Should my rewire cables be chased in the walls?

There is no law against not chasing them in. What was agreed before they started? Is there access from above, have you laminate floors above etc etc. If you are not happy with it get them back.

Hi, Usually when you rewire a house all the cables are hidden in the ceilings and chased into the walls and re-plastered over.But it depends on what was agreed at time of commencement of your work.Did you ask for them to price for all the cables to be hidden or did you leave it to them to make up their minds on how to do it. I suspect they did it the way you said because it was cheaper and less work to do as hacking chases in walls and lifting up floor boards is a lot more work than fixing plastic trunking . Council or housing association properties usually rewire through trunking to cut down on having to redecorate work if chased in walls. I hope this helps understand the process. Regards Mark

Assuming that you are the property owner, what specification was agreed with the contractor in advance of the work commencing? If the rewiring work was done by the contractor on a 'do it the cheapest way possible' basis, then you don't have any legitimate grounds for complaint because you have received exactly what you paid for ..... a cheap job. If, however, you have paid for the wiring to be chased-in, then you should complain because you have not received what you paid for. What did the contractor say on his quotation? Is there any mention of cables being installed in mini-trunking? Perhaps access wasn't possible from the level above because of laminated or sheeted flooring, or because you live in an apartment block and you have concrete ceilings throughout! If the contractor was appointed by a local authority or housing association, then I'm afraid that there is nothing that you can do except to bite the bullet as the property is rented and it is ultimately the property owner who decides how the rewiring work is carried-out. Mini-trunking is used more often than not on local authority or housing association rewires so to reduce costs and inconvenience to the occupants.