How Much Does It Cost to Rewire a House? (2026)

How Much Does It Cost to Rewire a House?

As of 2026, rewiring a house typically costs $8,000 to $20,000, with a mid-size home averaging $12,000 to $18,000. Figure roughly $4 to $9 per square foot. Small partial jobs cost less. Large homes, finished walls, or old knob-and-tube and aluminum wiring can push a full rewire past $30,000.

The range is wide because no two houses are wired the same way. A rewire replaces the branch circuits that feed your outlets, switches, and lights, runs them back to the panel, and brings the system up to current code.

Three things decide your final number: how many circuits you need, how hard the wiring is to reach, and what has to be torn out and patched afterward.

Below is the line-by-line cost, the signs a home actually needs it, and how permits work here. For a look at a full local wiring and rewiring project, the service page walks through the process.

What Does a Whole-Home Rewire Cost in 2026?

Costs split into labor, materials, and the extras only some homes need. Copper is the biggest material line, and copper prices climbed for five straight quarters through late 2025, up roughly 9 percent year over year, which is part of why 2026 quotes run higher than a few years ago.

Here is what the pieces run in the San Angelo area:

• Whole-home rewire, labor and materials: $8,000 to $20,000 and up
• Per square foot: $4 to $9
• Per outlet or switch replaced: $100 to $185
• Per room: $800 to $2,500
• Kitchen rewired to full code, 5 to 8 circuits: $4,000 to $9,000
• Service panel upgrade, if needed: $1,500 to $4,000
• Whole-home knob-and-tube removal: $12,000 to $35,000
• Aluminum wiring correction by pigtailing: $2,500 to $8,000
• Drywall patching after fishing wire: $1.50 to $3 per square foot
• Permit and inspection: set by the City of San Angelo

A few of those surprise people. The kitchen is the single most expensive room because code calls for multiple 20-amp small-appliance circuits, dedicated circuits for the range, dishwasher, and disposal, plus GFCI and AFCI protection.

Knob-and-tube removal costs more than a standard rewire because electricians have to open more wall and attic space to reach and retire it safely. And licensed labor runs $75 to $150 an hour in 2026, so hours on site are the real driver of your total.

What Drives the Price Up or Down?

Square footage moves the number more than anything else. More space means more outlets, switches, lights, and circuits, and every circuit has to be run back to the panel.

Wall access comes next. Open framing during a remodel is the cheapest time to rewire. Finished walls with good attic or crawlspace access are moderate. A single-story home on a slab with no attic is the hardest, because wire has to be fished through finished surfaces that then need patching.

A panel upgrade adds cost when the old service cannot carry the new circuits, usually $1,500 to $4,000 for a 200-amp service. Old knob-and-tube or aluminum wiring adds labor for careful removal or correction.

Then there is drywall. If walls are opened, budget for patching, texture, and paint on top of the wiring, often 15 to 25 percent of the electrical cost.

Does a Rewire Include a Panel Upgrade?

Often, yes. Homes old enough to need rewiring frequently still run on 60-amp or 100-amp service and a panel that is undersized, obsolete, or already full. A rewire adds circuits, and those circuits need breaker spaces and capacity the old panel does not have.

That is why electricians commonly fold a service panel upgrade into the same project. Doing both at once saves a second round of permits and labor.

Make sure the panel work shows up as its own line on the estimate instead of hiding in a lump sum. To understand that piece before you compare bids, see the breakdown of what it costs to replace an electrical panel. A panel that keeps tripping breakers under normal use is a clear sign the service is outgrown.

How Do You Know If Your House Needs Rewiring?

Watch for the warning signs electricians see most. Any one is worth a look. Several together usually means a rewire is due.

• Breakers that trip repeatedly on the same circuit under everyday use, a sign the wiring cannot handle the load.
• Lights that flicker or dim when an appliance kicks on, which can point to loose or overloaded wiring. The guide to why your lights flicker covers when it is minor and when it is not.
• Two-prong ungrounded outlets throughout the house, a marker of pre-1960s wiring with no ground path.
• Warm or discolored outlets and switches, or scorch marks, which mean heat is building where it should not.
• A burning or fishy smell near the panel, an outlet, or a switch, which signals overheating insulation.
• Knob-and-tube, cloth-insulated, or aluminum wiring, all of which predate modern safety standards.

Faulty and aging wiring is a leading cause of house fires. The Electrical Safety Foundation International ties an estimated 51,000 home electrical fires a year to electrical failures, causing roughly 500 deaths and $1.3 billion in property damage.

A burning smell or a warm panel is not a wait-and-see problem. Cut power to that circuit and reach an emergency electrician in San Angelo rather than sleeping on it.

To get connected with a local electrician in San Angelo for an inspection or a rewire quote, call (877) 473-1995.

What Kind of Wiring Is in Older San Angelo Homes?

Older homes usually contain one of three outdated systems, and the type you have affects both cost and urgency.

Knob-and-tube was standard from the 1880s into the 1940s. It has no ground wire, and its cloth-and-rubber insulation grows brittle with age. It is the wiring most often flagged by insurers and home inspectors.

Cloth-insulated wiring from the mid-century era shares that weakness: insulation that dries out, cracks, and exposes bare conductor over decades of heat cycling.

Aluminum wiring ran through homes built from roughly 1965 to 1973. Aluminum expands and contracts more than copper, so connections loosen, overheat, and can arc. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has estimated that homes with aluminum branch wiring are far more likely to develop fire-hazard conditions at connections than copper-wired homes.

San Angelo has plenty of homes from every one of these eras. If your house predates the mid-1970s and has never been rewired, have the system evaluated before a problem forces the decision. These issues often show up first as smaller symptoms, which is where routine electrical repair and troubleshooting can catch a failing circuit before it becomes a full rewire.

Do You Need a Permit to Rewire a House in San Angelo?

Yes. Inside the city limits, an electrical permit is required for all electrical work, and replacing or extending branch-circuit and feeder conductors is exactly what triggers it.

The rewire has to pass a City of San Angelo inspection. Where the service changes, that passing inspection is required before power is released back through AEP Texas.

Texas law also controls who does the work. A rewire must be performed by a contractor licensed through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Fees and submittal rules change, so confirm the current requirements with the city before work begins.

This is not a DIY job. A rewire touches every circuit in the house and the service equipment itself, where a hidden mistake can smolder for years before it fails.

How Long Does a Whole-House Rewire Take?

Plan on 3 to 10 working days for a typical whole-home rewire. A home under 1,500 square feet with decent attic or crawlspace access and a modern panel can finish in about 5 to 7 days.

A larger multi-story home with finished ceilings, tight access, or knob-and-tube to remove can stretch to 10 to 15 days or more. Homes older than 40 years generally land at the longer end because there is more to open, remove, and patch.

Timing also depends on whether you stay in the house, how fast inspections get scheduled, and whether the panel upgrade happens on the same visit. Living there during the work is possible, but expect short, planned outages room by room as circuits are moved over.

Getting an Honest Rewiring Quote in San Angelo

Compare at least two itemized quotes and be wary of any bid that comes back as a single lump sum. A complete estimate breaks out the circuit count, the outlet and switch count, any panel upgrade, permit fees, and drywall repair, so you can see exactly what you are paying for.

If two quotes land thousands of dollars apart, the gap is almost always in wall access, the panel, or old wiring removal, not padding.

Call (877) 473-1995 and we will connect you with a licensed local electrician in San Angelo who can inspect your wiring, your panel, and your walls, and turn these ranges into a real number for your home. No pressure and no obligation.