Schools and Education
DBS checked electricians working after school, at weekends and through the holidays so teaching is not interrupted.
Rewiring and upgrades
Commercial Rewiring and Electrical Upgrades in Surrey
Are you looking for commercial rewiring in Surrey for premises that has outgrown its electrical installation? We would be glad to help.
We are NICEIC registered commercial electricians carrying out partial and full rewires, distribution upgrades and containment renewal.
Work with us and you can expect the work phased so your building keeps operating, an honest assessment of whether you actually need a rewire or just remedials, containment installed to make the next twenty years easier, and certification handed over on completion.
So whether your premises is in Guildford, Woking, Dorking, Farnham or anywhere across Surrey, get in touch for a free, no-obligation chat to discuss your requirements and an estimate.
Office floor opened up during refurbishment, the point at which replacing rather than patching becomes worthwhile.
Registered & checked
The tipping point
When a commercial rewire beats more repairs
Commercial installations rarely fail all at once. They accumulate. A circuit added here, a board extended there, a spur off a spur, three generations of accessories on the same wall, and a distribution board with no spare ways and a device that nobody makes any more.
Every one of those decisions was reasonable at the time. Added together over twenty or thirty years they produce an installation that is expensive to maintain, awkward to alter, and increasingly difficult to get a satisfactory report on.
The moment it becomes obvious is usually an EICR that comes back unsatisfactory with observations spread right across the building rather than concentrated in one place. At that point you are choosing between a long list of remedials and replacing the parts that keep generating them.
Sometimes remedials genuinely are the right answer. Our job is to tell you which situation you are actually in, not to reach for the larger number.
Scope
What a commercial electrical upgrade can involve
Most jobs combine several of these. Very few commercial buildings need everything replaced at once.
- Distribution board replacement
- Replacing obsolete boards and switchgear, adding capacity, and bringing circuit protection up to current standards.
- Sub-mains and intake work
- Sub-main cabling, switch-fuses and isolators, and reworking the distribution between the intake and the boards it feeds.
- Partial rewiring
- Replacing the circuits in one area, floor or block while retaining the parts of the installation that are sound and testable.
- Full rewiring
- Complete replacement of the final circuits and distribution, phased so the premises can carry on operating.
- Containment renewal
- New tray, basket, trunking and conduit, including removal of redundant cable that nobody has been willing to disconnect.
- Lighting replacement
- Usually done at the same time, because access is already in place. See commercial lighting.
- Remedial packages
- Working through the observations from an EICR as a planned programme. See EICR testing.
- Certification
- The completed work is inspected, tested and certified to BS 7671, with schedules and labelled boards.
Containment
Cable containment: the part that pays off
The least visible element of a rewire is the one that determines what the next twenty years cost you.
Proper containment - galvanised tray, basket, trunking and conduit, installed with capacity to spare and routes that make sense - means every future alteration is a straightforward pull-through. Bad containment, or none, means every subsequent change is a fresh problem to solve.
The photograph is 80 metres of galvanised tray and basket going into a school hall in Surrey. That is a substantial part of the job in its own right, and it is what makes everything that follows quick.
It is also the reason phased rewires work at all. Get the containment in during the first phase and the circuits can follow area by area without reopening the same ceilings twice.
Capacity
Electrical supply capacity starts at the intake
Almost every capacity conversation we have starts in the wrong place - with the equipment somebody wants to add rather than the supply that has to carry it.
Before you order air conditioning, catering equipment, machinery or a new bank of desks, it is worth knowing what your intake and distribution can actually support and how much of it is already committed.
Frequently the constraint is not the incoming supply at all. It is how the distribution downstream has been arranged and extended over the years. That is a far quicker and cheaper thing to put right than a supply upgrade, and you only find out by looking.
Working with us
How easy it is to arrange a commercial rewire or upgrade
Phased, with each phase agreed before it starts and handed back before the next begins.
01
Tell us about the job
Send us the premises type, what you need doing and when you need it done. If you have drawings, a schedule or a previous report, send those too.
02
We survey and estimate
We look at the installation, agree the scope with you and put it in writing. You get an estimate you can take to whoever signs it off.
03
We book the work around you
We agree dates that suit your operation, turn up when we said we would, and hand over the certification when the work is finished.
Premises
Commercial premises we rewire and upgrade across Surrey
Offices
Lighting, small power, floor boxes and testing in occupied workplaces, phased floor by floor around your staff.
Shops and Retail
Shop fit-out wiring, display and track lighting, power and repairs, scheduled around your trading hours.
Restaurants and Hospitality
Power to kitchens and service areas, extract controls, lighting and testing for restaurants, cafés, pubs and hotels.
Commercial rewiring across Surrey
We carry out partial and full rewires and distribution upgrades throughout Surrey, in offices, schools, shops and hospitality premises. For the wider picture of what we do, see our commercial electricians in Surrey page.
A rewire is often the answer to a report that came back unsatisfactory across the building. See commercial EICR testing.
More services
Other commercial electrical services we offer in Surrey
Most jobs cross more than one of these. If yours does, say so when you enquire and we will estimate it as one piece of work.
Commercial Electrical Installations in Surrey
New circuits, small power, distribution boards, three-phase supplies and full fit-out wiring for commercial premises.
Commercial Lighting in Surrey
LED replacement and new lighting installations for offices, schools, shops and hospitality premises across Surrey.
Commercial EICR Testing in Surrey
Periodic inspection and testing of your fixed installation, with a clear report you can act on and hand to your insurer.
Commercial Electrical Maintenance and Repairs in Surrey
Fault finding, repairs and planned maintenance that keep your premises trading and your staff working.
Emergency Lighting in Surrey
Emergency lighting installation, additions and periodic testing, with the certification and logbook entries to match.
Commercial Fire Alarm Systems in Surrey
Fire alarm installation, extensions, alterations and servicing for commercial and education premises.
Get in touch
Send us a message
If you're in need of trusted commercial electricians, we'd be delighted to assist. Provide a little bit of information in the form below and we'll be back to you within 24 hours to discuss further. There is no charge for the conversation or the estimate, and no obligation to proceed.
Questions we get asked
Commercial rewiring questions
What businesses and site managers ask before committing to major electrical work.
How do we know whether we need a rewire or just repairs?
The usual trigger is an EICR with a long list of C2 observations spread across the whole installation rather than concentrated in one area. Isolated faults get repaired. Problems appearing everywhere at once are usually telling you the installation has reached the end of its serviceable life.
Age, cable type, the state of the boards and how many alterations have been layered on top all feed into it. We would rather assess it and tell you repairs will do than sell you a rewire you do not need.
Do we have to close while it happens?
Rarely, if it is planned properly. Most commercial rewires are phased, one floor, one wing or one department at a time, with temporary arrangements where they are needed so the rest of the building keeps operating.
It takes longer overall than emptying the building and working straight through, and for most businesses that trade-off is obviously worth it. Schools are the exception, because the holidays give you an empty building.
What is the difference between a rewire and a distribution upgrade?
A distribution upgrade changes the boards, protective devices and sub-mains while keeping the existing final circuits. It is the right answer when the wiring is sound but the switchgear is obsolete, has no spare ways, or lacks modern protection.
A rewire replaces the final circuits as well. Many jobs are somewhere in between: new boards, some circuits replaced, others tested and retained. That mix is normal and usually the most economical route.
Can you increase the capacity of our supply?
Increasing the incoming supply itself involves your distribution network operator and their timescales, not just an electrician. What we can do is establish what capacity you actually have, how it is being used, and whether the constraint is genuinely the supply or the way the distribution downstream is arranged.
Often it is the latter, which is a considerably faster and cheaper problem to solve. Either way, find out before you commit to new equipment.
How long does a commercial rewire take?
It depends on the size of the building, how much containment already exists, how much has to stay live and how much access we get. A single floor phased around occupants is a very different programme from an empty school block over the summer.
We give you a programme with the quotation, broken into phases, so you can see what is happening when and which areas are affected in each phase.
Will you have to chase our walls?
As little as possible. Most commercial rewiring runs in containment, using tray, basket, trunking and conduit above ceilings and along walls, because it is faster to install, easier to alter later and far less destructive.
In older and listed buildings that becomes the only acceptable approach. Surface routes chosen carefully beat chasing into historic fabric every time.
Installation reaching the end of its life?
If you are spending more on repairs each year than the last, requesting your free estimate is the right next step.