Electrical Wiring Cost Calculator

Wiring a home or rewiring an old one is a major job priced largely by square footage and finish (rough-in vs full drywall repair). This estimates your range.

Direct answer

What does this tool do?

Electrical Wiring Cost Calculator computes the result directly in your browser — Wiring a home or rewiring an old one is a major job priced largely by square footage and finish (rough-in vs full drywall repair). This estimates your range. Nothing you enter is uploaded or stored.

What moves cost most: finish level — running wire in open walls (rough-in) is far cheaper than opening and patching finished drywall. Labor share: 60-75% of the total. Regional: 0.85× rural to 1.35× metro. Trigger: aluminum wiring, cloth-insulated wire, or a panel that trips on normal load are reasons to rewire.

How this calculator works

cost = sum(line-item ranges per sq ft) x size x regional factor. Mid-tier items: Wire & materials $0.9-1.5, Rough-in + device labor $2.0-3.2, Drywall patch & paint $0.8-1.6.

Worked example

A 2000 sq ft project at mid tier with the national labor factor (1.0): line items sum to $7,400-$12,600, midpoint about $10,000. Try these numbers in the calculator above; adjust the regional multiplier for your metro.

What drives electrical rewiring cost most

Three line items make up the estimate, shown at mid tier. Rough-in and device labor runs $2.00-$3.20 per sq ft and is the largest piece, roughly half of the total. Wire and materials add $0.90-$1.50 per sq ft. Drywall patch and paint adds $0.80-$1.60 per sq ft and only applies when walls are finished, since open walls need no repair.

That is why the 2026 example range is about $2-$7 per sq ft for rough-in on open walls and $4-$10 per sq ft when drywall repair is included. On a 2,000 sq ft house, a full rewire of a finished home lands near $8,000-$20,000. New construction skips the patch work entirely, which keeps the lower end of that scale realistic.

How to keep your rewiring budget honest

Measure your finished square footage accurately before you run numbers, since every line item scales with it. Set the regional labor multiplier to match your area; it spans 0.85 to 1.35, and labor is the largest cost, so a wrong setting moves the whole estimate. Pick the tier that matches your walls: rough-in only if the drywall is already open.

Use DIY mode only for what you can legally and safely handle, such as running cable during a gut renovation, and leave panel work and connections to a licensed electrician. If your home has cloth-insulated wire, aluminum wiring, or no grounded outlets, get an electrician to assess it before pricing, because those findings change the scope more than any calculator setting.

How Electrical Wiring cost is calculated, step by step
Step-by-step: how this electrical wiring calculator builds its estimate

FAQ

How much does it cost to rewire a house?

Roughly $4-$10 per square foot in 2026 examples for a full rewire of a finished home — about $8,000-$20,000 for a 2,000 sq ft house. Rough-in on new construction is cheaper at $2-$7/sq ft.

What is the difference between rough-in and rewire?

Rough-in is running wire in open walls during new construction or a gut renovation — no drywall damage. Rewire of an occupied home means opening walls, patching, and painting, which roughly doubles the cost.

How do I know my house needs rewiring?

Cloth-insulated wire, aluminum wiring, a panel that trips on normal loads, or no grounded outlets in an older home are all reasons to have an electrician assess a rewire. Don't wait for a smell or spark.

These are editable example ranges for budgeting, not contractor bids. Actual project cost varies by region, site condition, and finish level. Get 3 quotes before committing.

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A second worked example: high-labor metro, smaller house

Take a 1,200 sq ft finished home in a high-cost metro with a labor multiplier of 1.20, at mid-tier rates. Labor runs $2.00-$3.20 per sq ft, midpoint $2.60, so 2.60 x 1.20 = $3.12 per sq ft. Over 1,200 sq ft that is $3,744. Materials at the $0.90-$1.50 midpoint of $1.20 add $1,440. Drywall patch and paint at the $0.80-$1.60 midpoint of $1.20 adds $1,440 because the walls are finished.

Sum the three line items: $3,744 + $1,440 + $1,440 = $6,624. The full range is $4,920 (low ends: 2.00 x 1.20 = 2.40, giving 2,880 + 1,080 + 960) to $8,328 (high ends: 3.20 x 1.20 = 3.84, giving 4,608 + 1,800 + 1,920). If the same house were a gut renovation with walls already open, delete the $1,440 patch line and the midpoint drops to $5,184, about 22 percent less. Note the labor multiplier moved only the labor line, not the whole estimate: materials and patch costs stay flat, so a 1.20 multiplier raises the total 17 percent above the national midpoint of $5,760, not 20 percent.

Where real quotes drift from the model

The model assumes wiring scales cleanly with square footage, but three findings break that. A 1,000 sq ft house with plaster over wood lath instead of drywall can double the opening and patch labor, since lath cuts slower and patches take more coats; budget up to $2.00-$2.50 per sq ft extra rather than the $0.80-$1.60 patch line. Unfinished basements or crawl spaces cut the opposite way: an electrician can fish cable without opening finished walls, which can push a small ranch under the $2-$7 rough-in band.

Panel capacity is the second gap. A 1960s home with a 60A or 100A panel usually needs a service upgrade alongside the rewire, commonly $1,500-$4,000 on top of the estimate. Third, per-circuit pricing: many electricians quote by circuit count ($250-$500 per circuit) rather than square footage, and a dense 2,000 sq ft house with 25 circuits can exceed a sparse 2,400 sq ft one with 18. Ask bidders which unit they price on before comparing quotes; a per-sq-ft number and a per-circuit number are not directly comparable.