Pricing in this industry is deliberately murky in places, so here is how it actually works and what to watch for.
The two pricing models
Per item. A headline rate per appliance, often with a minimum call-out. Attractive-looking rates like “from 80p per item” usually apply only above a few hundred items, and the minimum charge does the real work on a small job.
Fixed package. A single price covering up to a set number of appliances. You know the cost before anyone arrives, and there is no incentive to inflate the item count.
We publish fixed packages because the second model removes the argument. Our packages run from £75 for up to 30 appliances to £450 for up to 300.
What genuinely affects the price
- Appliance count. The main driver, and the one to estimate honestly — see below.
- Site layout. Three hundred items on one floor is faster than three hundred spread over six flats.
- Access and timing. Out-of-hours work costs more because it has to.
- Condition of the estate. A first test on old equipment turns up more failures and takes longer.
- Travel. Distance from the engineer’s base.
People almost always undercount
Ask a business how many appliances they have and they will picture the obvious ones. The count that matters includes every extension lead, every IEC kettle lead behind a monitor, every phone charger left plugged in permanently, and the microwave nobody thinks of as equipment. It is routinely double the first guess.
If you are between two package sizes, take the larger one. Being under-booked on the day is the one thing that costs everyone time.
What should be included
A quote is not comparable unless you know it covers:
- Visual inspection as well as electrical testing
- A label on every item, pass or fail
- A digital certificate
- A full asset register, not just a pass count
- Minor remedial work such as a fuse change or plug re-termination
- A written recommendation for each failure
Cheap quotes tend to be cheap because the asset register is missing, or because “remedials extra” turns into a second invoice.
Cost against risk
A package for a small office costs less than a day’s lost trading. An electrical fire, an injured employee, or a claim rejected for want of maintenance records costs orders of magnitude more. This is not an argument for over-testing — it is an argument for testing on a defensible interval and keeping the record.
Tell us your appliance count and we will give you a fixed price, or tell you honestly that you need less than you thought.