An EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) on a typical domestic property takes between one and a half and five hours on site, depending mainly on the number of circuits and the age of the installation, plus a further half hour to an hour to complete the report. A one-bedroom flat with six circuits is usually done in around two hours; a three-bedroom house with ten circuits in three to four hours; a large or older house in four to six. Commercial premises are estimated per distribution board. The time is driven by the tests BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 requires on every circuit, not by the size of the rooms, which is why circuit count is the number to ask for before quoting.
- Circuit count is the best single predictor. Allow roughly ten to twenty minutes of testing per circuit plus fixed time for the board, the supply and the write-up.
- Older boards, missing circuit charts, poor access and tenants at home are the factors that add hours.
- Sampling reduces inspection of accessories, not testing of circuits, so it only trims the total.
- The power will be off for most of the visit. Tell the occupier.
- Quote a range with the reasons for variation written down, and include the reporting time.
What does the inspector actually do in that time?
An EICR is a periodic inspection and test under Chapter 65 of BS 7671, and the time goes on a sequence that cannot be compressed much. The step-by-step EICR guide covers the method; the outline below is what the time is made of.
| Stage | What happens | Typical time (domestic) |
|---|---|---|
| Arrival and agreement of extent | Confirm what is being inspected, agree limitations, locate the board, meter and earthing | 10 to 20 minutes |
| Supply and earthing checks | Earthing arrangement (TN-S, TN-C-S, TT), Ze, prospective fault current, main bonding, tails, main switch | 15 to 30 minutes |
| Consumer unit inspection | Cover off, condition of devices and terminations, circuit identification, RCD arrangement, signs of heat | 20 to 40 minutes |
| Dead tests per circuit | Isolate, continuity of cpc (and ring conductors), insulation resistance, polarity | 8 to 15 minutes per circuit |
| Live tests per circuit | Zs at the furthest point, RCD trip times, functional checks | 3 to 6 minutes per circuit |
| Accessory inspection | Open a sample of sockets, switches and luminaires; check bathroom and outdoor equipment | 20 to 60 minutes |
| Reinstate and report | Re-energise, confirm everything works, complete the schedules and observations | 30 to 60 minutes |
Add those up for a ten-circuit house and the middle of the range is about three and a half hours on site. The per-circuit figures are where the variation lives: a short lighting radial with three points is done in under ten minutes, a long ring with fourteen sockets and a spur under the sink is nearer twenty, and any circuit that produces an unexpected reading costs a further ten minutes of fault finding before it can be recorded.
What are typical EICR times by property type?
These are working ranges from typical domestic and light commercial work, not survey statistics. Each assumes a single inspector, a reasonably accessible installation and no major faults.
| Property | Typical circuits | On-site time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio or one-bed flat | 4 to 6 | 1.5 to 2 hours | Access to intake cupboard often the delay |
| Two-bed flat or small terrace | 6 to 8 | 2 to 3 hours | |
| Three-bed semi or terrace | 8 to 12 | 3 to 4 hours | The most common landlord job |
| Four or five-bed detached | 12 to 18 | 4 to 6 hours | May have two boards, outbuildings, EV charger |
| HMO, 5 to 6 lets | 12 to 20 plus landlord's supply | 5 to 8 hours | Room-by-room access; often two visits |
| Small shop or office, single board | 10 to 16 | 4 to 6 hours | Three-phase; out-of-hours work common |
| Commercial, multiple boards | 20 to 40 per board | Per board, 1 to 2 days per board | Sampling agreed in writing; often phased |
The commercial figures assume the inspection can be done with circuits off; where the client cannot accept isolation during working hours, an EICR on commercial premises is usually split across evenings or weekends and the total time increases because of set-up on each visit.
What slows an EICR down?
The drivers of a long inspection are predictable, and most can be spotted from a couple of questions on the phone.
- No circuit chart. If the board is unlabelled the inspector has to identify every circuit by switching off and walking the property, which on a ten-circuit house adds half an hour to an hour before testing starts. BS 7671 requires circuit identification at the board and its absence is itself an observation.
- Older boards. A rewireable fuse board or an early MCB board without RCDs means more time on the board inspection, more observations to write, and often difficult terminations to access. Any board without RCD protection to socket-outlets under Regulation 411.3.3 generates a C2 or C3 that has to be written up properly.
- Poor access. Furniture against sockets, a loft hatch behind a wardrobe, a locked meter cupboard with no key, or a tenant who cannot let the inspector into one bedroom. Each inaccessible point is either a delay or a recorded limitation, and limitations should not be used as a shortcut.
- Occupied property. Testing with a tenant working from home means negotiating when the power goes off, and re-energising for them between circuits adds time. An empty property is always faster.
- Defects. A single failed insulation resistance test can take twenty minutes to isolate to a particular accessory. A borrowed neutral between two lighting circuits can take longer. Every defect also becomes an observation with a code, location and recommendation.
- Additional installations. Outbuildings, a garage supply, EV charging points under Section 722, solar PV under Section 712 and electric gates each need their own circuit tests and often their own earth electrode tests on TT arrangements.
- Poor previous records. Where the last EICR is available, the inspector can compare readings and concentrate on change. Where nothing exists, everything is from scratch.
Does sampling make an EICR quicker?
Sampling means opening and inspecting a proportion of accessories rather than every one, and it is permitted by Guidance Note 3 where the installation is uniform, in good condition and the sample is agreed with the client and recorded on the report. It does not mean testing only some circuits. Every circuit is still isolated and tested, so the saving is in the accessory inspection stage only, perhaps half an hour on a larger house, and the sample must be increased if the initial sample turns up defects. The sampling and limitations guide sets out what can and cannot be sampled.
On a large commercial installation with hundreds of accessories the position is different: a 10 or 20 per cent sample of accessories, agreed in writing, is the normal way to keep a periodic inspection within a reasonable time and cost, again with full testing of circuits at the distribution boards. In either case, agreeing the extent before the visit is what allows an accurate quote.
What time does the report take after the visit?
The report is the deliverable. The schedule of test results needs a line per circuit with all readings, the schedule of inspections needs completing, each observation needs a code, a location and a regulation reference in the style of Electrical Safety First Best Practice Guide 4, and the overall assessment of Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory has to follow from the codes. Written up by hand at the end of the day from a notebook, this is commonly an hour, and errors creep in when readings are transcribed. Recorded as the tests are done, the reporting time is mostly the observations and a final check, and the report can be issued from the property.
For landlords the report matters more than the visit: under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 a copy must be given to the tenant within 28 days of the inspection, and remedial work on a C1 or C2 must be completed within 28 days, so a report that arrives a fortnight after the inspection has already used up half the window.
How should you quote time to landlords and agents?
Agents want a fixed price and a fixed slot. The way to give them one without losing money on the difficult properties is to price on circuits and condition, and to write the assumptions into the quote.
- Ask three questions: how many circuits or ways on the board (a photograph is ideal), when the board was last replaced, and whether a previous EICR exists.
- Quote a range tied to those answers, for example "8 to 12 circuits, modern board: three to four hours on site, report issued same day".
- State what changes the time: no circuit chart, a fuse board, a second board or outbuilding, EV charger or PV, occupied property with limited access, or more than a stated number of defects requiring investigation.
- Be clear the supply will be off for most of the visit so the agent can warn the tenant.
- Include the reporting time in the price rather than as an extra, but say it is included.
Where an installation turns out to be far worse than described, the honest options are to complete the inspection and charge for the additional time under the stated terms, or to stop, record the limitation and agree a return visit. What does not work is completing the report in the quoted time by skipping tests. The guide on pricing an EICR covers the money side; the point here is that the time and the price come from the same three questions.
How Certio helps
Certio produces the EICR, EIC, Minor Works certificate and PAT records on the BS 7671 model forms and turns them into branded PDFs. Photograph the consumer unit and the circuit schedule drafts itself; point the phone camera at a Megger MFT-X1 and the reading goes straight into the schedule of test results, or dictate it while your hands stay on the probes. Suggested observation wording with the regulation reference is there for you to check and confirm. The judgement stays yours; the typing goes. Starter is free for 7 days, then £5 a month.