When someone decides to rewire their property, price is usually the first question. The second, almost always, is the one actually keeping them awake: how long will it take, and can I stay in the house while it happens?
It is a fair question and almost nobody answers it clearly. Here is what a rewire looks like from the inside: timescales by scope, what gets chased out and what does not, how much power you lose each day, and what you can do to shorten it. Costs are broken down separately in house rewiring cost in Málaga.
Timescales by what you are actually doing
1. The consumer unit only
Swapping an old board for a current one, with proper protective devices and clearly labelled circuits, is a day's work in most properties. There is one whole-property shutdown while it happens and little else. It is the intervention with the best ratio of disruption to safety gained, and it is often the logical starting point.
2. Specific circuits
Running a new line to the kitchen, giving the air conditioning or an EV charge point its own circuit, reinforcing the sockets in one room. Measured in days, and it affects one area at a time.
3. A full rewire
Replacing the whole installation — new circuits, accessories, board and proper earthing — is measured in weeks. The purely electrical work is only part of it: cutting channels, filling them, plastering, painting and waiting for things to dry is what stretches the calendar.
Do all the walls have to be chased out?
This is the question that worries people most, and the honest answer is: it depends what is behind the socket.
If the property has sound conduit on a usable route, new cable can sometimes be drawn through what is already there, avoiding much of the chasing. That is the best case, and it is not unusual in properties of a certain age.
If cable is clipped straight to the wall, if the conduit is crushed or broken, or if circuits are needed that never existed, there is no shortcut: it has to be opened up. In many older properties in central Málaga, that is what we find.
The point is that this is knowable beforehand, with a survey. A quote that has not looked behind the wall is guessing, and those are the jobs that overrun.
Living there while it happens
On most rewires you can, if it is organised properly. The trick is working zone by zone and always leaving part of the property live at the end of each day. What you do have to accept:
- Dust, a great deal of it. Cutting plaster or brick throws out a very fine dust that finds its way everywhere. It can be contained with sheeting, not eliminated.
- Noise during working hours. Chasing is the loudest part and it is concentrated into particular days, not spread across the whole job.
- Power off by area. Circuits will be dead during the day and handed back by the evening.
- The odd full shutdown. Changing the board means everything off for a while. You get told in advance.
- Furniture moved. The walls being worked on have to be clear.
With small children, someone working from home, or anyone with respiratory problems, plenty of clients choose to be away for the chasing days and back for the rest. Not compulsory, but it helps.
What you can do to shorten it
Decide where everything goes before work starts. Kitchen sockets, where the television sits, whether there will be a car charger, whether the study needs more outlets. Changing your mind with the channel still open costs little; doing it once the wall is closed means opening it again.
Plan for the house you are going to have. If solar panels, a heat pump or an induction hob are two years away, leaving the space and the line ready now is far cheaper. We cover this in whether your installation can take an induction hob.
Clear the work areas before the team arrives. A morning spent shifting furniture is a morning of the job.
Sequence the trades. If there is plumbing, painting or carpentry too, order matters: electrics go in before walls are closed and painted. Doing it afterwards means undoing finished work.
The end: inspection and certificate
The installation is certified when the work finishes, not when it starts, because the boletín eléctrico (electrical certificate) records what was actually built. So it is worth not signing the job off — or painting over the channels — until the electrical side has been checked and passed.
If the property is going to be sold or let afterwards, that document is exactly what will be asked for: see selling a property without an electrical certificate.
Frequently asked questions
How long does rewiring a property in Spain take?
It depends on scope. Replacing the consumer unit and little else is a one-day job. Renewing specific circuits takes a few days. A full rewire of an average flat, with channels cut into the walls in every room, is measured in weeks rather than days. What stretches the schedule is usually not the electrical work itself but making good, painting and coordinating the other trades.
Can I keep living in the property during the work?
In many cases yes, particularly if the work is organised zone by zone and part of the property is left working at the end of each day. What you have to accept is dust, noise and circuits switched off for hours at a time. On a full, fast rewire many people prefer to be elsewhere on the chasing days.
Do all the walls have to be chased out?
Not always. If the existing conduit is sound and follows a usable route, new cable can sometimes be drawn through it, avoiding much of the chasing. Where the conduit is crushed or broken, or simply absent because the cable was clipped to the wall, there is no alternative. It can only be known for certain after a survey.
Will I be without power for the whole job?
No. The work goes circuit by circuit and areas are handed back as it progresses. There will be circuits dead during the working day, and a short whole-property shutdown when the board is changed, but the home is not left without supply for weeks. Agree in advance what must keep running, typically the fridge.
Is the certificate issued at the start or the end?
At the end, and rightly so: it certifies the installation as actually built, not as intended. That is why it is worth not closing up walls or signing the job off until the electrical work has been checked and passed.
Want to know what scope your property actually needs?
VLR Instalaciones has spent more than 20 years renewing installations across Málaga and the province, as electricians authorised by the Junta de Andalucía. We come out, look at what is behind your walls, and tell you the real scope and timescale before anything starts — including when the consumer unit alone is enough and the rest can wait. Get in touch for a no-obligation assessment.