An EICR from us costs £379 for a typical home or rental property, or £679 if you want the deepest level of testing, usually before buying a house. A visual check with no testing is £197, but that is not an EICR. We are not VAT registered, so the price you see is the price you pay.
Why do EICR prices in Bristol range from under £100 to over £600?
Because “EICR” is being used to describe very different amounts of work. An Electrical Installation Condition Report is a test and inspection of the wiring in a property, with every fault found recorded and coded. The price mostly reflects how much of the installation is actually tested, and how long the electrician is in the house.
An electrician who is in and out in two hours has not tested much. Our standard EICR takes about four hours on site. The deepest one takes a full day. Either way there is at least another hour afterwards writing the report up properly. That time is where faults get found, and it is what you are paying for.
What the three prices include
£197. Visual check and compliance verification
We inspect the meter, the consumer unit and the visible wiring, look for non-compliance, tampering and unsafe practices, and write up what we find. Nothing is tested, so this is not an EICR and it does not satisfy a landlord’s legal duty. It suits a quick pre-purchase look or general peace of mind. Power is off for about two hours.
£379. Full EICR, standard testing
This is the one most homes and rental properties need. Everything in the visual check, plus RCD testing to confirm the safety devices trip within the required time, and a global insulation resistance test to confirm the cabling is sound overall. Every non-conformity is recorded and coded C1, C2, C3 or FI. About four hours on site, with the power off for two to three of them. It is a full, legally valid Electrical Installation Condition Report and it satisfies the landlord regulations.
£679. Full EICR, deepest testing
The same report, coded the same way. The difference is depth. We test circuit by circuit, take the consumer unit cover off for in-depth checks, and remove 20 to 30% of the sockets and switches to inspect the terminations behind them. A full day on site, with the power off for two to three hours of it. Worth it when you are buying and want certainty about what is behind the walls.
Larger houses and HMOs are quoted
The three fixed prices cover homes up to three bedrooms. A five-bedroom house has far more circuits, sockets and switches than a three-bedroom one, so it takes much longer to inspect and test, especially on the deepest option where we open a share of every room’s accessories. For larger houses and HMOs we quote from a photo of the fuse board and a note of the number of rooms, so the price reflects the property rather than a guess.
£379 and £679 are both full EICRs. The difference is how much of the installation we test, and therefore how long we are there. £197 is a look, not a test. No VAT on any of them.
What do the codes on the report mean?
- C1: danger present. Needs immediate action.
- C2: potentially dangerous. Needs fixing soon.
- C3: improvement recommended. Not dangerous, but worth doing.
- FI: further investigation needed before we can say.
A report with any C1, C2 or FI is “unsatisfactory”. That does not mean the house is about to catch fire. It means something needs putting right, and we list it so you can decide. An EICR records faults; it never fixes them. Any remedial work is quoted separately and only done with your agreement. Our guide to what an EICR result really means goes through the C2 question in detail.
What does a landlord actually need?
Under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, a private landlord must have the installation inspected and tested at least every five years, give a copy of the report to tenants within 28 days, and give it to the local authority if asked. Fines can reach £30,000. The £379 EICR meets that duty. The £679 one goes further; the law does not require it. There is more on the duty itself on our landlord electrical compliance page.
What about a commercial EICR?
Shops, salons, offices and workshops are priced on the size of the installation, so we quote rather than list a price. To quote, we need a photo of each fuse board with the cover open, the address, and your opening hours. Testing means switching circuits off one at a time, so we plan it for before you open or a day you are closed. Emergency lighting testing and PAT testing can be done on the same visit.
In October a nail salon in Yate asked us for a commercial EICR price, whether the official report was included, and whether the price included VAT. The answers were the same as for every job we do: the report is always included, it lists anything that needs attention graded by urgency, and there is no VAT on top because we are not registered for it. We planned the testing for early morning so no clients were disturbed.
How to compare EICR quotes
Ask every electrician the same four questions.
- How long will you be on site?
- Which tests will you carry out?
- How many sockets and switches will you open?
- Will every fault be coded on the report?
If the answers are “a couple of hours”, “a visual”, “none” and “we’ll see”, you are not comparing like with like. Greg explains the difference in two short videos on our EICR page: a real EICR against a quick sign-off, and how to spot a copy-and-paste certificate.
Questions people ask us about EICR prices
How much is an EICR in Bristol?
From Live Line Electrical, £379 for a full EICR with standard testing on a typical home, or £679 for the deepest level of testing. A £197 visual check is also available, but it is not an EICR. No VAT is added because we are not VAT registered.
Is the £379 option a real EICR?
Yes. It is a full Electrical Installation Condition Report, legally valid, with every non-conformity coded C1, C2, C3 or FI. It satisfies the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020. The £679 option is the same report with more of the installation tested.
How long does an EICR take?
About four hours on site for the standard EICR and a full day for the deepest one, plus at least an hour writing the report up afterwards. Power is off for part of the visit, around two to three hours.
Will the power be off the whole time?
No. Around two to three hours on the EICRs and about two hours on the visual check. We tell you before we start so you can plan around it.
Do the fixed prices cover any size of house?
They cover homes up to three bedrooms. Larger houses and HMOs have many more circuits and accessories to test, so we quote those from a photo of the fuse board and the number of rooms.
What happens if the report is unsatisfactory?
We list every item with its code and quote the remedial work separately. You decide what to go ahead with. Nothing is fixed during the inspection itself.
The three options are on our domestic EICR page. If you are not sure which you need, send a photo of your fuse board with the cover open to 07590 517472 on WhatsApp and we will tell you.
Ready to book an EICR, or want to check which option fits?
Fixed prices for homes up to three bedrooms, quotations for larger houses, HMOs and commercial premises. We cover Bristol, Yate and the surrounding area, and the report is always included in the price.