Whole House Rewiring Cost: Pricing by Square Foot and Access

Whole-house rewiring has one of the widest price ranges in residential electrical work, and the reason isn't the wire — it's whether the crew can get to it without opening walls.

How much does it cost to rewire a house?

Rewiring a house typically runs $2 to $4 per square foot for straightforward access, averaging around $2.75/sq ft, but climbs to $5 to $17 per square foot depending on the source and job complexity. By home size: a 1,000 sq ft home with a simple layout runs $3,500-$5,500, a 2,000 sq ft two-story home runs $7,000-$12,000, and homes over 3,000 sq ft can reach $15,000-$25,000.

What's the single biggest cost driver on a rewire?

Wall access. If walls need to be opened and repaired to run new wire, expect roughly double the price — around $5 to $8 per square foot instead of the baseline rate. This is the detail that turns a rewire quote from routine into a real negotiation, so flag it clearly and separately rather than folding it into one blended number.

How should labor be estimated for a rewire?

Electricians typically charge $50 to $100 an hour and price a rewire at roughly one hour of labor per 100 square feet of wire run — a useful sanity check against a square-footage estimate, especially on older homes with unusual layouts or additions that don't match standard framing.

What else affects the final number besides square footage?

Location, home age, number of rooms, wiring accessibility (crawl space vs. finished basement vs. slab), and current material prices all move the estimate meaningfully. Two homes of identical square footage can land thousands apart once accessibility and age are factored in — worth walking through with the customer up front so the final invoice doesn't feel like a surprise.

Quote rewiring jobs faster

Home age, general wall/ceiling access, and visible panel condition are often assessable from photos before a full walkthrough. Fast Snap Pro turns those photos into a priced estimate built from your own per-square-foot rates and access-difficulty add-ons, so you can send a real ballpark fast and confirm exact scope during an in-person assessment before finalizing.