The commercial jobs we match
Fit-outs and refits for shops, offices and clinics. New circuits for equipment, from coffee machines to cool rooms. Lighting upgrades, emergency and exit lights, switchboard work, and fault finding when something keeps tripping.
Some jobs have their own pages: three-phase power for heavy equipment, test and tag for portable gear, and data cabling for the network. If yours isn't listed, describe it anyway.
Two licences to check: the business and the person
On a commercial job there are usually two licences in play: the business that contracts for the work, and the electrician who does it. Western Australia makes the difference easy to see. Contractor licence numbers start with EC and electricians' with EW, and Building and Energy says to check both.
In Victoria the business must be a Registered Electrical Contractor (REC), which you can look up on Energy Safe Victoria's public register. Queensland and the Northern Territory both require an electrical contractor licence for any business that does, or offers to do, electrical work. New South Wales needs a licence for wiring work whether the site is residential, commercial or industrial.
If a shopfitter or builder is arranging the electrical part, ask who the licensed electrical contractor is. Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia all let a business contract for a job and have the electrical part done by a licensed electrical contractor, and Victoria allows the same where that part is subcontracted to a REC. How to check an electrician's licence covers every state's register.
Insurance: ask for the certificate of currency
Victoria requires every Registered Electrical Contractor to hold public liability insurance with at least $5 million of cover, and contracting without it is a criminal offence there. In the Northern Territory, an electrical contractor licence needs at least $5,000,000 of public and products liability insurance behind it.
Access Canberra's advice works in any state: find the business on the public register, ask for a certificate of currency for its public liability insurance, and check its ABN on the Australian Business Register.
What a good commercial quote covers
- The scope area by area, with the equipment each new circuit serves.
- When the work happens, and whether any of it is outside trading hours.
- Which circuits will be off, for how long, and what that means for fridges, registers and servers.
- Who deals with the landlord, building manager or shopfitter, and who arranges access.
- Whether the switchboard or the supply needs upgrading for the new load.
- The certificate you'll get, the contractor's licence number and a copy of their insurance.
Certificates on a business site
Business premises get the same state certificates as homes, and a few rules matter more when there's a landlord and a tenant.
In the Northern Territory, the certificate of compliance goes to the owner and the occupier within 20 business days, as well as to the person the work was done for and the Electrical Safety Regulator. In New South Wales, the CCEW is lodged through the Building Commission NSW eCert portal, which can send copies automatically to other parties such as the electricity distributor.
Bigger jobs can take longer to switch on. In Victoria, prescribed work such as consumer mains has to be inspected by a licensed electrical inspector within 8 business days and can't be turned on until it is. In the ACT, Access Canberra audits all new electrical installations, and they can't be energised until they pass.
Keep every certificate on file. Queensland contractors must hold a copy of the certificate of testing and compliance for at least 5 years, and Tasmania's record of the work is kept for at least 10, but your own copy is the one you can find in a hurry.
What your team can do, and what's licensed work
You can
- Know where the main switchboard is, and keep the space in front of it clear.
- Press the test button on each safety switch. Western Australia's Building and Energy recommends doing it every three months.
- Log what trips, when, and what was running, so the electrician starts with facts.
- Pull damaged leads and power boards out of use straight away.
Leave to a licensed electrician
- Anything inside the switchboard, including new circuits and breakers.
- Adding or moving power points and lights in a fit-out.
- Wiring for emergency and exit lights, and the faults they show up.
- Finding the cause of tripping, flickering or warm power points.
Getting matched
Commercial work is broad, so we match on the job as well as the postcode. The electrician who does cafe fit-outs isn't always the one for a warehouse three-phase upgrade.
Tell us what the business does, what needs doing and when the power can be off, and we'll find the electrician whose regular work fits. They'll get in touch to arrange a look at the site.
What we'd do in your shoes
Before anyone starts, we'd get the scope, the shutdown times and the certificate written into the quote, and check the contractor's licence and insurance on the state register. For a fit-out, we'd bring the electrician in while the layout is still on paper, because moving a power point on a drawing is easy and moving it in a finished wall isn't.
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.