Dorchester, Poundbury, Fordington and the villages round them
EICR Dorchester: electrical safety checks for old town houses, new streets and thatched cottages
Dorchester EICRs from £160
Dorchester has Georgian town houses, Victorian terraces, homes in Poundbury barely thirty years old and thatched cottages a few miles out. Each one wires up differently. We test every circuit, explain the result in plain words, and fix the price by circuit count before we set off.
Jump to: Prices · Getting to you · The town · Older buildings · Newer homes · Thatched cottages · What we test · Fuse boards · Letting · Selling · The codes · Questions
What an EICR costs in Dorchester
The price depends on the number of circuits your consumer unit feeds, and nothing else. A Fordington terrace and a Poundbury house pay the same when their boards carry the same count.
| Circuits | Common in Dorchester | Fixed price |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 6 | A town centre flat or a small cottage | £160 |
| 7 to 10 | A terrace, a semi or a two bedroom new build | £210 |
| 11 to 15 | A family house in Poundbury or Charlton Down | £265 |
| 16 or more | A large town house, a farmhouse or a shared let | £345 up to 16, then £20 a circuit after that |
Count the switches on the board, leaving out the main switch, or text us a photo. No VAT is added, and there is no charge for the drive.
From Poole to Dorchester
We should be straight with you. Pete is based in Poole, and Dorchester is about forty five minutes away along the A35, more when the road is busy. It is further than our usual run, and that is why we plan for it.
Where we can, we group Dorchester jobs onto the same day. If you are flexible on the date, tell us when you book, because that is what lets us fit you in sooner.
Dorchester's homes, part by part
Dorchester is a small county town, but its housing covers more than two hundred years. Roughly what we see in each part:
The town centre. Georgian and Victorian buildings along High West Street, High East Street and South Street, many now flats over shops or offices.
Fordington. The old parish on the east side, with cottages and terraces close to the river. Some have had one careful rewire, some have wiring from several decades side by side.
Poundbury. The urban extension on the west side, built in stages since the 1990s. The wiring is modern, but early homes are now well over twenty years old and many are let.
Brewery Square. Flats and town houses on the old brewery site near the station, with supplies arranged block by block.
The villages. Puddletown, West Stafford, Broadmayne and Martinstown, with older cottages, farmhouses and conversions.
Town centre houses and listed buildings
An old building with thick walls and high ceilings can hide a lot of history. Lighting cable from the 1960s still in the upper floors. A board moved twice. A shop below with its own supply that once fed the flat above as well.
An EICR does not damage any of it. We test from the board, the sockets, the switches and the light fittings, and we open only accessories that are made to be opened. Nothing is chased out, cut or lifted, which matters a great deal in a listed house.
Newer homes in Poundbury, Charlton Down and Crossways
A home built in the last thirty years usually tests well. Its circuits are protected by RCDs, the cables are modern, and the board is labelled. That makes the visit quicker, and the report often comes back satisfactory with no more than a C3 or two.
It still needs testing if you let it, because the five year rule applies to every rented home whatever its age. Common finds in newer houses are a garden socket or outside light added later without the right protection, a loose connection at a busy socket, and a split load board where one RCD covers too many circuits.
If you live in your own home, there is no legal duty to test, but a report every ten years is sensible. The home owners page explains why.
Thatched cottages in the villages round Dorchester
West Dorset has more thatch than most of the county, and the villages outside Dorchester have plenty of it. A thatched roof is not a problem for an EICR, but it does change where we look hardest.
- The roof space. Cables, junction boxes and light fittings close to dry thatch carry more risk than in a tiled roof, so we check their condition and position with care.
- Outbuildings. Barns, stables and workshops fed from the cottage supply are tested as part of the same installation.
- Earth rods. Rural homes often take their earth from a rod in the ground, and we measure it properly because every circuit depends on it.
What a Dorchester EICR includes
Every visit checks your fixed wiring against BS 7671, the national wiring standard:
- Inspect the consumer unit for its condition, its case and the right protection on each circuit.
- Measure insulation resistance, which shows whether cable insulation is breaking down.
- Take earth fault loop readings, so we know a fault would be cleared fast enough.
- Time each RCD with an instrument, not just press the button.
- Check main earthing and bonding to the incoming gas and water pipes.
- Open a sample of sockets, switches and fittings to see how they are connected inside.
There are limits to what an EICR can tell you:
- It does not test plug in appliances, which is portable appliance testing.
- It does not cover the boiler, the plumbing or the gas supply.
- It does not see cable buried in walls, although every circuit is tested electrically from end to end.
The full detail is on EICRs explained.
Fuse board replacement and consumer unit upgrades in Dorchester
Old boards are common in Dorchester's older streets: wooden backed fuse boxes, rewireable fuses, and boards with no RCD at all. If yours is one of them, a report will usually say so, and replacing it clears several codes at once.
A new RCBO board with surge protection is £625 for up to 7 ways, or £745 for up to 15 ways. If you want the whole installation tested at the same time, the bundle fits the new board and includes the full EICR for £675. For a home this far from Poole, doing both in one visit makes good sense.
Before the old board comes off we test every circuit, because a new board will trip on faults the old fuses ignored. Any problem is priced in writing first. The fuseboard changes page has the full detail, and our Bournemouth fuse board page walks through a board change step by step.
Letting a home in Dorchester
Private landlords in England need a satisfactory EICR at least every five years under the 2020 regulations. Your tenant must have a copy within 28 days of the test, and the council can ask for one at any time.
Dorchester lets range from flats over the town centre shops to houses in Poundbury and cottages in the villages. Agents with several homes in the town can send us a list, and we book them as a run on one day. Read how we work with agents on the landlords and letting agents page.
If the report comes back unsatisfactory, any C1 or C2 has to be fixed within 28 days, and you need written proof that it was done. If we do the work, the retest is included and we update the report for your file.
Buying or selling a house in Dorchester
Older Dorchester houses often draw questions about the wiring from a buyer's surveyor. A current EICR answers them with facts: what was tested, what was found and what each item would cost to put right.
Sellers can test before the survey and decide whether to fix or adjust the price. Buyers can ask to test before exchange, or book the first days after completion while the house is still empty. More on timing is on the buying and selling page.
Satisfactory, unsatisfactory and the four codes
The front page of the report says satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Inside, each thing we note gets one of four codes:
- C1 Danger present. Someone could be hurt now. We make it safe before we leave and tell you the permanent fix. The report is unsatisfactory.
- C2 Potentially dangerous. Not dangerous this minute, but it would become so if something else failed. The report stays unsatisfactory until it is put right.
- C3 Improvement recommended. Safe, but not to the current standard. A C3 never fails a report on its own.
- FI Further investigation. Something that needs more time to trace than the visit allows. The report is unsatisfactory until it is explained.
Every C1, C2 and FI comes with a written price. You choose who does the work. If a breaker keeps tripping between visits, a fault finding visit is the quicker route.
Dorchester EICR questions
What owners, landlords and buyers in and around Dorchester ask us most.
Do you really come out to Dorchester from Poole?
Yes. Dorchester is part of the area we cover, and the drive along the A35 takes about forty five minutes. We try to put Dorchester visits on the same day where we can, and the price is the same circuit table as everywhere else in Dorset.
Can you test a listed building without damaging it?
Yes. An EICR is done with test instruments at the board, the sockets and the fittings. We do not lift floors, chase walls or cut into plaster, so nothing about the fabric of the building changes.
My house in Poundbury is fairly new. Does it still need an EICR?
If you let it, yes, every five years whatever its age. If you live in it, nothing requires one, but a buyer may ask about the wiring when you sell. A newer installation usually tests quickly and cleanly.
Is wiring in a thatched roof a problem?
Not by itself. What matters is the condition of the cables and fittings in the roof space, and how close any light fitting or junction box sits to the thatch. We look at all of that and note anything that adds a fire risk.
Can you replace my fuse board while you are in Dorchester?
Yes. If the board needs changing, the bundle on this page fits a new consumer unit with surge protection and includes the full EICR in the same visit, so one trip covers both.
What does a consumer unit upgrade cost in Dorchester?
The board change starts at the price shown in the fuse board section of this page, with a higher fixed price for a board of up to fifteen ways. What moves it is the circuit count and the state of the earthing, and we confirm it in writing first.
Do you test flats at Brewery Square and in the town centre?
Yes. A flat is tested from its own board inside the front door. If the meter sits in a shared cupboard, we need access to it on the day to take readings at the supply, so check with the building manager first.
What happens if something dangerous is found?
We make a C1 danger safe before we leave, which can mean isolating one circuit. You get it in writing with a price for the permanent fix, and you are free to choose who does the repair.
Book a Dorchester EICR
Choose your circuit count, see the fixed price and send it to us. We reply with dates, and tell us if you can be flexible so we can group the trip.