Ball-park cost to extend power to sheds
Discussion
We have a couple of sheds, and two external sockets with flexible conduit buried by landscaper recently to get cabling to them.
Had problems getting a quote from a sparky for the work: finally came in with quote, sounds a little high to me
Work is around 10m cabling one side, maybe 15m the other to sheds, with a double socket (inside the shed) & what I would expect to be half a days work.
Just to sanity check this (& I appreciate this is Part-P certified work etc): any ideas on what the cost ought to be?
(& I know this is PH & I therefore run the risk of "a tenner plus crate of beer" to "£10K" - real estimates appreciated!!)
thx!
Had problems getting a quote from a sparky for the work: finally came in with quote, sounds a little high to me
Work is around 10m cabling one side, maybe 15m the other to sheds, with a double socket (inside the shed) & what I would expect to be half a days work.
Just to sanity check this (& I appreciate this is Part-P certified work etc): any ideas on what the cost ought to be?
(& I know this is PH & I therefore run the risk of "a tenner plus crate of beer" to "£10K" - real estimates appreciated!!)
thx!
You could put the cable in yourself, that will save a bit of labour.
That's what I did, on a 40 or so metre run. I used armoured cable though and just dug it in around the edge of the garden. I think you will need armoured cable as flexible conduit isn't going to stop someone putting a spade through it. I don't think it will meet regs without being armoured anyway.
There is a potential snag though, armoured is going to be a pig to get through the conduit I suspect.
Mine is connected from the garage consumer unit and has 8 double sockets in the shed. There's also another little consumer unit in the shed.
It wasn't too expensive, the parts were around £200 I think, I fitted all the sockets and stripped the cables in the shed under supervision from the electrician (a mate). He just did the tricky bit: terminating the armoured cable and wiring up the consumer unit.
He was there 2 or so hours.
That's what I did, on a 40 or so metre run. I used armoured cable though and just dug it in around the edge of the garden. I think you will need armoured cable as flexible conduit isn't going to stop someone putting a spade through it. I don't think it will meet regs without being armoured anyway.
There is a potential snag though, armoured is going to be a pig to get through the conduit I suspect.
Mine is connected from the garage consumer unit and has 8 double sockets in the shed. There's also another little consumer unit in the shed.
It wasn't too expensive, the parts were around £200 I think, I fitted all the sockets and stripped the cables in the shed under supervision from the electrician (a mate). He just did the tricky bit: terminating the armoured cable and wiring up the consumer unit.
He was there 2 or so hours.
GR_TVR said:
I recently had a quote for just over £500 all in to run power to my shed for a socket and light. Think it was a 50/50 split labour and materials. About 30m and was to be done at the same time as some other electrical work.
What have you been quoted?
Yikes!What have you been quoted?
Half that: sounded a lot to me, clearly it isn't!
Thanks all
The armoured cable must be buried at a depth where it won't be damaged by a spade, not 2 inches below the surface as suggested above. BS 7671 reg 522-06-03. It should also be covered with marking tape 150mm above it. The recommended depth is usually 600-750mm. It's quite easy to put a spade far enough through SWA to break the insulation if you don't know it's there. If you can't bury it deep enough then leave it visible run along a fence or something.
PostHeads123 said:
I need to do the same but its run of about 85 meters so from back of house down the lawn to the end ? I guess the cost for me would be labour digging it in ?
Indeed - I got quoted £2500 for something similar. I thought it was ridiculous and dug the lot in by myself (without a digger) instead. Wished I had paid the £2500 
Hayek said:
Does it have to be buried that deep if it's under patio/concrete?
The rules don't actually specify a depth at all, it has to be deeper than reasonably likely to be hit by someone digging, or protected by something tough (scaffolding poles often used). I believe under a patio it's acceptable (and even preferable) to have it immediately visible when the paving slabs are lifted. Concrete I'm not sure, fairly deep I would expect.
Jambo85 said:
Hayek said:
Does it have to be buried that deep if it's under patio/concrete?
The rules don't actually specify a depth at all, it has to be deeper than reasonably likely to be hit by someone digging, or protected by something tough (scaffolding poles often used). 30 years ago, with just a laymans knowledge of electrickery, I feed a heavy duty length of cable (approx 30m in length bought from B&Q) into a garden hose and ran it from a plug in a kitchen socket down the side of my garden (against the fence) and into the back of my shed. I connected up a 4 gang socket and plugged in 2 freezers, a fridge and a spotlight. There its stayed to this day with no issues still running all 3 of those things and occasionally a power tool like a jig saw together with a lawn mower and a lawn strimmer once a week. It also feeds a set of 6 low voltage garden lights and has 2 sockets half way down the garden for plugging in anything else I might want to run from that position rather than the shed.
I'm not saying that there might not be carnage in the underground mole population but to date I haven't had one issue.
I'm not saying that there might not be carnage in the underground mole population but to date I haven't had one issue.
4Q said:
The armoured cable must be buried at a depth where it won't be damaged by a spade, not 2 inches below the surface as suggested above. BS 7671 reg 522-06-03. It should also be covered with marking tape 150mm above it. The recommended depth is usually 600-750mm. It's quite easy to put a spade far enough through SWA to break the insulation if you don't know it's there. If you can't bury it deep enough then leave it visible run along a fence or something.
This is what I did. I have 2 runs of 6mm SWA 50m going down the garden (you need to calculate likely draw and resulting voltage drop to determine gauge), but not a direct route due to old foundations and hedgerows/roots etc along the edge of the garden.Mini digger to dig a trench to 750mm, SWA (and 4 runs of CAT6 inside PVC water mains pipe). Backfilled 150mm, laid hazard tape on top then filled the rest.
If a job's worth doing...
welshjon81 said:
& yup, that is indeed an option
....but having spent £Xk on landscaping (where X>7 !) and had the conduit buried with this in mind, it seems churlish not to expend another £250 getting a couple of sockets to the shed/summerhouse.
What for? Well, who knows....we could charge hedge trimmer batteries there instead of in the garage, we may plug fairy lights in, one day I may get a robotic lawnmower....
Thx for the replies/ideas!
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