New build and extension electrical work

First fix

Cables run, back boxes set, containment in, everything in position before the plasterboard goes on. Depths and positions get set here, which is why the plans are worth going through properly beforehand.

Second fix

Accessories, lighting, the consumer unit and any connected plant, then full testing, commissioning and certification.

On a build programme the electrical work is never the only trade in the room, so the useful thing an electrician does is turn up in the right week and leave clean, dressed cabling that the plasterer and joiner aren't fighting.

Almost everything expensive about an extension's electrics comes from decisions made too late. A short conversation at first fix stage saves real money.

• Lighting design: how many downlights, where the switching goes, whether you want dimming, and whether anything is going on a separate circuit.
• Socket positions against the furniture layout, not against the current room.
• Kitchen appliances, agreed against the kitchen designer's drawing.
• Outside lights, garden power and an EV charger route, capped off ready even if it's for later.
• Data cabling, wired smoke and heat alarms, and where the network kit is going to live.
• Heat pump, MVHR or underfloor heating supplies, and who is commissioning what.

New circuits in a dwelling are notifiable work under Part P of the Building Regulations. As a NAPIT registered business we self-certify and notify the work, so it doesn't need a separate building control application for the electrical side.

You get an Electrical Installation Certificate with a full schedule of test results, the document that gets asked for by solicitors, warranty providers and buyers later on.