the house, the EICR fee covers the inspection and the report — not the cost of fixing anything the report finds. If the result is unsatisfactory because a C1 (danger present) or C2 (potentially dangerous) is recorded, the remedial work is quoted separately once the faults are known. A report with only C3 (improvement recommended) items can still be satisfactory. So the bedroom-band figures above are for the inspection itself; a property that turns out to need remedial work will cost more in total, but that is a separate, itemised charge rather than part of the EICR price.
It helps to understand what the inspector is actually doing for the fee, because that is what the bedroom bands are really pricing. They carry out a mix of visual inspection and dead and live testing across the installation — confirming the earthing and main bonding, measuring insulation resistance on each circuit, checking polarity, and verifying that protective devices such as RCDs and RCBOs operate within the times BS 7671 requires. In a larger house there are simply more circuits to take through that sequence, and often more accessories, junction points and accessible cable to inspect along the way. That is the mechanism behind the rising cost: it is time on site, multiplied by the size of the installation, not a charge tied to the value or the postcode of the home.
For homeowners, an EICR is recommended at least every ten years as guidance. For landlords, it is a legal duty at least every five years under the Electrical Safety Standards 2020, regardless of the property's size. A larger let house costs more to inspect than a small flat for the same reason any larger home does — more circuits — but the legal obligation, and the deadlines that come with an unsatisfactory result, are identical. Size affects the price, not the duty. When you ask for a quote, giving the property's age, rough circuit count and whether it is owner-occupied or let lets the electrician pitch the figure accurately rather than padding for the unknown, and it makes two quotes genuinely comparable.
Frequently asked questions
How much is an EICR for a three-bedroom house?
A three-bedroom house typically costs around £180–£260 for an EICR, depending on the number of circuits, the age of the wiring and your region. It is the most common size of job, and the inspection usually takes two to four hours.
Does an EICR cost more for a bigger house?
Yes, generally. Larger homes have more circuits — more sockets, lighting, and often a garden or outbuilding supply — and an EICR is priced on the number of circuits tested. So a four-bed house costs more than a one-bed because there is more to inspect.
Is the EICR price based on bedrooms or circuits?
Strictly, it is based on circuits, but bedrooms are a useful shorthand because they track roughly with circuit count. Two same-sized homes can differ if one has extra circuits such as a garage supply or electric shower.
Sources & further reading
Figures on this page are typical UK ranges drawn from published sources and depend on your specific property. They are guidance, not a quotation. Legal duties are summarised for guidance — confirm the current position on GOV.UK.