What shaped Mitcham's homes
A village from 1853
Mitcham Village was created on 12 May 1853 to serve a sheep station at Brown Hill Creek.
Timber prefabs after the war
In 1948 Housing Trust contractor Frank Marshall opened a prefabrication factory and began building 500 timber-framed, partly prefabricated houses at Mitcham.
Flat land and hills
Public housing went on the flat parts of the Mitcham district, while most subdivisions on the rising ground were sold privately by companies or individuals.
Colonel Light Gardens
The neighbouring suburb became a State Heritage Area in 2000. Its mid-1920s homes were developed from the Californian Bungalow under the Thousand Homes Scheme.
Units, and some renters
At the 2021 Census, 19.9% of Mitcham's occupied homes were flats and 17.2% townhouses or semis. 23.0% were rented. RAA notes that bushfire embers can travel long distances into suburbs such as Mitcham.
Different houses, different jobs
Timber-framed postwar houses are easier than solid brick or stone for running new cable, since an electrician can often feed it through the frame. But they were built in the late 1940s, so the original wiring and board are worth testing before you add load.
Colonel Light Gardens bungalows come with heritage rules for anything seen from the street. Plan meter boxes, solar and outside lights with the heritage requirements in mind, and talk to the council first.
Units in older blocks often have small boards with few circuits. Adding an air conditioner may need a new circuit back to the main board, which in a strata block means the strata corporation gets involved.
Before an electrician starts on an older Mitcham home
- Ask them to test the existing circuits, not just the new work
- Check whether the house is in a heritage area, and what that covers
- Agree where new cables will run and how walls and ceilings will be made good
- Confirm every power and lighting circuit will end up on a safety switch
- Get the contractor's licence number and look it up on the CBS register
- Expect your electronic certificate of compliance (eCoC) within 30 days
Our take for Mitcham
In a postwar timber house, we'd start with a test of the whole installation. It tells you if the job ahead is a board upgrade or a bigger rewire, before you commit to anything else.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.