House wiring cable quantities in Pakistan, 3 marla to 2 kanal

The quantity master table

One table, six plot sizes, five conductor sizes. The three coil columns are what you order by the coil; the 6 mm² and 10 mm² columns are cut lengths, because the earth conductor and the meter run are measured, not coiled. Every row is reproduced from that plot size's own guide, linked in the first column.

Single-storey house wiring quantities by plot size. Coils at 90 m, rounded up per size; 15% wastage included; conduit wiring; a centrally placed distribution board. Point counts are typical schedules for each plot size, not your layout. Sizes are named in mm². These are planning bands, not a bill of quantities — verify the schedule and every cable size with a licensed electrician against your approved plan. Strand codes: 1.5 mm² = 3/.029, 2.5 mm² = 7/.029, 4 mm² = 7/.036, 6 mm² = 7/.044, 10 mm² = 7/.052.

Read the 10 mm² column carefully, because it is the one that trips people up. 10 mm² is not a house circuit on this table — it is the service run from the meter to the distribution board, and it is sized against the sanctioned load, not the plot. It holds at 3 and 5 marla, then steps up. The full service ladder is two tables down.

Where each row comes from

This page adds no new arithmetic. Each row is lifted unchanged from the guide that works it out, so a figure you quote from here can be traced to the point schedule that produced it.

• The 11-coil row is from our 3 marla house wiring guide — 28 points, 7 circuits, 10 m average run, 560 sq ft covered.
• The 21-coil row is from our 5 marla house wiring guide — 46 points, 11 circuits, 12 m average run, 950 sq ft covered.
• The 29-coil row is from our 7 marla house wiring guide — 60 points, 14 circuits, 1,300 sq ft covered.
• The 43-coil row is from our 10 marla house wiring guide — 78 points, 17 circuits, 1,800 sq ft covered.
• The 71-coil row is from our 1 kanal house wiring guide — 110 points, 22 circuits, 2,900 sq ft covered, single-phase service assumed.
• The 125-coil row is from our 2 kanal house wiring guide — 160 points, 34 circuits, 5,000 sq ft covered, three-phase service.

The three inputs that move every figure

A house wiring quantity is not read off the plot size. It is three numbers multiplied, and the plot size only sets their typical values. Change any one and the table moves, which is exactly why the inputs are printed rather than hidden.

Worked on the 5 marla row: lighting and fans 24 × 12 × 2.5 = 720 m; sockets and kitchen 18 × 12 × 3 = 648 m; pump on a 15 m run 1 × 15 × 3 = 45 m; two ACs and a geyser on 14 m runs 3 × 14 × 3 = 126 m of 4 mm²; main earth 20 m. Raw total 1,559 m. Add 15% for cutting waste and failed pulls: 1,559 × 1.15 = 1,793 m. Divide by 90 and round up per size and you have 10 + 9 + 2 = 21 coils.

Cross-check any row against the trade rule of 1.5–2 ft of conduit run per sq ft of plot, at 2–3 conductors per run. On a 1,125 sq ft 5 marla plot that band is roughly 1,000–2,000 m of conductor, and 1,793 m sits inside it. If a published quantity for your plot size sits far outside this table, ask what point count and run length it assumed. If it states neither, it cannot be compared with this one. Adjust the whole thing to your own house on how much cable a house needs.

The same table for a double storey

Most plots in Pakistan are built upward. The upper floor carries about 85% of the ground floor's points — no porch, no main entrance, no pump — and adds a riser from the ground board to a second board upstairs. That riser is a separate cut length, not a coil.

Lay the riser conduit before the plaster goes on, even if the upper floor is years away. An empty 25 mm pipe from the ground board to the roof slab costs almost nothing during construction and a wall afterwards. The build sequence is on wiring for a new house, and a floor that will be rented is a different circuit design again — see the apartment and portion wiring guide.

The service cable, meter to distribution board

The coil list wires the house. It does not feed it. The run from the WAPDA or K-Electric meter to your distribution board is a separate, heavier cable, and it is the line missing from almost every published wiring quantity. It is sized against the sanctioned load on your meter card, which is why it does not track the plot size neatly.

The 1 kanal row shows why the phase decision comes before the cable decision. At a 15 kW sanctioned load, single phase draws 68.2 A and needs 25 mm²; split across three phases at 400 V the same load is 15,000 ÷ (400 × 1.732) = 21.6 A per phase, a third of that current per conductor, and 10 mm² four-core carries it. The 2 kanal row is the same effect at 25 kW: 113.6 A on one phase against 36.1 A on three. The sizing rationale in full is on WAPDA meter cable size and main meter cable; the K-Electric case is on K-Electric meter cable.

What each size on the table carries

Quantities are only half the list. The other half is whether the size against each circuit is the right one, and that is a current capacity question, not a metres question.

The strand codes are imperial and do not land exactly on the metric areas they are sold as: 3/.029 computes to 1.28 mm² against a nominal 1.5, 7/.029 to 2.98 mm² against a nominal 2.5, 7/.036 to 4.60 mm² against a nominal 4, 7/.044 to 6.87 mm², 7/.052 to 9.59 mm² and 7/.064 to 14.53 mm². We label to the same market convention everyone else does, and we publish both numbers so you can see which one you are buying. 25 mm² is sold under the code 19/.052 — nineteen strands of 0.052 inch, 26.03 mm² — and its IEC 60228 class 2 stranding is 7/2.14, in millimetres. Read the first two rows before you order: 3/.029 sits under a true 1.5 mm², so keep it behind 6 A lighting breakers and off sockets.

Checking the copper that arrives

A 1 kanal list is 71 coils of copper taken on trust. It does not have to be. Conductor mass is arithmetic, not opinion: area in mm² × 8.89 kg/km per mm² × 0.090 km per coil. A 90 m coil of 2.5 mm² holds 2.00 kg of copper before any insulation. Weigh the coil, subtract a reasonable allowance for the PVC, and you have a check anyone can run with a bathroom scale.

Two more checks cost nothing. Count the strands: strip 30 mm and count — 3/.029 has three, 7/.029 has seven, and a conductor sold as seven-strand with six strands is not that conductor whatever the label says. Measure one strand: a caliper should read about 0.74 mm on a .029 code, 0.91 mm on .036 and 1.32 mm on .052, and area = strands × π/4 × diameter². Seven strands at 0.9144 mm give 4.60 mm², which is what 7/.036 should be. Why the weight and the strand count matter more than the sticker is set out on how cable is priced in Pakistan.

Turning the table into an order

Every technical source quotes house wiring in metres. Every shop in Pakistan sells it in coils. The conversion is metres ÷ 90, rounded up per size, because nobody cuts you a 1,793 m length — you buy 10 coils of 1.5 mm² and hold the offcut. That rounding is why the coil columns and the metre column do not reconcile exactly, and it is deliberate.

Confirm the coil length in writing before you order, from us or anyone else. A coil is conventionally 90 m and near enough 100 yards, but 45 m and 30 m coils exist, and a coil quoted in feet needs converting — 301 ft is 91.7 m, 1 m is 3.281 ft. The word "coil" is not a fixed quantity, and it is the number that quietly varies between suppliers.

Do not shave the list. The gap between 21 coils and 18 is three coils of copper and a circuit you cannot add later without opening plaster. On any plot size, the wire is the cheapest part of the wall it sits in.

Work your own numbers

This table is a starting band. Three tools take it to your house.

Sizing one circuit rather than a whole house? The selection chart is on single-phase cable size, three-phase distribution is on 3 phase cable size, and the AC circuit is worked through end to end on cable for a 1.5 ton AC. What the labour and fittings add on top of the coil list is on cable installation cost.

Frequently asked