Full Home Rewiring — When Do You Need One, What's Involved and What Does It Cost?

A full home rewire is one of those jobs that nobody particularly wants to hear they need — but that can genuinely save lives and prevent a house fire. If your home was built before 1980, or if you've been noticing some of the warning signs below, it's worth understanding what a rewire involves, what it costs, and why putting it off is rarely the right decision.

What Does a Full Home Rewire Actually Mean?

A full rewire means replacing all the electrical cabling throughout your home — from the main switchboard out to every power point, light fitting, switch and hardwired appliance. It is not a partial repair or an upgrade to one circuit. The old wiring is decommissioned and new cable is run through the ceiling cavities, wall cavities and under floors.

The result is a home with a brand-new electrical system: new switchboard with circuit breakers and safety switches (RCDs), new wiring throughout, and new outlets and switches. Every part of the system has been tested and certified by a licensed electrician before handover.

Signs You Need a Rewire

Some of these signs are obvious. Others are easy to ignore until something goes wrong. If you're seeing more than one of the following, get an inspection done sooner rather than later.

Old Wiring Types Found in Queensland Homes

Queensland's housing stock spans more than a century, and the type of old wiring you'll encounter depends heavily on when the home was built.

Rubber-Sheathed Wiring (Pre-1960s)

In homes built before the 1960s, you'll typically find rubber-insulated cable. The rubber sheathing becomes brittle and cracks with age — it can be in quite poor condition after 60-plus years, especially in Queensland's heat and humidity. When the insulation fails, bare conductors can come into contact with each other or with flammable material. This is a fire and electrocution risk that should be treated as urgent.

Cloth-Sheathed Wiring (1960s–1980s)

From the 1960s through to the early 1980s, cloth or braided wiring was commonly installed. The conductors are insulated in rubber and then wrapped in a woven cloth sheath. Like rubber wiring, this cable degrades over time — the insulation dries out and the cloth sheath provides little protection once it fails. It is also often not rated for the loads modern households place on circuits. This type of wiring is very common in Sunshine Coast homes built in the 1970s and is well past its intended service life.

Aluminium Wiring (Some 1960s–1970s Homes)

Some Queensland homes built during the 1960s and 1970s used aluminium conductors instead of copper. Aluminium wiring expands and contracts with temperature more aggressively than copper, which causes connections to loosen over time. Loose connections generate heat and can arc — a leading cause of electrical fires. If you have aluminium wiring and standard copper outlets and switches, the dissimilar metals at the connection points are a particular concern. Aluminium wiring generally requires either full replacement or specialist remediation at every connection point.

What a Rewire Involves — Step by Step

A full rewire is a significant but well-defined process. Here's what it typically involves from start to finish.

1. Assessment and quote: A licensed electrician inspects the existing wiring, identifies what needs replacing, and quotes based on the size of the home, the number of circuits and outlets, and the access available.
2. Temporary power arrangements: For most homes, power can be maintained to parts of the house during the work. Your electrician will discuss what needs to be shut off and when, so you can plan accordingly.
3. Ceiling and roof space access: Most new cable runs are pulled through the ceiling cavity. The electrician works from the roof space, fishing new cables to each room below.
4. Wall cavity fishing: For power points and switches, new cable is fished down through wall cavities. In most cases this can be done through the existing outlet cutout with minimal additional holes. Older homes with solid brick or masonry walls require more surface routing.
5. New cable runs: All new cabling is installed — typically TPS (thermoplastic-sheathed) cable meeting current Australian standards.
6. New switchboard: The old fusebox or outdated switchboard is replaced with a new consumer mains unit fitted with circuit breakers and safety switches (RCDs) on every circuit.
7. New outlets and switches: Every power point, light switch and hardwired fitting is replaced with new fittings.
8. Testing and inspection: The completed installation is tested and certified. An electrical safety certificate is issued and the work is inspected by an authorised person as required by Queensland regulations.

Realistic Expectations — How Disruptive Is It?

Let's be honest: a full rewire is disruptive. Anyone who tells you otherwise is underselling it. Here's what to actually expect.

For a typical three-bedroom Queensland home, a full rewire takes three to seven days depending on the home's size, construction type and accessibility. Larger homes or those with difficult access can take longer.

You'll need access to the ceiling space, and electricians will be working through the roof throughout the job. In most timber-framed homes with accessible roof space and suspended floors, the work can be done with minimal wall damage — perhaps small access holes at each outlet that are patched and made good. Concrete slab homes are more involved because wall cavities are the primary cable route, and more surface fixing or conduit may be required.

You will likely have power isolated to sections of the house at various points during the job. This is worth planning for — particularly if you work from home or have young children.

Most reputable electricians will leave the home weatherproof and functional at the end of each day, even if the job isn't complete. Agree on this expectation upfront.

Partial Rewire vs Full Rewire

A partial rewire — replacing wiring in one part of the home or on specific circuits — is sometimes appropriate, but there are situations where it's not the right answer.

A partial rewire may be acceptable when a specific section of the home has deteriorated wiring while the rest is in reasonable condition, or when you're extending or renovating one area and only that area has old wiring.

A partial rewire is generally not acceptable when the underlying wiring is the same age and type throughout the home. Replacing one circuit while leaving identical aged wiring in the walls elsewhere doesn't meaningfully reduce your risk — it just defers the rest of the cost. If your home has rubber or cloth wiring throughout, a partial rewire is patching around a whole-of-home problem.

An honest electrician will tell you when a partial rewire is genuinely sufficient and when it's false economy. Be wary of anyone who recommends the cheapest option without explaining the trade-offs.

Renovation Is the Ideal Time for a Rewire

If you're planning a kitchen or bathroom renovation — or any significant structural work — that's the best possible time to schedule a full or partial rewire. When walls are already opened up for a kitchen gut-out, running new cable is faster, cheaper and causes virtually no additional disruption. The walls have to be patched regardless of whether new wiring goes in.

We consistently see homeowners who renovate without addressing the wiring, then face the same disruption and patching cost a few years later when they eventually rewire. If old wiring is on your radar at all, do it during the renovation.

Smoke Alarms Must Be Upgraded as Part of Any Rewire

In Queensland, any home being rewired must have smoke alarms that comply with current legislation. This means interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms installed in every bedroom, in hallways serving bedrooms, and on every storey of the home. They must be hardwired (or have a non-removable 10-year battery) and they must be photoelectric — not ionisation.

If you're getting a full rewire done, budget for smoke alarm upgrades at the same time. Your electrician should include this as a matter of course — if they don't raise it, ask.

What Does a Full Rewire Cost?

Cost varies considerably based on several factors, and any price you see quoted generically online should be treated as a rough starting point only. The key variables are:

• Size of the home — the number of circuits, outlets, lights and switches directly determines the scope of work. A two-bedroom unit is a very different job from a five-bedroom house.
• Construction type — timber-framed homes with accessible roof space and suspended floors are significantly easier to rewire than concrete slab homes or homes with difficult ceiling access. Slab construction typically adds cost.
• Condition of the existing installation — homes where previous owners have done DIY work, or where the existing wiring is in very poor condition, may require additional rectification work before new cable can be installed.
• Switchboard upgrade scope — the cost of the switchboard replacement depends on its location, the number of circuits being installed and whether the incoming supply needs attention.
• Finishes — standard white outlets and switches are included in a base quote; if you want premium or designer fittings, this adds to the material cost.

Get at least two quotes from licensed electricians and make sure they are quoting the same scope. A quote that looks cheaper may be excluding parts of the job that will be charged as variations once work starts. Ask each electrician to walk you through exactly what is and isn't included.

Insurance and Property Sale

Old wiring is an increasingly significant issue when it comes to home insurance and property sale. Some insurers will not cover homes with rubber or cloth-sheathed wiring, or will require documentation of an upgrade before issuing a policy. Others will cover the home but exclude claims related to electrical faults — which is precisely the risk you're trying to insure against.

When selling, a pre-purchase electrical inspection is now common practice among buyers. A home with documented old wiring will attract discount offers or pre-settlement conditions requiring rectification. A freshly rewired home with a current electrical safety certificate is a straightforward sell and eliminates a common negotiation point.

The bottom line: a full rewire is disruptive, it costs money, and it's rarely anyone's preferred weekend activity. But it is the kind of work that can prevent a house fire — and that's the only context in which it needs to be evaluated. If your home has old wiring, the question isn't whether to rewire. It's when.

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