Knob and Tube Fun in our First Duplex

[Tim McKinnon]

Hi Everyone,
My wife and I recently bought a duplex and during the buying process we specifically asked a number of times about knob and tube in the house and were promised that there was none active in the house.  We went back and forth on this numerous times because we knew it would be hard to get it insured with active K&T, and we were told repeatedly that there was none active. You probably know where this is going. 

So we had an electrician stop by and it looks like they updated the easy stuff – some outlets and switches but didn't update a lot of the more tedious areas, and we have a pretty big rewire job coming.  We got a quote of 20k for the work and are in the process of getting more, but this number seems a little high to us. I am just wondering if anyone has had any experience with getting their home partially rewired, and wouldn’t mind giving a ballpark of what it cost them?  We're located in SE Wisconsin and the house is a up/down duplex about 2900 sq ft.  

Thank you for any help!
Tim

[Marcus Auerbach]

@Tim McKinnon - $20,000 to rewire a duplex is far from a competitive quote. I can't tell you how much it should be, as this depends on so many things: How many curcuits do you have in each service panel? How many outlet's and will you add some? Number of regular and 3-way switches? You will probably add a few breakers as you'll bring it up to code and need seperate breakers for microwave, dishwasher, AC if you have of course etc. Are you replacing the meter sockets outside? I assume you won't need a service mast? For a ballpark number think $200 per sqft plus breaker panels, which puts you at about half of what your current estimate is. Is the property located in the Milwaukee area? PM me for an electrician.

I assume you bought the property off market? So probably no condition report... Did the seller not allow a home inspection? I am looking for an angle to get back to the seller. They must have known what they are selling you. Do you have any emails where they represent the condition of the electrical system?

For future reference - when you buy a FSBO (for sale by owner), that does not mean you should not have an agent involved, particulary one who understands a little about these things. Most FSBO's are happy to pay the commission of a buyer's agent to make sure the transaction is completed by the book. I am working on two right now. FSBO's have a very high legal exposure, you are just dealing with the perfect example. Most people think that the job of an agent is finding a deal; that's a big misconception, und unfortunatly proofen true for many agents, who are merly the provider of the lock box number. The job really is to mitigate risk for the client, make sure all stones have been turned over and there is no proverbial "fuel tank burried in the back yard"..