Electrician Guide

How it works

1. Name the circuits

   Say which rooms went dead, which fittings are being added, and whether the board already has spare ways. A photo of a closed meter box is enough to start; do not pull a live escutcheon for the sake of a clearer picture.

2. Match the contractor

   Search the electrical register in the state where the property sits. The class should cover fixed wiring, and the legal name should be the name on the quote, not a shortened trading name you cannot find.

3. Keep the test sheets

   When power is restored, file the certificate and the breaker schedule with the other papers for the house. The next fault, or a solar installer arriving later, will need those pages.

Services

• Switchboards and safety switches

  Rebuilding a crowded board, adding residual-current protection, and writing breaker labels a stranger can follow at night.

• Lighting, sockets and fixed appliances

  New or moved points, cooktops, ovens and ceiling fans, with circuit protection sized for what is actually connected.

• Fault finding

  Trips, warm fittings and circuits that died after a renovation, followed back to a cause rather than reset and left.

• Mains and metering

  Consumer mains and meter changes, including the distributor shutdown that sometimes has to be booked around the work.

• Boards ready for solar

  Making space and protection so an inverter can land later without a second rebuild of the same board.

What an electrician does

Household electrical work is the fixed wiring that stays behind walls and inside the board: new circuits, replacement switchboards, lighting and socket outlets, cooktops, ovens, ceiling fans, mains-powered smoke alarms, and the consumer mains that feed them. A careful contractor isolates the right circuit, tests before and after, labels breakers in plain language, and leaves a certificate the next owner can file. When a solar array or a battery is coming, that same contractor makes the board ready so the installer is not inventing protection on the day. Write down the spare ways, the earthing arrangement, and whether the meter box itself has to move before that solar crew is booked. File both pages with the house papers. Store them together.

Fault finding belongs to the same craft. A safety switch that trips after dark, a warm outlet, a kitchen circuit that died once a renovation closed the wall, or a meter box that hums should be traced to a cause. Resetting without looking is how a loose terminal becomes a burnt one. This trade does not paint rooms, clear traps, or pull a data cable that never meets the mains. Ask which part of the visit is electrical contracting and which part needs another class. A like-for-like lamp or a plug-in appliance is a different call from opening a wall. Photograph the closed escutcheon only. Leave live parts covered, and tell the contractor which appliances were plugged in when the breaker opened.

• Arrays still need a contractor who can alter the board.
• Electric storage units share the visit with plumbing trades.
• A renovation programme often books this trade through the builder.

Licensing by state

When you need a licensed electrician

Before fixed wiring changes in New South Wales, read the electrical contractor entry NSW Fair Trading publishes and match it to the person who will open the board.

Energy Safe Victoria holds the public electrical register used to see who may install or repair Victorian fixed wiring.

Queensland fixed wiring is looked up on the Electrical Safety Office licence search, a list kept apart from the QBCC building search.

Consumer and Business Services records South Australian electrical contractors; open that holder and read the class before cables are moved.

Building and Energy lists Western Australian electrical contractors, so the class on that search should cover the fixed wiring described.

CBOS publishes the Tasmanian tradesperson search; the electrical name there should be the person doing the fixed wiring on your job.

Access Canberra is the agency whose construction and occupational registers show Australian Capital Territory electrical classes.

NT WorkSafe is the body to contact about Northern Territory electrical licensing before fixed wiring is altered.

What changes the price

• A board inside a cupboard takes a different path from one standing open on a garage wall that needs a weatherproof surround.
• Evening or weekend attendance is organised differently from a weekday visit agreed ahead of time.
• Distributor forms and a metering change add steps that swapping one socket does not.
• Cable routes through a slab, a low ceiling space, or plaster that has to be opened change the labour.
• Switchgear of a stated brand that must be ordered is a different materials path from gear already on the van.
• Extra circuits added once furniture is placed change the scope that was first written down.
• A long drive past the contractor's usual round, or nowhere to stand near the meter, belongs in the brief.

Hiring checklist

• The electrical contractor name on the paperwork matches the state register you opened yourself.
• Circuits, fittings and board parts that are included are listed beside the ones left untouched.
• You know which safety switches are new and how the breakers will be labelled.
• A certificate or test record is promised on the page, not only in conversation.
• The outage window is agreed, including a plan for the fridge and any alarm.
• Solar, a battery, or air-conditioning wiring is either in this booking or handed to a named other contractor.
• Routes that open plaster or ceiling space are described before the first hole.
• Supply of downlights, fans and the oven connection is assigned to someone.
• You have asked what changes if the existing mains cannot feed the new circuits.
• Cable offcuts, packing and covers left open are treated as part of finishing.

Questions to ask

• Which licence number will be printed on the certificate for this fixed wiring?
• Which circuits are isolated, and how long is the house without power?
• Which parts of the board are replaced, and which breakers stay?
• Which test results do you hand over once the fittings are live again?
• Which tasks are outside this visit, such as data cabling or an array?
• Who tells the distributor if the meter or the mains need a shutdown?

Electricians in your city

City pages open when a city has enough published listings. See electricians near you.

Featured electricians

• ABN checked

  101 Electrical Services

  Rydalmere

• AG Power Sales & Service

  Gawler South

• AME Systems - Finishing and Service Centre

  Bayswater North

• AWM Electrical Doncaster

  Doncaster

• ABN checked

  All Angle Electrical

  Mount Martha

• All Ground Electrical Services Pty Ltd

  Nambour

Search electricians in the directory

Common questions

Sources and review

Reviewed 2026-10-22.

• NSW Fair Trading licence search Checked 2026-10-22.
• Energy Safe Victoria public register Checked 2026-10-22.
• Queensland electrical licence search Checked 2026-10-22.
• South Australia licence holder search Checked 2026-10-22.
• Western Australia licence search Checked 2026-10-22.
• Tasmania licensed tradesperson search Checked 2026-10-22.
• Access Canberra construction registers Checked 2026-10-22.
• NT WorkSafe licensing contact Checked 2026-10-22.
• EWRB public site Checked 2026-10-22.