Domestic Electrician in Kent

What “domestic electrical work” actually covers

Most of the work CJA Electrical does, day-to-day, is the small-to-medium jobs that come up in a normal Kent home: extra sockets, lighting, replacing tired consumer units, fault-finding, and the kind of small jobs that have been on the homeowner’s to-do list for months. Quoted up front, done tidily, test certificates issued where they’re needed.

This page is for the work that doesn’t fit neatly under EICR, emergency, alarms, or emergency lighting. If you’re not sure which category your job falls under, the easiest thing is to call or WhatsApp with what you’re trying to do and we’ll tell you straight.

Adding sockets and circuit extensions

Adding a socket sounds like a five-minute job, and sometimes it is. Often it isn’t, because the existing circuit needs to be checked first:

• Is the circuit already at the limit of what its design current allows?
• Is the circuit’s earthing arrangement up to current standards?
• Does the new socket location require RCD-protected wiring under current regulations?
• Is the cable route accessible without significant making-good?

We do the checks before quoting, so you know whether it’s a £-not-many job or a £-not-as-cheap-as-you-thought job. Common asks:

• Extra kitchen sockets — usually involves a spur off the existing ring main, or a new dedicated circuit if the kitchen’s heavily loaded
• Bedroom sockets — usually straightforward in modern stock, more involved in older properties where the bedroom circuit is shared with downstairs
• Outdoor sockets — IP-rated socket plus RCD protection plus weatherproof routing. Common ask in Kent for outdoor lighting, garden tools, or hot tubs
• Workshop or garage sockets — usually a new dedicated circuit from the consumer unit, especially if you’re running heavier tools

Lighting design and installation

Lighting is where domestic electrical work meets interior design. The work splits roughly into:

Replacing existing fittings — straightforward swap, like-for-like, often combined with a switch upgrade to dimmer or smart control. Quick.

Adding new lighting — recessed downlights, pendants on existing circuits, undercabinet kitchen lighting, garden and outdoor lighting. Most needs new wiring routes and a fresh circuit count assessment.

Lighting design from scratch — usually as part of a renovation. We’ll work with whatever spec your designer or kitchen supplier has produced, or recommend a layout based on the room’s geometry and how you actually use it. LED throughout, dimming compatible where you want it, and zoned switching where it makes sense.

Period property lighting — common in Kent’s Victorian and Edwardian housing stock. Pendant fittings, original-style switches, and surface-mounted conduit where the building fabric won’t take chasing. Often the most rewarding work.

Consumer unit and fuse board replacement

The consumer unit (fuse board) is the heart of a property’s electrics, and the most common single piece of work we do outside of EICRs. Reasons people swap them:

• Failed an EICR — old wired-fuse or split-load consumer unit without RCD protection on every circuit. C2 observation.
• Repeated nuisance tripping that points to an aged RCD rather than a circuit fault
• Adding a major new circuit (EV supply, heat pump, electric shower, kitchen extension) that the existing board can’t accommodate
• Visible damage — burn marks, corroded busbars, water damage from a leak
• Future-proofing — the current standard is RCBO-per-circuit consumer units with surge protection. Modern boards make fault-finding easier when something goes wrong, because a fault on one circuit doesn’t trip the whole house.

A typical domestic consumer unit replacement is a single visit. Power is off for most of the day, but we’ll work around fridge-freezers and any specific circuits you need restored ahead of the rest. Test certificate (Electrical Installation Certificate) issued at the end documenting the new install.

Outbuildings, garden rooms, and outdoor electrics

Garden rooms, sheds with workshop ambitions, and home-office cabins are a steady chunk of domestic work in Kent. The electrical side typically includes:

• A submain cable from the house consumer unit to the outbuilding, sized for the outbuilding’s load and run length
• A small consumer unit in the outbuilding with RCD protection
• Sockets, lighting, and any specific circuits (heating, kettle, EV charger pre-wire if relevant)
• Earthing arrangements appropriate to the supply type and the outbuilding’s construction

Outbuilding electrics need to comply with the same wiring regulations as the main house. Done properly with armoured cable run at the right depth or fixed appropriately above ground, the install is durable for decades. Done as a quick lash-up, it’ll fail an EICR within a couple of years. We do the proper version.

Smaller jobs

A list of typical small jobs we’ll quote for:

• Replacing a faulty socket or switch
• Investigating intermittent lighting problems
• Fitting a bathroom extractor fan with humidity sensor and timer
• Adding a bell push or doorbell circuit
• Wiring an outdoor security light or PIR
• Replacing immersion heater elements (where it’s wiring-related)
• Adding a fused spur for a hard-wired appliance
• Tidying up surface-mounted wiring after a renovation

The honest answer on small jobs: we do them, but with a minimum visit charge built in to cover the travel time. For small properties, batching several small jobs into one visit makes more sense than five separate callouts.

Work that needs notification or certification

Some domestic electrical work is notifiable — meaning the work has to be registered with building control. The list of notifiable work changed in 2013 and is narrower than people often assume. As a general rule, the things that still are notifiable in England:

• New circuits
• Consumer unit replacements
• Work in special locations (bathrooms, in some cases kitchens with specific circumstances)
• Work outside the property (garden, outbuildings)

Notifiable work gets a certificate that goes to the homeowner and (where applicable) to building control. Non-notifiable work (replacing a like-for-like socket, switch, or fitting) doesn’t need notification, but we still issue a minor works certificate for the homeowner’s records.

If you’re selling the property in the next few years, a folder of test certificates from the last decade of work is the easiest way to satisfy any survey or buyer-side legal queries.

Coverage across Kent

Domestic electrical work across Medway, Maidstone, Gravesham, Swale, and Canterbury — full list on the where we work section. Most jobs in the Medway towns are reached from the Rochester base in under twenty minutes. Further-out work in Canterbury and the east Kent towns we batch into half-day or full-day visits where the diary allows.