The average EICR in the UK costs between £150 and £250. Ours are £99 or £140 for most homes, because we price on the number of circuits rather than the number of bedrooms. If you are getting quotes anywhere between £80 and £400 and wondering what is normal, this guide gives you the honest answer for 2026, including how to work out which band your own property falls into before you ring anybody.
How Much Does an EICR Cost?
Ours are £99 up to 5 circuits and £140 for 6 to 10 circuits, which covers almost every home. Above ten circuits it is £15 per single phase circuit and £25 per three phase. The UK average sits between £100 and £300 in 2026, with London and the south east 20 to 30 percent higher than the rest of the country.
You may see the same inspection quoted under different names. An electrical inspection, an electrical safety check, a landlord electrical certificate, a periodic inspection and a condition report all describe the same thing, and its proper name is an Electrical Installation Condition Report. If you have quotes using different wording, they are for the same job. Compare them on scope and qualifications rather than on the label.
How Do I Count My Circuits?
Open your consumer unit and count the switches, ignoring the big main switch and any large ones with test buttons. Each of the smaller switches is one circuit, and most boards have them labelled.
It takes thirty seconds and it means you know your price before you ring anybody, ours or anyone else's. If you would rather not, tell us the property size and we will give you the band over the phone, then confirm it before we start rather than after we finish.
Because circuits are what actually gets tested. Two identical three bed houses can have very different boards. One rewired last year might have twelve circuits with an RCBO on each. The one next door on a 1980s board might have four. Pricing on bedrooms means the second customer subsidises the first, so we price on the work.
A four circuit board takes around 1.5 hours. Ten circuits takes 3 to 4 hours. Every circuit is tested individually for earth continuity, insulation resistance and polarity, along with the consumer unit, earthing, bonding and any RCD protection. The digital certificate is emailed within 24 hours whichever band you are in.
We are a local NICEIC approved contractor based in Liverpool. No franchise fees, no national call centre, no middleman markup. The certificate we issue is identical to one from a national provider and it is worth exactly the same to your council, your letting agent, your insurer and a buyer. The difference is overheads, not the inspection.
How Much Does a Commercial EICR Cost?
Commercial EICR pricing is different from residential. Rather than a flat property-size rate, commercial premises are priced per circuit because the scale varies hugely between a small shop and a large industrial unit.
A small retail unit with 8 single phase circuits costs around £120. A mid-sized office with 20 single phase circuits costs around £300. A light industrial unit with 30 single phase and 4 three phase circuits costs around £550.
This is dramatically cheaper than the UK commercial average of £300 to £800 plus. Our per-circuit pricing means you only pay for what you actually need, not a generic commercial rate.
If you do not know, count the switches in your consumer unit or fuseboard. Each switch represents one circuit. Three phase circuits look different from single phase and are more common in industrial premises or larger commercial buildings. If you are unsure, we carry out a free pre-inspection count and give you the fixed price before we start.
Why Do EICR Prices Vary So Much?
Property size, age of the installation, where you are in the country, the business model of who is quoting, and what the quote actually includes. Those five explain almost the whole £80 to £400 range you will see across quotes for what sounds like the same job.
More circuits means more testing time. A 6 bedroom house with two sub-boards takes twice as long as a 2 bed flat.
Older wiring takes longer to assess and generates more observations that need to be documented on the report.
London and the south east are 20 to 30 percent higher than the rest of the UK. The north west has some of the most competitive rates.
National firms carry higher overheads than local independents. Both can issue the same certificate.
Some quotes include travel, report generation and minor remedial work. Some do not. Always ask what is included.
Why Do National Firms Charge More Than Local Electricians?
Overheads, not quality. National companies typically charge £180 to £300 for a three bed house EICR in 2026 and the large utility providers £250 to £400. The same property on our pricing is £99 or £140 depending on how many circuits the board has.
The price difference reflects business model rather than quality. National firms pay call centre costs, franchise fees, national marketing budgets and large operational overheads. Independent local contractors pass those savings on directly.
The certificate you receive is identical regardless of who issues it. Every NICEIC or NAPIT approved electrician is working to the same BS 7671 wiring regulations. What you pay more for with national firms is brand recognition, not a better inspection.
Do You Charge More Outside Liverpool?
No. The same fixed price applies everywhere we work, whether the property is in central Liverpool, on the Wirral, in St Helens, Warrington or Formby. There is no travel charge and no area premium.
- EICR Liverpool from £99 across all L1 to L40 postcodes
- EICR Wirral from £99 across all CH postcodes
- EICR St Helens from £99 across all WA postcodes
- EICR Warrington from £99 across all WA postcodes
- EICR Formby from £99 across all L37 postcodes
Same-day and next-day appointments are available across all five areas. Digital certificate emailed within 24 hours of the inspection.
Why Can a Cheap EICR Cost You More?
Because an invalid certificate has to be done again, and the second one costs full price. Not every cheap EICR is a bad deal, and our £99 proves you can sit well below the national average without cutting anything out. But quotes at or below £80 for a standard property are a genuine warning sign, and the arithmetic behind that is set out below.
A proper EICR takes 2 to 4 hours of qualified testing time. If someone is offering to do it for £60 or £70, they are either inexperienced, rushing, or not actually carrying out the full test procedure. An invalid certificate is worse than no certificate at all because it provides false confidence.
The warning signs of a problematic EICR provider include:
- No NICEIC, NAPIT or other recognised competent person scheme registration
- No fixed written quote before attending
- Refusal to explain what is included
- Inspection that takes under 90 minutes for a 3 bed house
- No testing of individual circuits (visual inspection only)
- Hand written or basic certificates without proper BS 7671 formatting
- Pressure to book immediate remedial work at inflated prices
An EICR issued by someone who is not qualified to carry it out may not be accepted by your local council, your letting agent, your insurer or a buyer of your property. The cost of a second EICR from a properly qualified electrician wipes out any initial saving.
Can You Match £80 Per Certificate?
No, and nobody doing the job properly can. We get this call from letting agents regularly, usually opening with a figure they have been quoted elsewhere, and the honest answer is that it is not a price we will ever reach.
Work the numbers. A proper EICR on a six circuit property takes two to four hours on site. Every circuit is tested individually for earth continuity, insulation resistance and polarity, the RCDs are timed, the earthing and bonding are assessed, and then the report has to be written up, coded and issued. At £80 that is roughly £20 to £30 an hour before travel, before the write up, before insurance, before scheme registration and before the test equipment that has to be calibrated every year.
It is not that somebody has found a clever way to be cheaper. At £80 the maths only works if the inspection is not being carried out in full. A visual walk round and a certificate is not an EICR, and a certificate issued without the testing behind it is worth nothing to your council, your insurer or a tenant. It is worse than having no certificate, because everyone involved believes the property has been checked.
This is not a race to the bottom and we are not going to enter one. Our prices are already well below the national average because our overheads are low, not because we have found something to leave out.
We are also starting to document what a full EICR actually involves, circuit by circuit, so that landlords and agents can see the difference between a genuine inspection and a walk round with a clipboard. If you have been quoted a figure that seems too good, ask the person quoting how long they expect to be on site and how many circuits they intend to test. The answer usually settles it.
What Is Included in a Proper EICR?
Earth continuity, insulation resistance, polarity and RCD timing on every circuit, plus a full visual inspection and a written report with every observation coded. If a quote does not cover all of that, it is not an EICR. Here is the full list to check any quote against:
- Visual inspection of all accessible wiring, fittings and accessories
- Testing of the consumer unit and every circuit breaker
- Earth continuity testing on every circuit
- Insulation resistance testing across the installation
- Polarity checks throughout
- RCD testing where fitted
- Assessment of earthing and main bonding
- Documentation of every observation with a category code (C1, C2, C3 or FI)
- Full written report, typically 10 to 20 pages
- Digital certificate delivered within 24 hours
If a quote does not include all of these elements, it is not a full EICR. Ask for clarification before you agree to book.
What Do C1, C2, C3 and FI Mean on an EICR?
They are the severity codes given to every observation, and only C1 and C2 cause a fail. C3 is a recommendation and FI means the inspector could not reach a conclusion without further work.
A report is marked unsatisfactory if it carries any C1, C2 or FI. C3 observations can appear on a satisfactory report and often do, particularly on older installations, so a certificate with several C3s is not a fail and does not need remedial work to be valid.
A C1 is dealt with on the day. We make it safe before we leave and tell you what we have done, because leaving a known danger in place is not an option regardless of who is paying for what.
Anything notifiable that comes out of the remedial work, such as a consumer unit replacement, is notified to building control under Part P as part of the job rather than being left to you.
What Does Remedial Work Cost if You Fail?
From £40 to £80 for a faulty socket, £150 to £300 for main bonding, and £700 for a consumer unit. The EICR itself only covers the inspection, so anything it finds is quoted separately. No legitimate provider includes unlimited remedial work in the base price, and one that says it does has priced for it somewhere.
Here are typical costs for the most common remedial items we find in 2026:
Minor items are often completed on the same visit as the inspection, which saves you the cost of a second call out. Larger jobs like a consumer unit upgrade or a full rewire are quoted and scheduled separately.
We only quote remedial work when it is genuinely needed. If an item is listed as C3 (improvement recommended but not dangerous), we flag it and explain the benefit of addressing it, but we never pressure you to book work that is not required for safety or compliance. Your certificate can be satisfactory with C3 observations present.
How Often Do You Need an EICR?
The required frequency depends on the property type.
- Private rental properties: Every 5 years, or at every change of tenancy, whichever comes first. This is a legal requirement.
- HMO properties: Every 5 years, with additional checks required for HMO licensing.
- Owner-occupied homes: Every 10 years is the recommended best practice. Not legally required but increasingly requested by mortgage lenders and insurers.
- Commercial premises: Usually every 5 years, sometimes 3 years for higher-risk environments.
- After any major electrical work: A new EICR may be recommended to confirm the installation still meets current standards.
The answer to the common question "is an EICR 3 years or 5 years" is 5 years for most private residential properties. Only certain higher-risk commercial environments fall to 3 year intervals.
Do You Offer Discounts for Multiple Properties?
Yes, from fifteen properties upwards, at £120 per EICR. Below that number there is no discount, and it is worth explaining why rather than just saying no.
We regularly test complexes of a hundred apartments or more, so this is not about scale. It is about what actually makes a block booking cheaper to deliver, which is being able to run properties back to back in one visit.
Tenanted properties come with tenants, and everyone has a different working pattern. One is on nights, one works from home on Tuesdays, one wants a Saturday, two do not answer the phone. Nobody can align that, and it is not the agent's fault or ours. With four or five addresses we are almost always making four or five separate journeys on four or five different days, which is the same work as four or five separate jobs.
At fifteen or more there are enough properties that we can build genuine runs around whatever access we are given, and that is where the saving actually comes from. So that is where the discount starts.
If you have a portfolio of fifteen or more, tell us the total number of properties and the rough circuit count and we will confirm the block rate in writing before we start. If you have four, the answer is the standard price, and we would rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise and pad it somewhere else.
Who Can Carry Out an EICR?
Only a qualified electrician who is registered with a competent person scheme can carry out a legally recognised EICR. Not every electrician is qualified.
The minimum qualifications required are:
- City and Guilds 2391 or equivalent (inspection and testing qualification)
- Current 18th Edition BS 7671 certification
- Registration with NICEIC, NAPIT or another recognised competent person scheme
Every electrician who carries out inspections at Ideal Electrical Solutions holds all three. Our NICEIC approval has been continuous.
How Do I Get an EICR?
Booking an EICR takes under 5 minutes. Here is how it works with us.
Call 07399 676656 or book through our website. A real person answers. No automated systems.
We give you a fixed price based on your property size before we attend. No surprises.
Same-day or next-day appointment. The inspection takes 1.5 to 6 hours depending on property size.
Your digital EICR certificate is emailed directly to you. Often delivered the same day.
What Else Do People Ask About EICR Costs?
How much does an EICR cost?
An EICR typically costs between £100 and £300 in 2026 for a standard UK property. Ours are £99 up to 5 circuits and £140 for 6 to 10 circuits, which covers almost every home. Above ten circuits, and for all commercial premises, it is £15 per single phase circuit and £25 per three phase.
How much is an electrical inspection?
Electrical inspection is another name for an EICR. Ours are £99 up to 5 circuits and £140 for 6 to 10, then £15 per single phase circuit and £25 per three phase above that. A proper inspection takes 1.5 to 4 hours depending on how many circuits there are.
How much does an electrical safety check cost?
An electrical safety check and an EICR are the same thing. Landlords typically pay £99 or £140 with us depending on the number of circuits, against a UK average of £150 to £250. The certificate is renewed every 5 years or at every change of tenancy, whichever comes first.
Is an EICR 3 years or 5 years?
For private residential rental properties and most commercial premises the answer is every 5 years. Only certain higher-risk commercial environments require inspection every 3 years. Owner-occupied homes do not legally require an EICR but 10 years is the recommended best practice interval.
Can any electrician carry out an EICR?
No. Only an electrician holding the City and Guilds 2391 inspection and testing qualification, with current 18th Edition certification, and registered with a competent person scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT, can issue a legally valid EICR. Always verify qualifications before booking.
How much do electricians charge for a condition report?
National electrical companies charge £180 to £300 for a 3 bed house EICR. Large utility companies such as British Gas charge £250 to £400. We charge £99 or £140 depending on circuit count for the same work. The certificate is identical regardless of who issues it.
How much does an electrical installation condition report cost in the UK?
UK average prices in 2026 are £100 to £200 for a 1 to 2 bed property, £180 to £250 for a 3 bedroom house, £250 to £400 for a 4 to 5 bedroom house, and £300 to £800 plus for commercial premises. We price on circuits instead, so our prices start from £99 across all residential property sizes and from £15 per circuit for commercial.
Why are some EICRs so cheap?
Prices under £80 for a standard property are a warning sign. A proper EICR takes 2 to 4 hours of qualified testing time. Very cheap quotes often indicate rushed or incomplete inspections that may not produce a valid certificate. Our £99 price is competitive because we are a local independent contractor with lower overheads, not because we skip steps.
NICEIC approved. Same-day available. Digital certificate within 24 hours. Fixed pricing, no hidden fees. Covering Liverpool, Wirral, St Helens, Warrington and Formby.
For area-specific pricing and information see our dedicated pages for EICR Liverpool, EICR Wirral, EICR St Helens, EICR Warrington and EICR Formby. Need a full EICR explanation? Read our EICR requirements guide for landlords or EICR guide for home buyers.