How to Make a House Electrical Layout Plan Before Wiring

What a house electrical layout plan is

A house electrical layout plan is a floor plan with every light point, fan point, switch board, socket and appliance point marked on it, along with the circuit each one belongs to and where the distribution board sits, so the electrician wires exactly what you agreed. It is drawn before a single wall is chased.

The plan matters because wiring is the one part of a home you cannot change cheaply. A plate finish can be swapped years later without touching a wire. A socket in the wrong place, a missing 2 way switch at the bed or an AC point with no circuit of its own means breaking plaster.

Below, we build one for a typical Indian 2BHK, point by point. We make switches, sockets, plates and MCBs at our works in Marol, Andheri East, Mumbai. What we will not do is size your cables: that is a job for a licensed electrician on site.

Electrical layout for house: points for a typical 2BHK

The fastest way to start an electrical layout for a house is to count points room by room. A point is any place the electrician runs wire to: a light, a fan, a socket, an AC or a geyser. Our worked 2BHK below lands at 17 light points 6 fan and exhaust points 14 × 6A sockets 8 × 16A sockets plus 3 AC points and 2 geyser points.

Those numbers come from walking each room with its furniture in place. The table below breaks them out by room; treat it as a checklist to argue with, not a quota. A family that works from home needs more 6A points at the desk; a kitchen with an oven and an induction hob needs more 16A points on the counter.

How many sockets should each room have?

Plan one 6A socket for every device that stays plugged in at a spot plus one spare, and give every heavy appliance such as the fridge, microwave, geyser, AC or washing machine its own 16A socket on a circuit your electrician has sized for it. In our worked 2BHK that means three or four 6A sockets per bedroom and about four 16A points on the kitchen counter.

6A is for chargers, lamps, the TV, the router and a table fan. 16A is for anything that heats or drives a big motor: geyser, AC, iron, microwave, washing machine. A 16A plug will not fit a 6A socket. Our 6A vs 16A socket guide goes appliance by appliance.

Where a spot needs both, a combined socket saves a module: the KEMPS K193 6A and 16AX universal socket with shutter, or the VIZA V270 6 and 16A universal socket (2M). For a dedicated heavy point, the VIZA V263 16A socket. At bedsides and the study, a USB charger module such as KEMPS K207 or VIZA V305 frees a socket; see USB sockets for a switch board. Our 2 in 1 five pin sockets are 6A only, for 2-pin and 3-pin 6A plugs.

Electrical layout plan of residential building: room by room

An electrical layout plan of a residential building is drawn room by room, because each room has a different job. These are commonly planned points; your own list wins.

Living room Main lights and any cove or accent lights on separate switches, one or two fans with regulators, a TV wall with sockets at the height of the TV unit plus a TV socket (KEMPS K201) and a data point (KEMPS K205 RJ45 jack), and an AC point.

Bedrooms A door board for light, fan and regulator, and a bedside board with a 2 way switch for the main light, so it can be switched off from bed. That needs a matching 2 way switch at the door, such as KEMPS K102 10AX. Our 1 way vs 2 way switch guide explains the wiring. For the fan, a step regulator such as KEMPS K213 (4 step) or K214 (5 step); our fan regulator types article compares them.

Kitchen 16A sockets above the counter for each heavy appliance, a separate point for the fridge, a point for the chimney and the water purifier. Bathrooms Light and exhaust switches outside the door, and a geyser point with a DP switch.

For a shop, clinic or office floor, modular switches for office covers points per workstation and boards per floor.

What height should switch boards be in a house?

Switch boards in Indian homes are commonly fixed about 4 feet (around 1.2 m) above the finished floor, with bedside boards just above mattress height and low sockets about 1 foot up, but these are common practice rather than a fixed rule, so agree each height with your electrician before the concealed boxes go in.

Placement matters as much as height. Put the door board on the latch side of the door, the side your hand reaches as it opens, never behind the door. Keep every board in a room at the same height so they line up, and keep them clear of where the wardrobe, bed or sofa will stand. AC and geyser points sit high, near the unit, and are usually on a DP switch.

How many circuits does a 2BHK need?

A typical 2BHK is split into about ten outgoing circuits: two for lights and fans, two for general sockets, one for the kitchen’s heavy points, one for each AC and one for each geyser, all fed from a double pole incomer. Add two spare ways for later and a 12 way distribution board usually fits.

Electricians work to one heavy appliance, one circuit, so a fault on the AC does not take the bedroom lights with it. Which rating goes where is covered in which MCB for home, and AC circuits in MCB for 1, 1.5 and 2 ton AC.

Our VIYONA MCBs are 10 kA breaking capacity to IS/IEC 60898-1: the 401 single pole and 411 double pole cover 6A to 32A. KEMPS K225 and K226 are modular SP and DP MCBs that fit a switch board. For the board itself, our distribution boxes include the 385 12 way double door and the 373 10–12 way SPN white line box.

Board sizes in modules: from 1M to 18M

Once the points are fixed, each board’s size follows by arithmetic. A switch takes 1M, a socket or a fan regulator 2M, and the plate is the next size up: 1M, 2M, 3M, 4M, 6M, 8M, 12M or 18M. A bedroom door board with three lights, a fan switch, a regulator and a socket is 8M. Our modular plate sizes guide lists every width, and the plate size calculator does the sum for you.

A count that falls between sizes is filled with a blank plate such as KEMPS K218, which is also how you leave room for a module you plan to add later. For finishes by room, see switch board design ideas; our KEMPS modular and VIZA modular ranges cover the sizes. Our plates fit all major modular switch systems and carry a 5-year warranty.

House electrical layout symbols and what they mean

House electrical layout symbols are small drawn marks that stand for each point on the plan: a circle with a cross for a light, a half circle for a socket, a small circle with a line for a switch, a rectangle for the distribution board. Every drawing should carry a legend; read that first.

When you check a drawing, go point by point with three questions: Is it on a board? Which circuit? What height? Ask for 6A and 16A to be marked differently, and for 2 way switches to be drawn in pairs.

Electrical wiring plan for house: what the drawing must show

An electrical wiring plan for a house goes one step past the layout: it shows which circuit each point is on, which route the conduit takes and which board it returns to.

A useful wiring plan carries circuit numbers beside every point, matching labels in the distribution board, conduit routes drawn along the walls and ceiling, the DB location with its number of ways, and every 2 way pair linked by a line. Keep conduit runs straight, vertical or horizontal from each board, so anyone drilling a wall later can guess where the pipe runs.

Ask for the earthing to be shown and tested, not assumed. A socket is only as earthed as the wire behind it, and that cannot be seen from the plate.

Common house electrical layout mistakes

Most layout regrets are small decisions made in a hurry on site. These are the ones that most often send people back to the electrician once they have moved in.

Board behind the door The switch you reach for is hidden when the door is open. No 2 way at the bed You walk to the door in the dark every night. Heavy loads on 6A points Microwave, iron or geyser on a socket not meant for them. AC sharing a circuit The AC trips the bedroom lights on a hot evening. Too few sockets Extension leads become permanent. No spare ways A new AC means a new board.

Mark it on the plan and a change costs a line of ink; after plastering it costs a wall.

Home electrical planning for later: inverter, EV charging and spare conduit

Leave room for what the home will need later, even if you install none of it now. Three provisions are cheap before plastering and expensive after.

Inverter backup Decide which points run on backup, typically some lights, the fans and a few sockets, and ask for them on separate circuits so the inverter can be fed from them without rewiring. Mark a ventilated spot near the distribution board for the inverter and battery.

EV charging A charger needs a dedicated circuit from the board to the parking spot, sized to the charger its maker specifies, not a borrowed socket. Lay an empty conduit to the parking spot now; in a housing society, check what the building allows.

Spare conduit Run empty pipes, with a draw wire, from the board to the TV wall, the study and any room you might convert, and leave spare ways in the distribution board.

Choosing fittings once the plan is fixed

With points, circuits and board sizes on paper, the fittings are a shopping list. Our guide to choosing a switch board covers the order: size, then rating, then finish.

We make three series. KEMPS modular switches and sockets, from the K102 10AX 2 way switch to the K116 32AX DP switch with indicator for a geyser or AC point; browse KEMPS switches and sockets. VIZA modular, including the V1250 32A DP switch with indicator and the V263 16A socket; see VIZA switches and sockets. VIYONA for MCBs, distribution boxes and VIYONA switches and sockets.

For lights and fans, 6A or 10AX switches are the right rating. Everything is made at our Mumbai works under an ISO 9001:2015 certified process. We do not sell online: take your list to a dealer, call us, or visit.

Once the points are counted, our electrical accessories list with prices turns the plan into a shopping list, item by item at MRP.