Anything built before the 1980s
Ceramic fuses, no safety switches, and in the oldest homes cloth or rubber covered wiring that goes brittle with age.
Old fuse boards >
Pre-Purchase Electrical Inspection, Newcastle
You get to walk through the kitchen. You do not get to look behind the walls.
About to buy, and no idea what the wiring is like? A licensed electrician goes through the property before you commit and gives you a plain-English report with photos and prices. Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland and Port Stephens.
5.0 from 205 Google reviews
- On timewe call when we are on the way
- Fixed pricein writing, before we start
- Lifetimeworkmanship warranty
- Licensedcontractor 463908C
- 2026 winnerHunter Local Business Awards
Your building inspector has almost certainly told you to do this
Read the electrical section of a building inspection report and it usually comes down to one sentence: recommend further inspection by a licensed electrician.
That is not the inspector being lazy. They are not licensed to open a switchboard or test a circuit, so they can only report what they can see. The sentence is there because the question is a real one and they cannot answer it.
You are about to make the biggest purchase of your life on the strength of that sentence. This is the service that answers it.
One fixed price
$434.50 including GST
$395 + GST. One price for the inspection and the written report, told to you before we start. No hourly rate and no call-out fee on top.
Report with you the next business day. If the property is vacant, say so when you book, because we can do more and we will tell you what that means.
Why it is worth knowing before you sign, not after
Electrical work is not evenly priced. Replacing a few power points is a small job. A switchboard that has to come out is a bigger one. A house that needs rewiring is one of the largest bills a home can hand you, and it is the sort of thing people discover in their second year of ownership.
None of that is visible on an inspection day. A freshly painted house with a new kitchen can still have a board full of ceramic fuses, no safety switch anywhere, and cloth-covered wiring in the roof.
Find out beforeIt is a number you can negotiate with, or walk away from. You are making a decision with the facts in front of you.
Find out afterIt is a bill. There is nobody to discuss it with, and it competes with everything else you wanted to do to the place.
Most buyers use the report at the table. A written report from a licensed electrician, with photos and a price against each item, is far harder to wave away than a buyer saying they are worried about the wiring.
The homes where it earns its keep
Any home is worth checking. These are the ones where we would not buy without it:
A renovated flip
New kitchen, new paint, and the question nobody asks: was the electrical work done by a licensed electrician, and is there a certificate for it.
Deceased estates and long-held homes
Often untouched for decades, with additions made over the years by whoever was around at the time.
Ex-rentals
Years of minimum-cost repairs by whoever was cheapest that week. It shows up at the board.
Anything with a shed, pool or granny flat
Sub-mains, outbuildings and pool wiring are where unapproved work turns up most, and where it costs most to put right.
Pool and spa power >
Solar you are inheriting
You are buying the system as well as the house. Worth knowing its age and whether it was installed properly.
Want this sorted?
Tell us what is going on. We ring you back, usually the same day.
What we check, and what you get
The switchboard, properly
What is actually in there, what each circuit feeds, whether there are safety switches and whether they trip when tested. On an older board we tell you whether it has room for anything you are planning.
Power points, lights and switches
Tested through the home rather than sampled at the front door. We are looking for dead points, wrong polarity, no earth, heat damage and the tell-tale signs of work done by someone who should not have done it.
Smoke alarms
How many, where, what type, how old, and whether they work. Alarms have an expiry date printed on them and in a house being sold they are very often past it.
Wherever there is safe access
Roof space, under the house, the meter box, the shed and any sub-board. Where we cannot get in safely, we say so in the report rather than quietly leave it out.
A report by the next business day
Plain English, with photos. What is safe, what needs doing now, what can wait, and a price against each item so you are holding a number rather than a worry. It is with you the next business day, because a report that lands after your decision is worth nothing.
Straight answer
What we cannot do in a house you do not own yet
Plenty of people will tell you they test everything. In somebody else's occupied home, in a window arranged by the agent, that is not true, and you should know what you are buying before you buy it.
- We do not open wallsOr lift floors, or cut into anything
- We do not move the owner's thingsWhat is blocked stays blocked
- Power stays on, mostlyBrief interruptions to test, nothing longer
- No full circuit testingThat needs the power off and circuits disconnected
- Only safe accessA roof space full of insulation and no walkway is a no
- Strata is lot onlyCommon property is the owners corporation's
Everything we could not reach goes in the report as exactly that. A gap you know about is worth something. A gap quietly left out of a report is worth nothing, and it is the reason to read the limitations page of any inspection report before you read the findings.
If the house is empty, tell us, because we can do considerably more. With nobody living there we can turn the power off and test the circuits properly rather than working around a running household. Vacant properties, deceased estates and anything between tenants are the ones where you get the full picture instead of an informed look.
Say so when you book and we will tell you what the difference means for your property.
When to book it
Private treaty: as soon as your offer is accepted, so the report lands inside your cooling-off period and you still have room to move. Book it at the same time as your building and pest inspection and the agent can arrange one access visit for all of it.
Going to auction: before the day. An auction purchase is generally unconditional once the hammer falls, so anything you did not know about becomes yours at that moment. Your conveyancer will confirm exactly what applies to your contract. This is the case where an inspection matters most, and the one people most often skip because they are reluctant to spend on a property they might not win.
If the report finds something
Switchboard upgrades
Old fuses out, safety switches in.
Read more >House rewires
Old rubber and cloth wiring replaced properly.
Read more >Safety switch installation
The protection most older homes do not have.
Read more >Smoke alarms
Replaced and compliant before you move in.
Read more >Already own the home?
The same check for a house you live in.
Read more >All home electrical
Everything else, once the keys are yours.
Read more >Pre-purchase inspection questions
What does a pre-purchase electrical inspection cost?
$434.50 including GST, which is $395 plus GST. That is one fixed price covering the inspection and the written report, with no hourly rate and no call-out fee on top. You know the number before we start.
What is a pre-purchase electrical inspection?
A licensed electrician goes through the home before you buy and reports on the switchboard, the safety switches, the visible wiring, the power points, the lights and the smoke alarms, so you know what you are taking on.
Doesn't my building inspector already check the electrical?
Not in detail. A building inspection is visual and general, and the electrical section usually ends with a line recommending further inspection by a licensed electrician. That line is the gap this fills.
Can you test everything in a house I do not own yet?
In an occupied home, not everything. We test the safety switches, check power points and lights, go through the switchboard and look wherever there is safe access, but we cannot open walls, lift floors or shut the power off for long. The report says plainly what was tested and what could not be.
Is it different if the property is empty?
Yes, and it is worth telling us. With nobody living there we can turn the power off and test the circuits properly instead of working around a running household, so you get the full picture rather than an informed look.
How quickly do I get the report?
The next business day. A report that arrives after you have had to decide is worth nothing, so it is written up and sent rather than left until the end of the week.
How do you get access to the property?
Through the agent, usually in the same kind of window as a building inspection. Give us the address and the agent's details and we will arrange it with them.
Will the report tell me what the work would cost?
Yes. Anything we find that needs doing is priced in writing, so you know the number before you commit rather than after.
Can I use the report to negotiate?
That is what most buyers use it for. A written report from a licensed electrician, with photos and prices, is a great deal more useful at the table than a worry about old wiring.
What if the house turns out to be fine?
Then you have paid for a straight answer and you can stop worrying about it. That is a good outcome, and it is a cheaper one than finding out afterwards.
Do you do these on units and townhouses?
Yes. On a strata property we cover the wiring inside the lot. Anything in common property is the owners corporation's, and we will say so rather than quote you for it.