Electrician pricing in Edinburgh

£45 to £85 per hour for standard Edinburgh work in Leith, Marchmont, Newington and the wider south side. £80 to £165 per hour for New Town (EH3), Stockbridge, Morningside, Bruntsfield and The Grange premium pockets. Heritage specialist work on Category A or B listed tenements £140 to £280 per hour. State SELECT or NICEIC certification number on every quote and add VAT at 20 percent.

Yes for premium Edinburgh work. SELECT is Scotland's dominant electrical trade body and the trust signal local clients ask for. NICEIC also operates. New Town, Stockbridge and Morningside clients will not award contracts to uncertified electricians; certification recovers cost in two premium jobs. Print the number on every quote and invoice.

No. Scotland uses Scottish Building Standards (Section 6 energy is stricter than English Part L). Notification goes through the Local Authority Building Standards (LABS) verifier with the City of Edinburgh Council, not the English Part P self-cert route. Quote LABS verifier application (£300 to £1,200), building warrant and completion certificate as separate lines.

£4,500 to £12,000 plus VAT for a single 2 to 3 bed New Town tenement flat full rewire. Includes consumer unit, all circuits, sockets, lighting, smoke and heat detectors to Scottish Building Standards. Chasing into lath and plaster on a Category B listed flat adds time; price the heritage labour premium in. Add LABS verifier and building warrant where required, plus Listed Building Consent (£800 to £3,500) for any external work.

Category A and B listed Old Town and New Town tenements need Listed Building Consent for any visible external lighting, security cameras, doorbell cameras, intercom upgrades or external conduit. Quote LBC drawings and an 8 to 16 week consent timeline on every external job. Surface conduit on a listed facade is refused almost every time; chase routes need designing in.

Standard rates are £45 to £90 per hour in the US, £45-120 in the UK, A£60-200 in Australia, R350-950 in South Africa, and C£45-160 in Canada. Metro areas typically command a 20-30% premium.

Hourly rates reflect overhead (vehicle, tools, insurance, compliance), region, and seniority. A Master Electrician with a wireman's licence charges more than an apprentice. Always check the licence before booking high-value work.

For anything over £300, get 2-3 quotes. Compare scope, brand specifications, and warranty terms, not just the headline price. The cheapest quote often skips parts or uses budget brands that fail in 18 months.

Typically travel time, fuel, the first 15-30 minutes on site, and basic diagnostic work. Most electricians credit the call-out against the repair cost if the customer proceeds with the job.

1.5x to 2x is industry standard for after-hours, weekends, and public holidays. The reason: out-of-hours work pulls the electrician away from their family and disrupts their normal schedule.