Electrician

Electrical is the most heavily-regulated trade — every job needs testing to the Wiring Rules, NSW work needs a CCEW lodged, and VIC prescribed work needs independent inspection. Here is the year-one reality: the licence, the non-negotiable test kit, what to charge, and the compliance traps. (Tool and rate figures are indicative 2025 — your numbers vary.)‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍

The licence and the standards

Electrical work is separately licensed in every state — you need an electrician's licence plus an electrical contractor licence to run your own jobs (see Electrical, Plumbing, Gas & ARCtick Licensing). And every job is governed by AS/NZS 3000 (the Wiring Rules) and AS/NZS 3017 (testing) — you must verify continuity, insulation resistance, polarity, earth-fault-loop impedance and RCD trip times on every job, working safely to AS/NZS 4836. The paperwork bites by state: in NSW, notifiable work needs a Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work (CCEW) lodged (to the customer, the distributor and the Building Commission NSW, within 7 days of the test — and from 1 July 2026 via the BCNSW eCert portal); in VIC, certain prescribed work needs an independent inspection by a Licensed Electrical Inspector before connection. Adding solar, battery or EV work brings extra endorsements, and refrigerant-handling needs ARCtick.

The day-one kit (buy the test gear)

Because you test every job, the multifunction installation tester (MFT) is non-negotiable day one — there is no hiring it:

MFT: mid-range (Metrel, Seaward, Kyoritsu) ~$1,000-1,400; premium (Fluke, Megger) ~$1,800-2,800.
Two-pole tester + proving unit (prove-test-prove): ~$350-450.
CAT III/IV multimeter or clamp: ~$150-400.
Insulated (1000V) hand-tool kit + bag: ~$400-800.

Hire or delay the niche gear — thermal imaging (hire per job), a high-end PAT tester (only if you sell test-and-tag), tall access, and EV/solar commissioning kits (buy when the revenue justifies it). See Tooling Up.

Rates and first-year work

Indicative 2025 labour rates sit in the $80-130/hr band (Sydney $90-130, Melbourne $85-125, Brisbane $80-110, Perth $90-115, Adelaide $80-100), with a call-out or first-hour charge, and an effective day-rate around $700-1,200 before materials. Do not price like an apprentice. First-year work comes from landlords and property managers (rental safety checks, smoke alarms — VIC rental minimum standards drive these), small builders and renovators (rewires, switchboard upgrades, RCD retrofits), owner-occupiers (switchboard/RCD/surge upgrades, GPOs, EV charger feeds, fault-finding), solar/battery/EV subbing, and strata. Build the rate properly from your costs (see Setting Your Charge-Out Rate).

What an inspection looks like

Across the regulators (ESV, Building Commission NSW, QBCC, Consumer Protection WA, SafeWork SA/NT), an inspection follows a pattern: you lodge the certificate or notice for prescribed or notifiable work (which can trigger a random audit or scheduled inspection); on site the inspector reviews the paperwork first (licence, compliance certs, test records), then does a visual inspection (labelling, segregation, protection devices, IP ratings, clearances) and may sample-test, asking you to explain your testing against the Wiring Rules. A clean job — thoroughly tested and recorded, built to current standards, forms lodged on time — rarely produces "gotchas". Treat regulators as safety partners.

Common mistakes

Skipping or not recording the full test suite (a failed audit waiting to happen) — standardise a test sheet attached to every cert and invoice.
Missing the CCEW lodgement window in NSW, or the VIC inspection for prescribed work.
Generic PL cover that excludes solar work (see Public Liability Insurance).
Apprentice-level pricing once you are carrying business costs.

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