Need an electrician in Whetstone or Totteridge? F & A Electrical covers the whole of N20 — the High Road from Tally Ho corner up to Whetstone Stray, Oakleigh Road North and South, Russell Lane and Athenaeum Road, Totteridge Lane and the Village, Totteridge Green and the Oakleigh Park streets — from our base in Tottenham N15, around half an hour across on the North Circular and up the A1000. Same-week appointments are standard and emergencies are usually same day. NICEIC registered, Part P, 9.32/10 from 242 reviews on Checkatrade, minimum charge £108 (£90 + VAT), every price labour-only. Call 07407 627542 or 07500 721453.
What we do in N20
N20 is really two different jobs sharing a postcode, and the work splits the same way. Whetstone, either side of the High Road and out along Oakleigh Road North and South, Russell Lane and Myddelton Park, is mostly 1930s semis and interwar terraces with a run of Victorian and Edwardian houses closer to the old village end. Nearly all of them were rewired once between the 1970s and the 1990s and most still sit behind the board that went in at the time — so consumer unit replacements and landlord EICRs are the everyday call. There is also a good amount of flat conversion around Totteridge & Whetstone station and along the High Road, which brings fault-finding on shared supplies, a separate board per flat and communal-area reports.
Totteridge is a different proposition. Along Totteridge Lane, the Village, Totteridge Common and the roads dropping towards Darlands Lake, the stock is large detached houses on big plots, plenty of them extended two or three times, with outbuildings, pool plant, gates, garden lighting and separate garage or annexe supplies. The circuit count on an EICR here is often double what the same-sized job would be in Whetstone, and there is usually a sub-main feeding something at the bottom of the garden that nobody has records for. Oakleigh Park, between the two and up towards the railway, adds larger Edwardian and 1930s houses, a fair few in multiple occupation.
The parades on the High Road — the shops around the station, the stretch up towards Whetstone Stray and the units near the Griffin — keep us in commercial EICRs, shop fit-outs and three-phase fault-finding. Borough-level pricing sits on the EICR Barnet page; this one is the N20 detail.
Whetstone and Totteridge prices — fixed, labour-only
| Job | Price |
|---|---|
| Minimum call-out / small jobs (sockets, switches, minor faults) | £108 (£90 + VAT) |
| Standard labour after the first hour | £90 + VAT per hour |
| EICR — flat or 2-bed (up to 8 circuits) | from £140 — see EICRs in Barnet |
| EICR — 3-bed 1930s semi, 9–12 circuits | from £180 |
| EICR — large detached, 13+ circuits or a sub-main | quoted after a circuit count |
| EICR — licensed HMO, 5+ bedrooms | from £300 — HMO EICRs |
| EICR remedial work (C1/C2 fixes) | from £108 — remedial cost guide |
| Consumer unit (fuse board) replacement, RCBO | from £550 — fuse boards in Barnet |
| Emergency call-out, same day | from £108 — emergency electrician Barnet |
| EV charger installation, 7 kW (driveway) | from £450 labour — EV chargers in Barnet |
| Commercial EICR — shop, salon or office | priced per circuit — commercial EICR cost |
| Smoke and heat alarms, mains-interlinked | from £108 first alarm — smoke alarm installation |
| PAT testing of supplied appliances | £5 per appliance, £108 minimum — PAT testing |
| Full rewire, 3-bed semi or terrace | fixed quote after survey — rewire cost guide |
All prices are labour-only: materials, fittings and the board itself are charged separately at trade cost, and you see them itemised on the quote before we start. There is no N20 premium and no extra for parking. Full London figures are on the EICR cost guide and the fuse board replacement page.
N20 wiring: what usually comes up
Four findings account for most of the reports we write in Whetstone and Totteridge.
A sound 1980s rewire behind a board that has aged out. This is the standard Whetstone semi. The PVC cable tests well, but it lands in a plastic-cased unit with rewireable fuses or a split-load board where a single RCD covers the whole house. That earns a C2 on the socket and bathroom circuits, and the fix is an RCBO consumer unit from £550 labour — not a rewire. We test first and quote after, so nobody is sold a rewire they do not need.
Undocumented sub-mains and garden buildings. Far more common on the Totteridge side than anywhere else we work. A cable runs from the house to a garage, annexe, studio, pool plant room or set of gates, and there is no record of its size, its route, its protective device or its earthing arrangement. Half the time it is a buried twin-and-earth with no SWA and no RCD at the supply end. Every one of those has to be traced and tested before a report can be signed off, which is why large N20 houses are quoted on a circuit count rather than a bedroom count.
Missing or undersized main bonding. In houses where the gas and water services were altered during a kitchen or bathroom refit — routine along Oakleigh Road and Russell Lane — the 10mm bonding to the incoming gas and water often never went back on, or is still the old 6mm. It is one of the cheapest C2s to clear and one of the most frequently coded.
Extension and loft conversion circuits added on the quiet. N20 has had a long run of rear extensions, loft conversions and side returns, and plenty were wired by whoever was on site rather than by a registered electrician. We find spurs off ring finals feeding whole new rooms, shower circuits on undersized cable and no Building Control notification anywhere. That has to be tested and certified before it will pass, and it is the most common single reason an N20 sale gets held up.
Totteridge conservation area and the big houses
Much of Totteridge sits inside a conservation area, taking in the Village, the Green, Totteridge Common and the open land running down to Darlands Lake and Brook Farm. That rarely changes the wiring itself, but it does change what goes on the outside of a building: external lighting, EV charge points on a front elevation, meter box relocations, gate and intercom posts, CCTV brackets and cable runs across a frontage can all need a word with Barnet’s planning team first. On the larger houses we plan routes around original plaster and joinery, lift and relay floorboards rather than cutting them, and chase carefully in lath-and-plaster ceilings. If the property is listed, say so at quote stage so we can work the routes out properly instead of on the day.
Landlords and HMOs in Whetstone
The flat conversions around the station and the larger Oakleigh Park houses let room by room mean steady landlord work in N20. Under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, every rented home in Barnet needs a satisfactory EICR at least every five years, with a copy to the tenant within 28 days and to the council within seven days if they ask for it. A house let to five or more people forming two or more households needs a mandatory HMO licence, and the licence conditions pull the alarm system and the communal areas into scope alongside the individual flats. We issue the report the same day as the visit and quote any remedial work separately, so you can decide what to do with it. The HMO EICR guide covers what licensing inspectors actually ask to see.
Shops and offices on the High Road
The N20 High Road parades are solid small commercial units — barbers, salons, cafés, takeaways, estate agents, dentists and clinics. Most need a commercial EICR every five years, or every three if the lease or the insurer says so, and a good number of the older units have a three-phase supply feeding a board extended piecemeal over twenty years. We price commercial reports per circuit rather than per property, test outside trading hours where that suits, and can do the PAT testing on the same visit. Detail is on the commercial EICR cost page.
Nearby areas we cover
N20 sits between several patches we already work in. Directly south, Finchley N3 and N12. To the east, Southgate N14 and Winchmore Hill N21. Further south-east, Muswell Hill N10. We also cover High Barnet and Underhill EN5, East Barnet and New Barnet EN4, Friern Barnet and New Southgate N11, Mill Hill NW7 and Brunswick Park on the same pricing — ring and ask. The full list is on our London service areas page.
Whetstone and Totteridge electrician — common questions
How quickly can you get to N20?
Emergencies in Whetstone and Totteridge are usually same day — we are about thirty minutes away via the A406 and the A1000 outside rush hour. Booked work such as an EICR, a board change or a set of downlights is normally within the same week, and you get a two-hour arrival window rather than a whole morning.
What does an EICR cost for a house in N20?
A three-bed Whetstone semi usually comes in at nine to twelve circuits, so from £180 labour-only. A converted flat with its own board is from £140. A large Totteridge house with extensions, outbuildings or a sub-main is quoted after a quick circuit count over the phone, because pricing that on bedrooms alone is how people end up with a surprise on the invoice. Either way the full report comes by email the same day, with every observation coded and explained in plain English. The EICR cost guide has the London table by property size.
My board is an old Wylex with fuse wire. Does it have to be replaced?
Not automatically, but in practice almost always. A rewireable board with no RCD protection on the socket or bathroom circuits will be coded C2, and once you have a C2 the report is unsatisfactory until it is cleared. An RCBO consumer unit from £550 labour clears it and gives you per-circuit protection, so a fault in the garden no longer kills the whole house. We test before quoting so you can see exactly what is driving the cost.
Can you sort out the wiring to a garage, annexe or garden office?
Yes, and it is one of the most common jobs we do on the Totteridge side. We trace what is already there, test it, and either certify it or price a proper SWA sub-main with its own protection and earthing. Our guide to what an EICR covers in the garage, shed or garden office explains where the responsibility sits and what typically fails.
Can you fit an EV charger in Whetstone or Totteridge?
Yes. Most N20 properties have off-street parking, which makes them straightforward — from £450 labour for a 7 kW unit, plus the charger itself. We handle the DNO notification to UK Power Networks and the Building Control notification. If the board is full or there is no spare capacity, we tell you at the survey rather than on the day. On a conservation-area frontage we will also flag anything that may need planning first.
Are your prices really labour-only?
Yes, and we say so up front because plenty of quotes do not. The figures above cover our time and certification. Boards, cable, accessories and fittings are charged separately at trade cost and listed on the quote before work starts, so the final number holds.
Book an electrician in Whetstone or Totteridge
NICEIC registered, Part P, fully insured, 9.32/10 from 242 reviews on Checkatrade. Call 07407 627542, message us on WhatsApp or email info@faelectrical.co.uk and tell us the postcode and what is going on — we will give you a price over the phone where we can. More answers to the questions we get asked most are on the electrical guides page.