HOW TO HIRE · HOME REPAIRS & HANDYMAN

How to hire a TV installer in the UK
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.

No register applies to TV mounting, but a new socket behind the TV is electrical work. The wall, bracket and electrical checks.

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  • One score from Google, Trustpilot and Locufy reviews

TWO WAYS TO BUY THIS

Which do you need?

A TV installer by the hour

One person booked for a set number of hours who works through your list. There is no scope and no quote: you are buying time, and you say what is done with it.

A company for the job

A business that sends somebody, supervises the work and prices it in writing. Right where the job has a definite end, where it needs equipment, or where you want one party answerable for the result.

What changes between them

A rate per hour against a price for the job; one person against a team; your instructions against a written scope; and VAT, which a TV installer under the £90,000 threshold does not charge at all.

THE 60-SECOND VERSION

Hiring a TV installer in five steps

  1. Check bracket and TVVESA pattern and weight match before the visit.
  2. Choose the heightEye level from where you sit.
  3. Socket behind the TV?That is a registered electrician's job.
  4. Mention the wallBrick, stud or a chimney breast.
  5. Cables: hide or trunk?Chasing into the wall costs more.

BEFORE YOU BOOK

Check before you book

No register applies

No licence or register applies to TV installers in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, so anyone may offer TV mounting. The law steps in only where TV mounting turns into gas work, notifiable electrical work or building work.

Ask for a business name, the insurer and a written description of the TV mounting.

Where electrical work starts

If the TV mounting turns into wiring — a new socket, a spur, a light moved — that is electrical work, which in England and Wales must meet the Building Regulations. A new consumer unit or work near a bath or shower is notifiable, and in Wales so is work in kitchens and outdoors: a scheme electrician or building control only.

Keep any new wiring for the TV mounting with an electrician on the Registered Competent Person Electrical register. electricalcompetentperson.co.uk →

Public liability insurance

No law requires an installer to be insured, but a drill through a pipe or cable, or a heavy item coming off a wall, is exactly what public liability covers. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 entitles you to TV mounting done with reasonable care and skill; insurance is what pays if it was not.

Ask the installer for the insurer's name and the cover level before the TV mounting starts.

Your rights if it falls

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires TV mounting to be done with reasonable care and skill; a bracket that pulls away is the installer's to put right.

Ask what fixings the TV installer uses and keep the invoice.

VAT

Wall-mounting a TV is standard-rated at 20% by HMRC, charged only by a VAT-registered installer. Most people booked by the hour turn over less than £90,000 a year and so do not charge VAT or have a VAT number to give.

Ask the TV installer whether they are VAT-registered; an individual booked by the hour usually is not, so no VAT is added. gov.uk →

“Will you check for pipes and cables before mounting the TV?”

A good answer: Yes, before drilling.

“What fixings will you use for mounting this TV on my wall?”

A good answer: Fixings rated for the screen's weight.

“As the installer, can you add a socket behind the TV?”

A good answer: Only if they are a registered electrician; otherwise they refer it.

“Is mounting over the chimney breast safe?”

A good answer: A look at the breast and any flue first.

“After mounting, will the cables be chased or in trunking?”

A good answer: A stated method, and how much of the booking it takes.

“Is it a two-person job for my TV?”

A good answer: Yes for large screens.

Getting the quote right

  • Booked by the hour: the rate per hour and the minimum booking, travel, and how materials are charged
  • Booked as a job: the written scope, each task priced, the materials named and the finish described
  • The rate per hour, and the evening or weekend rate for mounting after work
  • The minimum booking, and what you pay if the screen is up and the cables tidied before it runs out
  • Who brings what: the installer's detector, drill and fixings for your wall; your TV and a bracket matched to its VESA pattern and weight
  • The work agreed before the first hour — height, wall, cable trunking or chasing — and that any new socket goes to an electrician
  • ID checked, the rating read, and insurance in case the screen or the wall is damaged
  • Who actually attends — the TV installer you spoke to, or someone the company employs or subcontracts
  • The VAT number if the business is registered, with VAT at 20% on its own line; one under the £90,000 threshold charges none

Walk away if

  • Offers to add a socket with no certificate
  • Uses plain plugs for a big screen on plasterboard
  • Drills a chimney breast without asking about the flue
  • One person lifting a large screen alone
LOW
£60
TYPICAL
£100
HIGH
£180

What a TV installer costs: £60–£180 per TV

TV mounting is priced per TV; screen size, the wall and cable hiding set the figure. TV Mounting price guide →

Guide prices compiled by the Locufy team from published Irish and UK provider price lists and 2026/27 cost guides. Updated 2026.

KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR? NOW FIND ONE

TV installers near you, with the badges that matter shown

ID checked, trader status and one score from every review — on the card, before you message anyone. Nearest first. No account needed to look.

Or post the job free and let them come to you.

  1. Wall checkPipes, cables and studs located.
  2. BracketFixed level with rated fixings.
  3. LiftScreen lifted on and locked.
  4. CablesRun neatly in trunking or the wall.
  5. TestTV tested before the installer leaves.

VESA pattern
The bolt spacing on the back of the TV.
Tilt bracket
Lets the screen angle downwards.
Full-motion bracket
Swings the screen out and round.
Trunking
Plastic channel that hides cables on the wall.
Chasing
Cutting a channel to bury cables.
Chimney breast
The projecting wall around a chimney.

AFTER

When the job is done

Check it is level and firmNo movement when gently pushed.
Keep the invoiceWith the bracket model.
Electrical certificateIf an electrician added a socket.
Review the visitA few lines on the TV mounting help the next household choose. If there is a problem, the make-it-right step sends it to the TV installer before your review appears.

STEP 1Complain to the TV installer firstMessage the TV installer with the date, what went wrong and the fix you want. If the TV mounting fell below reasonable care and skill — the test in the Consumer Rights Act 2015 — sections 55 and 56 give you a free redo or a cut in the price.
STEP 2Use the make-it-right stepIf you rate the TV mounting under four stars, Locufy asks whether to send the problem to the TV installer first, and we follow it through before your review goes up.
STEP 3Trading Standards, through the helplinesFor advice about the TV mounting, or to have the complaint passed to Trading Standards, call the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133 (England and Wales), Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 800 9060, or Consumerline on 0300 123 6262 in Northern Ireland.
STEP 4Small claims, if money is owedAn unpaid refund or repair bill from the TV mounting goes to small claims: £10,000 is the limit in England and Wales, £5,000 in Scotland using simple procedure, and £5,000 in Northern Ireland — all designed to be used without a solicitor.

Hiring a TV installer: questions people ask

No. No register applies; adding a socket is electrical work for a registered electrician.

In England, adding a socket away from a bath or shower is not notifiable but must still meet the Building Regulations; in Wales kitchens are notifiable too.

Often yes; the installer should check the breast and flue first.

£60–£180 per TV, typically about £100. Read the TV mounting price guide for the factors behind it; to see installers near you, enter your town above.

Ask for public liability insurance.

Forty-five minutes to two hours per TV.

MORE GUIDES

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TV installers near you

TV installers in LondonTV installers in ManchesterTV installers in BirminghamTV installers in GlasgowTV installers in BelfastAll tv installers on Locufy →Do it yourself: mounting a tv on the wall →

Sources — checked October 2026

  1. Registered Competent Person Electrical register
  2. gov.uk — Approved Document P: electrical safety in dwellings (England)
  3. gov.wales — building regulations: electrics
  4. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 49 — reasonable care and skill
  5. Citizens Advice — more help with a consumer issue (England)
  6. VAT rates — VAT rates for goods and services: standard rate 20% on most goods and services
  7. GOV.UK — Register for VAT: when to register