How Long Does an EICR Take? London 2026 Timing Guide

For a 1–2 bedroom London flat with a single consumer unit and 6–8 circuits, plan for 90 minutes to 2 hours on site. That assumes the engineer can access every accessory (sockets, switches, fused spurs, the boiler isolator) without moving furniture and without locked-off cupboards.

A 3–4 bedroom house with a 10–12 way consumer unit typically runs 2.5 to 3.5 hours. Add 30 minutes if there is a garage circuit, garden socket, outbuilding feed or shed sub-board to inspect.

5 bedroom and larger properties — particularly Victorian conversions with a mix of original wiring and later additions — run 3.5 to 5 hours. Properties with two consumer units (common where an annex or loft conversion has its own board) add roughly 45 minutes to the second board.

Flats with a landlord-owned communal fuse board feeding the unit add a brief landlord-supply check at the intake — usually 15 minutes if the cupboard is accessible.

Access is the single biggest factor. Boards behind built-in wardrobes, sockets behind sofas, and consumer units tucked into airing cupboards stacked with linen all eat real time. Tenants moving items mid-test stretches a 2 hour visit to 3.

Board age matters more than board size. A modern dual-RCD or all-RCBO board can be fully tested in 60–80 minutes. A 1980s rewireable Wylex board with mixed cabling and questionable terminations slows the engineer to a careful crawl — and triggers more code investigations.

Sample versus 100% testing changes timing dramatically. A first EICR on a property is typically 100% — every circuit, every accessory tested as far as practical. Periodic re-tests (years 5, 10, 15) can move to a sample of accessories per circuit, which trims about 25% off the visit.

Pre-1981 wiring (lead-sheathed, rubber-insulated, or old VIR cable) requires extra insulation-resistance care and more conservative coding. Add 30–45 minutes if any of that turns up.

The engineer arrives, verifies the address and scope, and walks the property to identify circuits and access points. This is the right moment to flag concerns — that occasional flicker, the socket that gets warm, the bathroom fan that keeps tripping.

Power-off is required for dead testing — insulation resistance, polarity, earth continuity. A typical London EICR includes 30–60 minutes of total power-off, broken into stages so freezers and routers are not down for the whole visit. Fridges and freezers stay closed during the dead-test window and recover without issue.

Live testing follows — earth fault loop impedance and RCD trip-time measurements. The engineer then completes the visual section: accessories, joints, glands, bonding, signage, fire-stopping where visible.

A close-out walk-through happens before the engineer leaves. Any C1 danger is made safe on the spot. C2 items are explained, photographed, and a fixed-fee remedial quote is left with the property contact.

A reputable London contractor delivers the signed digital certificate the same day as the visit. The engineer completes the schedules and observations from the van using NICEIC certification software, the office QA-checks against the test results, and the PDF lands in your inbox before close of business.

What is NOT same-day: hard-copy posted originals (3–5 working days), remedial work invoices (typically next business day), and any further-investigation (FI) follow-ups that need a return visit.

If you have not received the certificate by the next morning, chase. The legal protection only attaches once you hold the document — and for sale or mortgage timelines, every day matters.

An HMO EICR covers every bedroom, every shared kitchen and bathroom, the landlord supply, and the communal lighting. For a 5-bed shared house with one kitchen and one bathroom, plan 4 to 5 hours on site. Larger HMOs with multiple kitchens and ensuites run 5 to 7 hours.

Booking matters. Tenants must be informed at least 24 hours in advance under most council selective licensing conditions, and access to every let room is mandatory. A single locked door usually means a return visit — which doubles the practical turnaround and is the most common reason an HMO EICR slips past the council deadline.

For licensed HMOs the certificate must be submitted to the council within the licence-condition window — typically 5 working days from the test date. Same-day turnaround leaves comfortable margin.

A small office (one consumer unit, 12–15 circuits, single floor) is typically 3 to 4 hours. Power-off scheduling is the harder constraint — most clients want testing outside business hours, which adds an out-of-hours surcharge but keeps the operation running.

Retail units run 3 to 5 hours and benefit from being tested before opening. Restaurants and food premises take longer (4 to 6 hours) because of the higher circuit count for kitchen equipment, extract fans, and walk-in cold rooms — all of which need to be powered down and back up correctly.

Multi-board commercial sites (factories, warehouses, multi-tenant offices) are quoted after a short pre-visit survey. Expect a full day per distribution board for first inspection, dropping to half-day for routine re-tests.

Three-phase distribution boards add roughly 45 minutes per board to the test schedule because of the extra phases to verify, plus selectivity checks between upstream and downstream protective devices. Most central London commercial sites have at least one three-phase board, so factor it in to the booking window.

Clear access to the consumer unit before the engineer arrives. Move stored boxes, linen, or anything else out of the way. A 30-minute decluttering at the start of the visit is 30 minutes you pay for in engineer time.

Tell the engineer about every electrical accessory in the property at the walk-through stage. Outdoor sockets, shed feeds, integrated lighting in fitted wardrobes, USB sockets in kitchen islands — anything missed at this stage may force a return visit and a second certificate fee.

For occupied rentals, give tenants 48 hours notice in writing and ideally book a slot when someone over 18 will be at home. Power will be off for periods totalling 30–60 minutes; brief the tenant on what is normal so they do not panic when the freezer beeps.

If you are stacking the EICR with a CP12 gas safety inspection, EPC, or PAT testing, book all three on the same visit. A bundled compliance visit for a 2-bed London flat runs about 4 hours total but produces three certificates in one trip — a meaningful saving for landlords with portfolio properties.

If the visit is running materially over the estimated window, the engineer is finding things. That is not in itself a bad sign — it is the inspector doing the job properly. Ask at the 90-minute and 3-hour marks for an interim summary of what has come up. Most contractors expect the conversation and will brief you in plain English.

Where the inspection identifies issues that require deeper investigation than the on-day visit allows, the engineer will record them as Further Investigation (FI). FI is not the same as a fail — it means the inspector could not fully verify a circuit and a return visit with extra time or different equipment is needed. Plan for a £45–£90 return-visit fee if the FI is substantive.

A common source of overrun in older London property: lifting boards or floor coverings to access junction boxes that have been buried during refurbishment. The engineer will not lift permanent finishes without your authority, but they will document inaccessible items as observations on the report.

If the engineer wants to come back another day to finish, that is a sign of careful work, not incompetence. The certificate cannot be issued as satisfactory until every circuit has been properly tested — partial visits with assumed coverage are the hallmark of the £49 cheap-EICR market.