Quick answer The same two-bed flat can be quoted £65 or £400 for an EICR, and both can be legitimate. The difference is almost never the qualification of the electrician. It's how long they spend on site, what percentage of circuits they actually test, and how they make their money afterwards. A thorough EICR on a small flat takes roughly 1.5 to 3 hours. Some firms run ten or more jobs a day. When the inspection fee barely covers the visit, the margin has to come from the remedial work. So the question worth asking isn't "why is this cheap". It's "what happens after the inspection".
You ring three electricians about the same flat in Hackney. One says £65. One says £150. One says he'd need to see it first but it'll probably be around £400.
Same flat. Same legal requirement. Same document at the end.
That's confusing, and it's the single most common thing landlords ask us about pricing. So here's the honest breakdown of what actually drives the number, written by a company that sits at the cheap end of that range and has no interest in pretending cheap is automatically bad.
What actually changes an EICR price?
Six things. In rough order of how much they move the number.
| Factor | Effect on price | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Time on site | Biggest single driver | A proper inspection of a one-bed takes 1.5 to 3 hours. Some quotes assume 45 minutes. |
| Number of circuits | £10 to £25 per circuit | Each circuit is tested individually. A studio might have 4. A five-bed house might have 14. |
| Sampling percentage | Large, and usually hidden | Testing 100% of accessories costs far more than testing 10%. Both are legal. The report has to declare which. |
| Business model | Large | A firm doing eight jobs a day in three boroughs has a completely different cost base from a sole trader crossing London for two. |
| Location and access | £0 to £30 | Congestion charge, ULEZ, parking. Some absorb it, some add it. |
| Whether remedial work is the real product | Can make the inspection almost free | A £65 inspection is a loss leader if a £1,500 remedial quote follows it. |
What you get at each price point in London
These bands come from published London prices we checked in August 2026 plus what the work realistically costs to deliver. Treat them as a sanity check, not a rule.
| Price band | Realistic time on site | What it usually means | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| £65 to £80 | 1.5 to 2.5 hours | High-volume operator with tight route density. Perfectly legitimate model. This is where most London specialists sit. | Confirm the price includes VAT and there's no parking or older-property surcharge. Ask about remedial obligations. |
| £90 to £150 | 2 to 3 hours | Independent electrician or smaller firm covering wider ground. Often more circuits, or a house rather than a flat. | Fine. Just check what's included and whether it's per circuit or per property. |
| £150 to £250 | 3 to 4 hours | Larger property, higher sampling percentage, or commercial-grade reporting. | Ask what you're getting for the extra. If the answer is "we're more thorough", ask for the sampling percentage in writing. |
| £250 to £500+ | 4 hours to a full day | Large HMO, commercial unit, or 100% sampling with full circuit schedules and remedial scoping built in. | Legitimate for the right property. Overpriced for a two-bed flat. |
The sampling percentage nobody tells you about
This is the part of an EICR most landlords never look at, and it explains more price variation than anything else.
Every EICR contains a limitations section. It declares what the inspector actually examined and what they didn't. An inspector might test 100% of circuits but only visually inspect 10% of the accessories (sockets, switches, light fittings). Another might do 25%. Both produce a valid report.
But they are not the same product, and they don't cost the same to produce.
So when you're comparing two quotes, the useful question is: what percentage of accessories will be inspected, and will that be stated in the report? An electrician who can't answer that quickly is telling you something.
Where to find it on your report Look for a section titled Extent and Limitations of Inspection and Testing. It's usually on page 1 or 2, under the details of the installation. It should name the percentage sampled and any parts of the property that couldn't be accessed. If it's blank, or says "as agreed" with nothing agreed in writing, that's worth querying before you pay.
Is a cheap EICR actually a problem?
Not inherently. And we'd say that even if we weren't at that end of the market, because the economics are genuinely different at volume.
Think about it from the electrician's side. A firm with eight jobs booked inside three boroughs has almost no travel cost per job, one admin process, and a predictable day. A sole trader driving from Croydon to Enfield for one inspection has to price in two hours of London traffic. Neither is cutting corners. They just have different overheads.
But there is a real risk with very low pricing, and it's worth naming.
Industry commentators have pointed out that when the inspection fee barely covers the visit, the incentive shifts to the remedial work. That's where the margin is. And remedial work is the part of the process where a landlord has the least ability to judge whether the recommendation is genuine.
So the price isn't the risk. The remedial pipeline is.
How to protect yourself, whatever you pay
- Ask whether you're obliged to use them for remedial work. The right answer is no. If the answer is anything else, get a second quote before agreeing to anything.
- Ask for the reason behind each C1 and C2, in writing. "The wiring is old" is not a reason. Age alone doesn't make an installation unsafe, and it doesn't automatically justify a C2.
- Ask how long the engineer will be on site before they arrive. Then notice whether they were.
- Read the limitations section before you pay. That's where the sampling percentage lives.
- Check the inspector's competent-person scheme number on the NICEIC or NAPIT member finder. Note that scheme membership isn't legally mandatory for EICRs, but it's the easiest way to verify competence.
- If a remedial quote feels heavy, get a second opinion on the report, not just the price. A different electrician can tell you whether the codes themselves are justified.
What a £67.99 EICR buys with us, specifically
We'd rather show you than claim it. Our domestic EICR starts at £67.99 for a studio and rises with bedrooms and circuit count. That price includes:
- A full inspection and test of the fixed installation by a qualified inspector
- The certificate emailed within 24 hours of inspection
- No call-out fee, no parking recharge, no congestion or ULEZ surcharge, no older-property loading
- No obligation whatsoever to use us for any remedial work identified
The reason it works at that price is route density. We cover all 33 London boroughs and cluster jobs geographically. That's the whole trick. There isn't a clever bit.
Where we'd tell you to look elsewhere: if you've got a large HMO with 14 circuits and a communal supply, a £67.99 headline isn't your price and we'd quote accordingly.
Sources
- Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, reg 3 and reg 11 (5-year interval; £40,000 penalty cap)
- SI 2025/1043 (raised the cap to £40,000, in force 1 November 2025 for private landlords)
- London provider pricing surveyed 7 August 2026 across 19 companies. See our full provider price comparison.
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About the author
My Landlord Certificate Compliance Team
This guide was written and fact-checked by the My Landlord Certificate compliance team and reviewed against current UK legislation by our NICEIC-approved, NAPIT-registered, Gas Safe registered, accredited DEA and NEBOSH-qualified engineers. We help landlords across all 33 London boroughs stay compliant with fixed-price EICR, Gas Safety (CP12), EPC, Fire Risk Assessment and PAT testing.