Wiring is the one part of a renovation that is almost impossible to fix with a small touch-up once walls are plastered and wallpapered. Forget an outlet behind the sofa, or skip a dedicated circuit for the built-in oven, and fixing it later means a new channel cut into the wall, dust, and redoing the finish on that section.
That is why the wiring plan is worth drawing up while the rough walls are still exposed and the furniture layout is known — before the finish work, not after.
Start with a furniture plan, not a wall plan
Before sketching where the cables run, you need at least a rough layout of furniture and appliances in each room — the sofa, the bed, the desk, the fridge, the washing machine, the TV. Outlets are planned around actual points of use, not spaced evenly every two meters by eye. If you already know the sofa will sit against a particular wall, it makes sense to put an outlet for a floor lamp or charging next to it, not in the middle of the wall where furniture will later cover it.
The same goes for lighting: the number and placement of light points depends on where the seating area, the work area, and the walkway will be — also worth working out before chasing begins.
Sizing circuits by room and by high-power appliances
Standard practice today is not to run every outlet in a room off one line from the panel, but to split the load into circuits: lighting on its own, outlets on their own, and a dedicated line for high-power appliances. A kitchen usually needs several separate lines: one for the electric stove, one for the built-in oven, one for the remaining outlets, and sometimes a separate one for the fridge. A bathroom needs a dedicated line for the washing machine and, if there is one, for the water heater.
This is not only about convenience: a dedicated circuit with a correctly sized breaker for a high-power appliance reduces the risk of overloading the wire or tripping protection when several devices run at once.
Outlets and switches — how many and where
A common mistake is planning too few outlets to save money, then living with extension cords strung across the apartment. It is cheaper to add a bit of margin at the chasing stage than to run a cable along the surface of a finished wall later. Worth planning ahead of time:
- Outlets on both sides of the bed for charging phones and a reading lamp
- An outlet near the desk or wherever equipment will sit
- A TV outlet at the right height, not wherever it ends up being convenient
- Switches at the room entrance and, where needed, two-way switches for long hallways
- A kitchen outlet for small appliances separate from the main work zone
The panel: not the place to cut corners
The panel is where all the wiring in a home or apartment converges, and it also needs planning ahead: the number of circuits, spare capacity for future expansion, and breakers and RCDs on the right lines. Trying to squeeze more circuits into a panel after the renovation, once it has already been built out for the old circuit count, is usually awkward and means redoing work.
What to write down before chasing begins
It is worth keeping the final wiring plan as a diagram or at least a list: the position of every outlet and switch tied to a wall and height, how circuits are split, dedicated lines for high-power appliances, and the panel's location. That plan is useful not only during chasing but years later too — for the next renovation, say, or when connecting a new appliance, so you know exactly where a cable runs inside the wall.