Quick answer
Rewiring cost is driven by five factors: home size and stories, access (open crawlspace and attic vs finished walls), whether a panel upgrade rides along, permit jurisdiction, and how much finish repair the routing requires. That's why honest rewiring quotes follow an inspection instead of a phone call — two same-size Puget Sound homes can land far apart once access and panel scope are real. For the panel side, our published guide puts 100A→200A service upgrades at $8,000–$16,000.
- Access is the biggest lever: open basements, crawlspaces, and attics let cable move without opening walls — finished space costs demolition and repair.
- A panel upgrade ($8,000–$16,000 per our cost guide) commonly pairs with a rewire — the same era that needs new wiring installed small services.
- Remodels are the discount window: rewiring while walls are already open removes the access premium entirely.
- Quotes without an in-home inspection aren't quotes — they're placeholders that grow on day one.
- WA HEAR can put up to $2,500 toward wiring upgrades that enable electrification, for income-eligible households.
Use this guide when
You're budgeting a knob-and-tube or aluminum-wiring replacement, an insurer or inspector has forced the timeline, you're planning a remodel that will open walls anyway, or two rewiring bids came back so far apart you suspect they priced different projects — they probably did, and the factors below are usually the difference.
How to read competing rewiring bids
Line the bids up against the same checklist: Did each include an inspection before pricing? Do both cover the panel, or does one assume it? Who owns drywall repair — the electrician, a coordinated sub, or you? Are permits and inspection listed? A bid missing any of those isn't cheaper; it's quoting a smaller project than the one you'll end up paying for.
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The five cost drivers
Size and stories set the baseline cable-run scale. Access sets the multiplier: an open crawl and attic mean wires move without demolition; finished ceilings below and vaulted spaces above mean cuts and patches. Existing wiring type (K&T, aluminum, cloth-sheathed) sets how much must go. Panel capacity decides whether $8,000–$16,000 of service work joins the scope. Jurisdiction sets permit cost and inspection cadence — Seattle, Everett, and the county systems all run differently.
Phasing: room-by-room vs whole-home
Whole-home in one mobilization is the lowest total cost and shortest calendar, but the biggest single check and the most daily disruption. Room-by-room phasing spreads the budget and keeps the house comfortably livable, at a modest total premium for repeated setup. Priority order is safety-driven either way: insulation-contact and high-load circuits first.
The remodel window
If a kitchen, bath, or addition project is opening walls in the next year or two, sequence the rewiring into it — the access premium (demolition, patching, texture, paint) simply disappears for those areas. Even partial coordination, rewiring just the rooms being remodeled while doing accessible runs conventionally, meaningfully cuts the blended cost.
Key terms and context
This guide is written for electrical decisions in the Puget Sound. It uses the same terminology you'll hear from inspectors, technicians, and permit offices.
Lowball quotes that skipped the inspection
A rewiring price offered without walking the home hasn't seen your panel, your crawlspace, or your plaster — the gap between that number and reality becomes change orders after demolition, when you have no leverage. The pattern to refuse is precision without inspection: a confident dollar figure quoted to a home the estimator never entered.
Forgetting the finish budget
Rewiring finished space is partly a drywall project, and bids handle that three ways: included, coordinated with a sub, or silently left to you. 'Silently left to you' is how a fair-looking electrical bid becomes the expensive one. Get the patch-texture-paint scope in writing next to the electrical scope before comparing totals.
How we build this guidance
- Every rewiring number we give follows an in-home inspection — the estimate names its assumptions in writing.
- Drywall repair scope is coordinated and written into the quote, not discovered after.
- We flag the remodel-window savings when your project timeline makes them possible.
Methodology: Cost factors from Eco's estimating worksheet applied after in-home inspection — not a binding quote. Panel ranges per Eco's published Puget Sound cost guide; rebate figures per 2026 WA HEAR program rules.
Last updated: 2026-07-05
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Common questions
Are permits and inspection included in a rewiring quote?
In any legitimate one, yes — Eco pulls permits and schedules inspections as part of every rewiring project. Unpermitted rewiring is a liability that surfaces at sale, claim, or the next contractor's visit, and retroactive permitting costs more than doing it right did.
Why did two rewiring bids for my house come back thousands apart?
Almost always because they priced different projects: one includes the panel and drywall repair, the other assumes them away; one inspected your attic access, the other guessed. Put the bids against the same checklist — inspection performed, panel scope, finish repair ownership, permits — and the gap usually explains itself. If it still doesn't, that's what a second opinion is for.
Does rewiring include upgrading outlets and switches?
Yes — new circuits land on new devices: grounded outlets throughout, GFCI protection in wet locations, AFCI protection per current code, and tamper-resistant receptacles. That's a real functional upgrade over what the old wiring could ever offer, not just replacement in kind.
Do any rebates help with rewiring costs?
Washington's HEAR program can put up to $2,500 toward wiring upgrades — and up to $4,000 toward a panel upgrade — for income-eligible households when the work enables electrification like a heat pump or EV charger. If your rewire is part of an electrification push, sequencing matters; we check eligibility at the estimate.