The Second Fix That Wasn't in the First Quote
Commercial electrical contractors on fit-out jobs routinely price first fix and second fix as a single mobilization. When the programme slips and the crew remobilizes months later, those return visits cost real money that was never in the original quote.
A commercial electrical subcontractor prices a fit-out job. First fix: containment, cabling, distribution boards. Second fix: wiring accessories, luminaires, final connections. Testing and commissioning. Single price, single programme, one crew for a few weeks of continuous work. Clean quote, competitive number, job won.
Then the programme slips. The partition walls run three weeks late. The ceiling grid follows. The main contractor pushes the programme back, then back again. By the time second fix is ready to proceed, four months have passed since first fix completed. The electrical team remobilizes, works a week on site, and invoices for exactly what was agreed: the original lump sum, which was priced on the assumption of a single uninterrupted run of work. The remobilization cost - the crew's travel, their wasted half-days waiting for access, the time spent re-familiarizing with a site that changed while they were away - absorbs what was left of the margin.
No variation order was raised. No one called it a change. The programme just moved, and the cost moved with it.
Why Commercial Electrical Work Gets Priced as One Number
On a typical commercial office or retail fit-out, electrical work runs in three distinct phases. First fix covers the containment - cable tray, trunking, conduit - along with cabling and any infrastructure that has to go in before ceilings and walls close. Second fix covers the visible work: wiring accessories, luminaires, distribution board connections, data outlets. Testing and commissioning follows once the space is effectively finished and other trades have cleared.
These phases happen at different points in the programme. On a straightforward six-week fit-out, they can run almost continuously. First fix on weeks one and two, second fix starting on week four, testing in the final days before handover. A single crew, a single mobilization, a single price.
The problem is that this logic gets applied to jobs where the programme is far less predictable. A three-month commercial fit-out, a phased office refurbishment, or a multi-floor scheme with sectional completion targets all carry a real risk of programme movement between first and second fix. If the main contractor delays the ceiling grid or another trade overruns, the electrical subcontractor is back on site weeks or months later for what was priced as a continuation of the original run.
The remobilization isn't a small inconvenience. It's a day of travel and access planning, a half-day of re-familiarizing the crew with what changed while they were away, and - on jobs where materials were left on site - time dealing with stock that was moved by other trades or got damaged. On a London project with electrician day rates of £320 to £420, a two-person crew remobilizing for a day costs £640 to £840 before they do a billable hour of second-fix work.
Programme slips and your programme
According to analysis published by Eleco in November 2025, 95 percent of UK construction projects were experiencing delays in 2025, with median delays beyond 200 days. For an electrical subcontractor, even a fraction of that figure between first and second fix makes a material difference to actual job cost.
The Certification Bottleneck That Comes Last
Second fix is only part of the exposure. The testing and commissioning phase carries its own timing problem.
An electrical installation certificate - the document that confirms the installation complies with BS 7671 - cannot be issued until the installation is complete and the premises are ready for testing. On a fit-out, that means all other trades have finished their work in each area. If one floor is still being plastered, the electrical contractor cannot fully test and certify. If the lighting controls commissioning is dependent on a ceiling void that hasn't been fully sealed, the commissioning visit has to wait.
The certificate matters because it triggers the final invoice on most commercial contracts. Some clients and main contractors will not release the final payment application until they hold the as-installed documentation. An electrical subcontractor who has completed 95 percent of the job financially can find their final payment held for weeks waiting for a certificate they can't issue because a different trade hasn't finished.
This is a different problem from the remobilization cost. It's a cash flow problem. The work is done. The invoice can't go out. The money sits in the contractor's debtors while overheads continue to run.
Avoid the assumption that completion means certified
Completing your physical installation and being in a position to issue a certificate are two different points in time. On a complex fit-out, the gap between them can be weeks. If your payment terms are triggered by certification, price and plan accordingly.
What Gets Left Out of the Quote
The gap between what gets priced and what gets delivered on a phased commercial job usually comes from one of three places.
Remobilization allowances. A quote that bundles first and second fix into a single labour rate doesn't allow for the cost of returning to site separately. If the programme shows a realistic risk of a gap between phases - anything over four weeks on a complex scheme - a separate remobilization line is commercially justified and defensible. Most main contractors will accept it if it's in the tender document.
Extended attendance. When other trades overrun and the electrical contractor has to hold resource available or make multiple visits to partially complete areas, that attendance has a cost. Time spent on site waiting for access, managing partial areas, and re-attending to commission in sections is real labour time. If it wasn't priced, it doesn't appear in the invoice.
Commissioning separately from second fix. Lighting controls, emergency lighting systems, and smart controls installations frequently require a commissioning visit that is physically and programmatically separate from second-fix installation. Pricing it as included within the second-fix rate means a standalone day's attendance is absorbed. Pricing it as a separate line with a clear programme dependency at least creates a basis for a variation order if the commissioning date moves.
Programme risk in the quote
If a main contractor's programme shows first fix in weeks two to four and second fix starting in week ten, that six-week gap is a programme risk worth pricing for. A remobilization allowance in your bid is not an unusual addition - it's responsible estimating. If the programme holds, you absorb it. If it doesn't, you've already discussed it.
Recording What Actually Happened
Even where costs aren't recovered through the original quote, a clear site record makes a variation order claim possible. An electrical contractor who has documented the programme delay, the date of remobilization, and the attendance cost incurred has a legitimate basis for a claim. An electrical contractor who absorbed it without record has no claim at all.
The gap between first and second fix on commercial fit-out jobs is not unusual. According to Eleco's 2025 analysis, 95 percent of UK construction projects are experiencing delays, with median overruns beyond 200 days. That context doesn't make absorption acceptable - it makes the case for building programme risk into the quote from the start.
Having a clear picture of where each phase stands, what's been completed, what's outstanding, and when the crew was last on site is easier when jobs are tracked properly rather than managed through email and memory. Contractors using a platform with project tracking built into the job record can flag the gap between phases and the associated cost while it's happening - not after the final invoice has gone out at the original price.
For the step-by-step process of managing a commercial fit-out electrical contract from programme entry to final account, see How to Run a Commercial Fit-Out Electrical Project.
The second fix was always going to be a separate visit. The question is whether it was priced as one.
Sources
- The true cost of construction delays in 2025Eleco · accessed 2026-08-26
- Ultimate Guide to Construction Cost Estimating UK 2026Blaze Estimating · accessed 2026-08-26
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