Frequently asked questions

Yes — that's everyday work. A fuse box that keeps tripping or a socket with no power usually means a fault on one circuit, and tracing it to the cause is the job. Call Lewis on 07467 381272, tell us what's happening, and we'll tell you honestly how soon we can get to you.

Yes — an extra socket, a light fitting, a faulty switch, an outdoor socket, a cooker or electric shower connection. Small jobs are welcome, and there's no drama about a minimum call-out — just ask and we'll price it.

Doncaster is our base, and we cover Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and the wider South Yorkshire area. If you're near but not in those towns, ask — the answer is usually yes.

Yes. Photos through the quote form are often enough to price smaller jobs; bigger ones like rewires get a free survey visit first. Either way you get a written price before any work starts.

Where the job calls for one, yes. An Electrical Installation Certificate is issued on completion for rewires, consumer unit changes and new circuits, and you receive the EICR report after an inspection.

Call Lewis on 07467 381272, or send the quote form with a photo or two of the job — a picture of your fuse box or the room in question speeds things up. Email works too: lb-electricals@hotmail.com.

Yes — we take genuine out-of-hours emergency callouts across Doncaster. Call Lewis on 07467 381272 and we'll tell you honestly how soon we can get to you.

No fixed callout fee. We agree the price with you by quote before we come out, so you know the number before you commit to anything.

If it won't reset at all, or there's a burning smell or sparking, treat it as urgent and call. If it resets and holds for now, it's a fault worth booking in — our fault-finding page explains how we trace it.

Switch off at the fuse box if it's safe to reach, keep everyone away from anything hot or sparking, and don't try to work on live wiring yourself. Then call us.

It depends on the size of the house and whether it's occupied. As a rough guide, a three-bed semi takes somewhere in the region of one to two weeks. The survey gives you a firm answer for your house — homes in Doncaster and Rotherham vary a lot, even on the same street.

Not every older house needs everything replacing. If parts of the wiring have already been renewed — after an extension in Bentley, say — a partial rewire may be the honest answer. The survey tells us which, or an EICR can formally assess the condition first if you'd like the evidence in writing.

Usually, yes. We work room by room and keep power on overnight where we can. If you can stay with family for the noisiest few days, all the better, but most customers in Doncaster and Sheffield stay put.

Cables are chased into the walls, and we cut those chases as cleanly as we can. We'll agree at the survey exactly what making good is included in your quote, so there are no surprises when the decorator arrives.

An Electrical Installation Certificate is issued on completion, covering every new circuit. Keep it safe — solicitors ask for it when you sell, and it's the record that the work was tested, not just finished.

Usually a day. The power is off for most of it, so plan around that — a flask of tea, or pick a day you're out. We cover Doncaster, Bentley, Sheffield and the towns around them.

Sometimes, yes — testing every circuit is part of the job, and older wiring can hide faults that only show up under test. If we find something, we'll show you, explain the options and price the fix before doing anything. No extra work happens without your say-so.

No — there's no law saying an old board must be replaced. But a modern unit with RCD protection disconnects faults far faster, and if you're having other electrical work done, or letting the property out, upgrading is usually the sensible moment.

An Electrical Installation Certificate is issued on completion, along with the test results for every circuit on the new board. If you're a landlord in Rotherham or Sheffield, pairing a board change with an EICR in one visit often makes sense.

At least every five years in England, or at a change of tenancy. If you're not sure when yours was last done, check the date on the report — no report usually means it's overdue. We cover rentals across Doncaster, Sheffield and Barnsley.

An unsatisfactory report just means there are C1 or C2 observations to put right. We price the remedial work item by item, do the work, and provide written confirmation so the report is closed out. For rented properties in England the fixes are normally required within 28 days.

A few hours for a typical three-bed home, longer for bigger or older properties. The power goes off for parts of the test, so if the property is tenanted — common in Sheffield's student lets — we'll agree timing with the tenant first.

It's not a legal requirement, but buyers' solicitors increasingly ask about the electrics, and a satisfactory recent report answers the question before it's asked. It also removes anything a buyer's surveyor might otherwise use to chip the price.

Yes — and you're free to use anyone you like. If you'd rather have another electrician quote against our report, that's fine, and we'll happily quote from a report someone else wrote. Our remedial works page explains how that works.

Yes. A report is a report — we price from the observations regardless of who wrote them. Landlords and agents around Doncaster and Sheffield sometimes send us reports from testing firms that inspect but don't repair, and that's fine.

No. C3 means improvement recommended — the report is still satisfactory with C3s on it. They're worth pricing while we're quoting the C2s, because doing them in the same visit is cheaper than coming back later, but the choice is yours.

For rented properties in England, C1 and C2 work is normally required within 28 days of the report, so we plan around that. Tell us your deadline when you send the report — especially if an agent in Rotherham or Barnsley is chasing you for the paperwork.

Yes — written confirmation of the work carried out against each observation, which is what your agent or local authority wants to see. Where a new circuit is added, an Electrical Installation Certificate is issued on completion.

Yes — much of the lighting we install is customer-supplied. Buy what you love and we'll fit it. If a fitting isn't suitable for where you want it — a light without the right rating over a bath, say — we'll tell you before it goes up, not after.

A like-for-like swap doesn't. Where the job adds a new circuit — a garden lighting run, for example — an Electrical Installation Certificate is issued on completion.

Yes — that's fault finding, and it's often a dimmer and LED compatibility issue rather than anything sinister. We trace lighting faults across Doncaster, Bentley and Sheffield; see our fault finding page for how that works.

Yes — outdoor sockets and garden power usually make sense in the same visit as garden lighting. One trench, one job. Our sockets and extensions page covers power to sheds and garden offices.

Yes — that's the point of doing the electrics before the wall is finished. Power, HDMI, aerial and speaker cables all run inside the wall, and we leave a way to pull new cables through later, because TVs change more often than walls do.

It depends on the fire — some plug in, some need a dedicated supply. Tell us the model before the wall is built and we'll size the supply for it. Where a new circuit is added, an Electrical Installation Certificate is issued on completion.

Yes — if a joiner is building the frame, we coordinate first fix around them and come back for second fix once it's boarded. Plenty of media wall jobs around Doncaster and Rotherham run exactly that way.

The electrical side is typically a day or two spread across first and second fix, with the building and plastering happening in between. The full timeline depends on the design — a chat and a sketch gets you a real answer.

A trip is the system doing its job: it has disconnected something it didn't like. Repeated tripping means there's a real fault to find. Don't hold the switch on or bypass anything — get it traced. We cover faults across Doncaster, Bentley and the villages around them.

Tell us what's happening and we'll be honest about when we can get there — faults that leave you without power or look unsafe go to the top of the list. We're based in Doncaster, so that's usually where we can reach fastest.

Often, yes — many faults are traced and repaired in one visit. Intermittent faults, and repairs that need parts ordering, can take a second. Either way you'll know where things stand before we leave.

Yes — finding a fault and then leaving you a report to hand to someone else would be a strange way to run things. We fix what we find, with your go-ahead on the price first, whether you're in Sheffield or Rotherham.

Sometimes. Dropping a cable inside a stud wall can be nearly invisible; chasing a solid, freshly decorated wall can't be. We'll set out the tidy options — including surface-run alternatives — before you decide. Plenty of Doncaster's older terraces have solid walls, so it comes up a lot.

Usually, yes — a garden building doing real work wants its own circuit, run in armoured cable, rather than an extension lead out of the kitchen window. For a new circuit like that, an Electrical Installation Certificate is issued on completion.

Yes — appliance circuits, sockets, under-cabinet lighting, the lot. Kitchens are the most electrically dense room in the house, so it's worth planning socket positions before the units are ordered, whether you're in Barnsley or Bentley.

Very much so. If we're already rewiring, building a media wall or replacing your consumer unit, extra sockets cost far less than they would as a standalone visit. Tell us everything you'd like doing and we'll quote it together.

The one you choose — we've installed Ohme units and the Tesla Wall Connector, and we'll fit other makes too. If you haven't picked yet, tell us how you park and what tariff you're on and we'll talk through the options, whether you're in Doncaster or Barnsley.

Most home installs are done in a day, often less. Longer runs — a detached garage across a driveway in Bentley, say — can take more, and the quote will say so up front rather than on the day.

Sometimes. A charger is a significant new load, and older boards don't always have the space or the protection for it. We check as part of the quote, and if the board needs work we'll price it alongside — our consumer unit replacement page covers what that involves.

A charge point is a new dedicated circuit, so an Electrical Installation Certificate is issued on completion. Keep it with the charger's manual — useful when you sell the house, and if the charger's maker ever asks who installed it.

At least every five years in England, or at a change of tenancy. If the last report is missing, treat it as due. Send us the addresses and renewal dates and we'll work through them — we cover rentals across Doncaster, Sheffield and Barnsley.

Yes — tell us how you'd like it to work. We can contact tenants directly to arrange visits, or work through you or your agent. Either way, tenants get proper notice and we keep the appointment we make.

In England, a rented home needs a smoke alarm on every storey used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance — boilers count, gas cookers don't. We supply, fit and test alarms during other visits or as a standalone job.

Yes — including the student lets around Sheffield. Councils tend to ask HMO licence holders for electrical paperwork routinely, so a complete, current file matters even more there.

Yes — the remedial quote arrives with the report, itemised per observation, and for English rentals the C1 and C2 work is normally required within 28 days, so we plan the visits around that deadline.

For a lawnmower on a dry afternoon, unplugged afterwards, that's what they're for. As a permanent supply, no — an indoor extension lead run out through a window is one of the more common causes of serious outdoor electric shock, and it won't carry a heater or a workshop. If the shed needs power all the time, it needs a proper circuit.

Deep enough to be out of reach of normal gardening, protected by armoured cable, and marked with warning tape above it so the next person with a spade knows it's there. The exact depth depends on the ground and what's above it — a lawn is different to a driveway, and we'll tell you what your route needs.

For anything more than a single light, yes. A small board out in the building lets you isolate and protect the circuits locally, so a fault in the garden trips out there rather than killing the house. It's a small part of the overall cost and it's the difference between a proper installation and an extension lead in disguise.

Almost certainly. Rain-only tripping is water getting into an accessory, a joint or a damaged cable, and it's one of the more satisfying faults to trace because the weather tells you where to look. Our fault-finding page explains how we go about it.

Yes, and it's usually the sensible way round — one trench, one visit. Garden and outdoor lighting is covered in more detail on our lighting page.