In Bristol an EICR costs £200 for any home up to three bedrooms — most local firms charge £250 to £420 for the same inspection — with larger homes and HMOs quoted per property, driven mostly by the number of circuits rather than the number of bedrooms, though bedrooms are the proxy everyone quotes by. Here are real ranges, what moves a price inside them, and the traps at the cheap end.
EICR cost by property size
These are estimates, not quotes. Final costings always follow a free site inspection — and jobs often come in under the estimate, never over without you agreeing it first.
| Property | Estimate | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 bed flat | £200 | 1.5–2.5 hours |
| 2–3 bed house | £200 | 2–4 hours |
| 4–5 bed house | quoted per property | 3–5 hours |
| HMO | quoted per property | Half a day upward |
These are inspection-only prices; remedial work is separate and covered below. Duration matters to the price because a proper EICR is paid attention, circuit by circuit, and how long yours should take is its own guide.
What moves the price
Circuits, above all. A three-bed with six circuits and a three-bed with fourteen are different jobs wearing the same bedroom count. Age and records: an old installation with no previous paperwork means the inspector maps it before testing it. Access: a clear consumer unit and reachable accessories against a board buried behind the Christmas decorations. Occupancy: testing means staged power-downs, slower in a fully lived-in or tenanted house. When a price lands at the top of a range, one of these is usually why, and a good inspector will tell you which.
Why the £79 EICR usually isn't one
The economics don't hide: a legitimate EICR is two to four hours of a qualified inspector's time plus calibrated instruments, insurance and reporting. A rock-bottom price buys the corners cut to hit it, typically a drive-by sampling far fewer accessories than the standard expects, a report with a thin or missing schedule of test results, or the loss-leader model where the inspection is cheap and the invented remedials are not. The test when comparing quotes: ask what sampling percentage they inspect at and whether the full schedule of test results is included. The pause tells you as much as the answer.
Want a real number, not a teaser rate?
Say the property size and rough age of the electrics — you'll get the actual fixed price in writing.
The cost after the cost: typical remedial prices
An unsatisfactory report is a priced list, and most lists are shorter than feared. Common items:
| Common finding | Typical remedial cost |
|---|---|
| No RCD protection (board upgrade) | £500 |
| Missing or inadequate main bonding | £120–£180 |
| Damaged accessories (per point) | £25–£40 |
| Deteriorated circuit (repair/replace) | £150–£400 |
Two honest notes. First, the single most common route from "unsatisfactory" to "satisfactory" in older stock is a consumer unit upgrade, because one board change clears several codes at once. Second, get remedials quoted from the report's schedule rather than paying anyone to re-inspect from scratch; the report is your document and any electrician can price from it.
How much is an EICR for a 3-bed house?
£200 is the price for anything up to three bedrooms; larger homes and HMOs are quoted per property, moved by circuit count, records and access.
Are landlord EICRs more expensive?
The inspection is the same job, so not inherently, but rentals add certificate handling, tenant access coordination and legal deadlines, and pricing sometimes reflects that. What landlords actually pay more for is urgency, so book ahead of the tenancy, not during the void.
Does the price include remedial work?
Almost never, anywhere, and be wary where it claims to: an inspection bundled with unknown repairs is a blank cheque one way or the other. Inspection first, priced findings second, your decision third.
Bristol prices and booking: EICR testing in Bristol. For what the report itself means, code by code: the EICR guide. What every electrician charges by the hour, including for inspections: electrician rates guide.
