How Sydney homes change the job
Apartments
With 30.7% of Greater Sydney's homes being flats or apartments, a lot of cabling happens inside units. If a run would leave your unit or pass through shared ceilings or risers, check with the strata manager first.
Terraces and semis
Another 12.8% are semis, terraces or townhouses, from Paddington's Victorian rows of 1870 to 1895 onwards. Shared brick walls and tight roof spaces mean the route needs working out before anyone drills.
New builds and knockdowns
In growth areas like Box Hill, or in a knockdown rebuild like the many around Seven Hills, the walls are open at framing stage. That's the moment to run data to every room that might become an office, because adding it later means cutting in.
Which part needs a NSW electrician
Under the NSW definition, equipment running at no more than 50 volts AC isn't part of an electrical installation. The new power points, any circuit for a data cupboard and anything at the switchboard are, so they need a licensed electrician and a CCEW.
The data cable has its own rules. The ACMA says anyone who installs, connects, maintains or repairs telecommunications cabling in a home or business must be registered as a cabler, and suggests asking to see the registration card. Ask whether the electrician holds both, or who's running the cable.
Before the visit
- Mark each spot with tape and note how many cables it needs.
- Pick where the runs will meet, ideally where the internet comes in, with a power point there.
- In a unit, get the strata manager's answer on any shared ceilings or risers.
- In a terrace, find out which walls you share with next door.
- Ask to see the electrician's NSW licence number and their cabler registration card.
- Ask for every point to be tested and labelled.
What you can do, and what's licensed
You can
- Set up the modem, router and plug-in mesh units.
- Use patch leads between wall points and your devices.
- Plan the points and clear a path to the roof space.
- Tell the strata manager what's planned.
Leave to a licensed electrician
- New power points beside data and TV points.
- A circuit for a data cupboard, or any switchboard work.
- Cutting into walls that already carry mains cable.
- Lodging the CCEW for the electrical part.
Our take for Sydney homes
If you're building or knocking down and rebuilding, we'd cable every likely office and the TV wall before the plaster goes up, because it'll never be easier. In an older terrace or a unit, we'd settle the route first, with the strata manager if there is one, then book one electrician who's registered for cabling and can fit the power points on the same visit.
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.