Electrician in Sunshine North

In the un-renovated Sunshine North stock the board is usually the one it came with. Rewireable ceramic fuses, a timber or asbestos backing panel, no RCD protection, and circuits that have been extended over the decades by whoever was handy.

A full replacement typically runs $800 to $3,500 depending on circuit count and whether the meter panel needs replacing too. What you get is one RCBO per circuit so faults stay contained, accurate labelling, and space left free for the shed sub-main, the air conditioner and the charger that usually follow. Asbestos panels, common up to the mid 1980s, are handled under proper controls and quoted separately rather than hidden in the price.

A shed on a Sunshine North block is often a genuine workshop: a compressor, a welder, bench tools, a second fridge, lighting and sometimes a hoist. That is a real load and it needs a real supply.

The correct arrangement is a sub-main from the main switchboard sized for the load and the distance, run underground in conduit at the right depth with mechanical protection and marking tape, terminating in a small distribution board at the shed with its own RCD protection and isolation. What we usually find instead is an extension lead through a wall or a circuit spurred off a house power point, which is unsafe under load and will be flagged by any inspector at sale.

Single-storey post-war homes on large blocks give you broad, generally unshaded tiled roofs with long unbroken runs. It is good solar territory. A 6.6kW system is $4,500 to $8,500 before STCs and roughly $3,000 to $6,000 after, and larger arrays are entirely practical on this roof stock.

Because the roof is rarely the limit, the design conversation moves to consumption and to what the board and the network will support. Where a workshop runs during the day, self-consumption is high and the case is strong. Where the house is empty on weekdays, a 10kWh battery at $8,000 to $12,000 before rebates and around $5,500 to $9,500 after usually does more for the bill than adding panels.

Large flat post-war floorplans with accessible roof space suit ducted heating and cooling. The ductwork can reach every room properly, returns can be positioned correctly, and one system replaces a collection of splits that never quite balance.

A ducted refrigerated system needs its own correctly sized circuit and a board with the space and protection to provide it, which is why the board work usually comes first in this suburb. Where a full ducted system is not warranted, a split system installed is $2,500 to $7,500 depending on capacity and how far the indoor and outdoor units sit apart.