Kingswood
Fuse box upgraded to a modern RCBO board
Old rewireable board out, full RCBO protection in, everything labelled and certified.
About this service →Lighting is the cheapest transformation a room can have and the easiest to get wrong: too many downlights in a grid, a dimmer that buzzes, a statement pendant on a ceiling that can't take it. I fit lighting across Bristol, and the design conversation comes free with the quote, because talking you out of the airport-runway ceiling costs me nothing and saves you living under it.
Downlights and spotlights
The rule the grid-layout merchants ignore: light the room's tasks and edges, not its geometric centre lines. Fewer, better-placed downlights beat more of them, warm-dim LEDs beat harsh white, and fire-rated fittings aren't optional where a floor sits above. Where insulation sits above the ceiling, fittings and spacing have to respect it, which is a solved problem when it's planned and a scorched one when it isn't.
Pendants, feature lighting and dimmers
Heavy fittings need proper fixing into structure, not hope into plasterboard. Dimmers need matching to the lamps they'll drive: LED-compatible, trailing-edge for most modern lamps, or you get the flicker-and-buzz that makes people say dimmers don't work with LEDs. They do, when specified rather than grabbed.
Planning new lighting?
Send a photo of the room and roughly what you're after — I'll advise on layout and give you a written price.
Ceiling fans
Having a summer moment for good reason: cheaper to run than any cooling alternative and genuinely effective upstairs. The install is part electrical, part structural, since a fan wobbling on a lighting-only fixing is a matter of time. Fitted with the right mount and a reverse-mode switch, it earns its keep in winter too, pushing warm air back down.
Switches: replacement, smart and two-way
Cracked or crunchy switches replaced per point; landing lights finally switched from both ends; smart switches where you want control without replumbing every bulb. Older houses often lack a neutral at the switch, which decides which smart switches will work, so ask me before you buy the kit.
What lighting work costs
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.
Downlights around £35–£75 per fitting installed, pendants and feature fittings from £55, ceiling fans £200–£300 supplied-and-fitted or £85–£150 fitting yours, dimmers and switches £30–£50 per point. Indicative, confirmed from photos of the rooms.
Recent lighting jobs
Longwell Green
Garden lighting, designed then wired
Lighting positions planned with the customer before a single cable went in the trench.
About this service →
Fishponds
Unsatisfactory EICR turned around in a week
Two C2s found at a landlord inspection; both remedied and a satisfactory report issued five days later.
About this service →How many downlights does a room need?
Fewer than the grid-layout answer. A typical living room does better with six well-placed than nine in rows; kitchens want them over the worktops, not over the floor you stand between.
Can you fit downlights under insulation?
Yes, with fittings rated and spaced for it. It's a specification job, not a reason to give up on the idea.
How much does a ceiling fan cost to install?
£85–£150 to fit a fan you've bought, £200–£300 supplied and fitted, assuming sound fixing above; if the ceiling needs strengthening first, that's quoted before anything is drilled.
