rewiring problem

[Soapie 0]

Did anyone of you has any electrician for rewiring to intro, i got a quotation from my first electrician. Beside on what i have currently on the resale flat, 10 lights points, 6 double power socket and 6 single socket, he tried to quote me at above 3k. i find it not worth the price charge.

I had a false ceiling in the living room and bedroom, most electrician said they can do it without removing it, while most said we must remove the false ceiling. anybody had the problem of false ceiling when they want to do a rewiring for the flat?

was thinking ks electrical and electriciansingapore.com anybody engage them before?

 

 

[skb 2]

I am not a electrician but I do have some basic knowledge on these. I would think It is possible to do rewiring without taking down the false ceiling, though the job will be more difficult. 

The false ceiling need to be cut open with holes as the wiring will need to run in trunking and this trunking will need to be installed on top of false ceiling. The false ceiling can be cut open and patch back later. If your existing trunking on false ceiling can be reused (eg pull out all existing wiring and run the new wiring), then it may be easier.

Is yr trunking that goes to the socket concealed? If not, the electrician may be able to tap from nearby socket and run the trunking across the skirting.

Are you doing rewiring for the existing lights/sockets (replace old wiring with new wiring) or just adding new lighting point and sockets? 3k does sound like alot if just adding new point. 

[bunnybluey 2]

If you're doing rewiring, means changing & doing new ones for all the electrical wiring, electrical points, lighting points, heater point, hood/hob point, 15A socket/20A isolater for air-con, etc, this would be quite a major work. Not just false ceiling, built in cupboards/wardrobes may also pose a potential problem for the electrician.

I'm also planning to do electrical wiring for my 5rms flat. I have a false ceiling in living rm but not entire area, different electrician has different views. I had 3 electricians to do a site survey & only the last one can give more sound advice.

To do with false ceiling, it can be done, but

1. need to open a few ~450mm by 450mm holes, I said a few cos depending on how big the false ceiling done up; if whole area is false ceiling, may not be possible or lots more challenging.

2. old wirings/pvc casings unlikely can remove & not possible to fix new pvc casings, have to use conduits instead to run through the false ceiling.

Some electricians wld tell you not possible to do, must remove false ceiling then can do, cos it's easier to do so, or either that they aren't capable enough to do it with false ceiling on. The last electrician is the only one who said can use conduit & I know it's possible cos I used to manage network cabling guys & they used conduits too. Some electricians may charge you much higher due to the false ceiling.

How much it costs really depends on how many electrical/lighting points, lightings/fans, etc, you are installing. It's not just the new points that you talk about but every point as all are new points. For rewiring, means you can relook where you want to do the points. If it's just adding new points to existing points, then it's not rewiring. Also, you have to add on the cost for patching back the false ceiling. With false ceiling, you do more lighting points as well to install downlights.

I did approach KS Electrical for quotation. The staff, not electrician, told me have to remove false ceiling in order to do rewiring. When asked if can come up to do site survey, they said have to charge me $40, if I sign up after site survey, the $40 is taken as deposits. Also, the quote comes with standard package with 15A socket for air-con & never quote upgrade to 20A isolator despite us telling the staff. We were also told that we have to shift our DB box down as that's new HDB regulation but it's not true, only so if you need to get PUB testing but I was told to do the testing, cannot install points in cupboards, & most people don't do testing if staying in HDB. We were also told that we need to change the wiring from our DB to the main outside but other electricians said no need. After hearing from various electricians, we decided to drop KS Electricals cos quite skeptical about what we were being told.

We decided to hack away the false ceiling since patching back the holes will add cost & I still have to open pelmet for air-con. But hacking away the false ceiling also give us a bit of problem, have to get our ID to touch up our partition that's connected to false ceiling, still overall is cheaper & electrical works can be done cleaner as in electrician can remove the old wiring/casings.

I'm not sure if you hv found an electrician but if you need to get a 2nd opinion, I can share with you the one who gave us the sound advice & likely the one whom we'll engage. However, do note that I'm not endorsing this electrician yet since my own reno work has not yet started, just giving you another option since I find he's able to work with false ceiling & yet not charging an arm & a leg for it. If you're keen to get his contact, can pm me.

[Soapie 0]

On 5/3/2016 at 2:12 AM, skb said:

I am not a electrician but I do have some basic knowledge on these. I would think It is possible to do rewiring without taking down the false ceiling, though the job will be more difficult. 

The false ceiling need to be cut open with holes as the wiring will need to run in trunking and this trunking will need to be installed on top of false ceiling. The false ceiling can be cut open and patch back later. If your existing trunking on false ceiling can be reused (eg pull out all existing wiring and run the new wiring), then it may be easier.

Is yr trunking that goes to the socket concealed? If not, the electrician may be able to tap from nearby socket and run the trunking across the skirting.

Are you doing rewiring for the existing lights/sockets (replace old wiring with new wiring) or just adding new lighting point and sockets? 3k does sound like alot if just adding new point. 

That company quote with the amount of power socket, light powers and is already 3k. I was planning to install additional power sockets, so i think might be over 4k liao. Anyway i told them i will get others to do the job for me.

[Soapie 0]

On 5/3/2016 at 3:31 AM, bunnybluey said:

If you're doing rewiring, means changing & doing new ones for all the electrical wiring, electrical points, lighting points, heater point, hood/hob point, 15A socket/20A isolater for air-con, etc, this would be quite a major work. Not just false ceiling, built in cupboards/wardrobes may also pose a potential problem for the electrician.

I'm also planning to do electrical wiring for my 5rms flat. I have a false ceiling in living rm but not entire area, different electrician has different views. I had 3 electricians to do a site survey & only the last one can give more sound advice.

To do with false ceiling, it can be done, but

1. need to open a few ~450mm by 450mm holes, I said a few cos depending on how big the false ceiling done up; if whole area is false ceiling, may not be possible or lots more challenging.

2. old wirings/pvc casings unlikely can remove & not possible to fix new pvc casings, have to use conduits instead to run through the false ceiling.

Some electricians wld tell you not possible to do, must remove false ceiling then can do, cos it's easier to do so, or either that they aren't capable enough to do it with false ceiling on. The last electrician is the only one who said can use conduit & I know it's possible cos I used to manage network cabling guys & they used conduits too. Some electricians may charge you much higher due to the false ceiling.

How much it costs really depends on how many electrical/lighting points, lightings/fans, etc, you are installing. It's not just the new points that you talk about but every point as all are new points. For rewiring, means you can relook where you want to do the points. If it's just adding new points to existing points, then it's not rewiring. Also, you have to add on the cost for patching back the false ceiling. With false ceiling, you do more lighting points as well to install downlights.

I did approach KS Electrical for quotation. The staff, not electrician, told me have to remove false ceiling in order to do rewiring. When asked if can come up to do site survey, they said have to charge me $40, if I sign up after site survey, the $40 is taken as deposits. Also, the quote comes with standard package with 15A socket for air-con & never quote upgrade to 20A isolator despite us telling the staff. We were also told that we have to shift our DB box down as that's new HDB regulation but it's not true, only so if you need to get PUB testing but I was told to do the testing, cannot install points in cupboards, & most people don't do testing if staying in HDB. We were also told that we need to change the wiring from our DB to the main outside but other electricians said no need. After hearing from various electricians, we decided to drop KS Electricals cos quite skeptical about what we were being told.

We decided to hack away the false ceiling since patching back the holes will add cost & I still have to open pelmet for air-con. But hacking away the false ceiling also give us a bit of problem, have to get our ID to touch up our partition that's connected to false ceiling, still overall is cheaper & electrical works can be done cleaner as in electrician can remove the old wiring/casings.

I'm not sure if you hv found an electrician but if you need to get a 2nd opinion, I can share with you the one who gave us the sound advice & likely the one whom we'll engage. However, do note that I'm not endorsing this electrician yet since my own reno work has not yet started, just giving you another option since I find he's able to work with false ceiling & yet not charging an arm & a leg for it. If you're keen to get his contact, can pm me.

KS electrical staff in reply us is very inexperience. I gave up replying my mails to him, he tried to charge me for removing the false ceiling and asked me to get a contractor to fix everything back. After i told him that i was told by ID and previous contractor that i don't have to remove the whole thing down. The person reply me that he will check and the mail stopped.

I personally contact the electrician of KS den got the package and additional of power socket and everything will be done in ard 2500. Didn't want to go around looking for and waiiting for on site viewing anymore. 

 

Aircon must do 20A instead of 15A ?

[skb 2]

On 5/9/2016 at 2:34 AM, Soapie said:

That company quote with the amount of power socket, light powers and is already 3k. I was planning to install additional power sockets, so i think might be over 4k liao. Anyway i told them i will get others to do the job for me.

Just realize electrical contractor can be quite expensive after getting a few quotes for my own lightings work. One of the contractor even quote "Provide labour and tools to install only for light fittings - $150" for each room and living room. This is on top of the $50 per lighting point, I would think the $50 per point should enough to cover labour tools. If you found any good contractor, do share with me too.

[bunnybluey 2]

On 09/05/2016 at 2:44 AM, Soapie said:

KS electrical staff in reply us is very inexperience. I gave up replying my mails to him, he tried to charge me for removing the false ceiling and asked me to get a contractor to fix everything back. After i told him that i was told by ID and previous contractor that i don't have to remove the whole thing down. The person reply me that he will check and the mail stopped.

I personally contact the electrician of KS den got the package and additional of power socket and everything will be done in ard 2500. Didn't want to go around looking for and waiiting for on site viewing anymore. 

 

Aircon must do 20A instead of 15A ?

My house aircon is the 20A isolator as the point is installed outside, whereas 15A usually is installed inside house. Since our house is currently 20A isolator, then should replace with the same, why downsize, right? While the quote from KS seems cheaper, we don't want to run into any issue with costing dispute later since they don't offer no obligation site survey, so avoiding situation whereby they try to charge us more due to whatever unforeseen circumstance. Example, I already told them that my house is 20A isolator, they also never factored that in the quotation.

[bunnybluey 2]

 

On 12/05/2016 at 0:06 PM, skb said:

Just realize electrical contractor can be quite expensive after getting a few quotes for my own lightings work. One of the contractor even quote "Provide labour and tools to install only for light fittings - $150" for each room and living room. This is on top of the $50 per lighting point, I would think the $50 per point should enough to cover labour tools. If you found any good contractor, do share with me too.

Perhaps you may want to clarify what it means by light fittings, from what I interpret, it seems to be installing the lights, not the lighting point since it said light fittings.

The lighting point is the non power points, which you install for the lights or fans. Installation of lights or fans is a separate charge. However, if it's indeed for light fittings, then $150 per room is on a high side, possibly factoring in that you install hanging lighting, a number of downlights, etc. The market rate ~$10-15 per light for non hanging type, $40-50 per fan/fan with light. Like for my MBR, I have a fan with light & 3 lights, so it will cost me $80 ($50 for fan & $10 per light) to install them, & cost me $140 to install the lighting points for these 4 items as my electrician charges $35 per lighting point (light or fan). Even my living room cum dining room cum entrance whole area only installing 7 lights & 1 fan, so total $120 for installing these items & another $280 for 8 lighting points.

If you're looking for an electrician, I can share the electrician's contact with you, whom we are engaging for our upcoming reno in Jun. He's recommended by my hubby's cousin whose in renovating line but he has no vested interests in this as he's only doing commercial biz, so he's just recommending his contacts to us when we approached him for recommendation. We had met the electrician personally & he seems quite a knowledgeable guy. However, I have to caution that he's definitely not one of the cheapest that you can find, like he told us, some charges low, some charges high, he's somewhere in the middle. At least, his charges were lesser by few hundreds as compared to the one recommended by my ID. My reno has not yet started, so I can't share with you if his workmanship, etc, is good, but I'm definitely not a person self promoting any service, just sharing the contact I've found & going to work with, can look up my profile & see the posts I posted. If you're keen, just get the contact & assess for yourself if he's suitable for you. 

Edited May 13, 2016 by bunnybluey

[shun74 0]

On 9 May 2016 at 2:44 AM, Soapie said:

KS electrical staff in reply us is very inexperience. I gave up replying my mails to him, he tried to charge me for removing the false ceiling and asked me to get a contractor to fix everything back. After i told him that i was told by ID and previous contractor that i don't have to remove the whole thing down. The person reply me that he will check and the mail stopped.

I personally contact the electrician of KS den got the package and additional of power socket and everything will be done in ard 2500. Didn't want to go around looking for and waiiting for on site viewing anymore. 

 

Aircon must do 20A instead of 15A ?

I also need electrician to do my ceiling downright and addition socket etc. Could u email contact for the contact person shun74@gmail.com. 

Thanks.

[Eric Chan 0]

Anyone have a good electrician to intro too? 

Pls email me at ericcf@singnet.com.sg

really appreciate much help here.

[terabithia 0]

Maybe you can use the findapro app to look for a good electrician. I used the Findapro app once to find a good electrician and the service was good. You can try posting your job in the app to get quotations in just a short while. There are lots of professionals to choose from and you can decide on a person after viewing their profile and seeing pictures of the work they've previously done in their account. Hope that helped you!