Electrical Help: Guides for Common Problems Around the Home
Power out, switchboard tripping, or a smoke alarm chirping at 2am? Find the right guide below.
Most of the time you don’t need an electrician straight away, you just need to know what’s happening and what to do next. We’ve put the questions we get asked most into straightforward guides and gathered them here. Pick the area that matches your problem, and if it does need an electrician, you can give us a call.
Perth Local Experts
Trusted electrical solutions for over 35 years.
Power outages, storms and emergencies
If the lights are out, start here. Work out whether it’s a network outage or your own place, see what to do while you wait, and know who to call.
A quick way to work out whether it’s the whole street or just your place, and what to check before you ring anyone.
If you’ve been without power for a long stretch, you may be owed a payment, and here’s how to claim it.
Faults and safety
Tripping switches, flickering lights, and the safety gear that protects the house.
The smells, sounds and scorch marks that mean something’s wrong, and what to do the moment you notice them.
Electrical Safety Certificate WA
What the certificate actually covers, when you need one for a sale, and how to get it sorted without the fuss.
A room-by-room walk through the house so you can spot the small problems before they turn into big ones.
What WA expects from landlords and homeowners, how often to test, and the little button you can press yourself.
They look similar in the switchboard but do very different jobs, and it helps to know which one just tripped.
The usual suspects behind a flickering LED, from cheap dimmers to loose connections, and which ones you can fix yourself.
Smoke alarms
Requirements, that midnight chirping, and when it’s time to replace them.
The rules for owners, sellers and landlords, in plain English, so you know exactly what your place needs.
What a new alarm costs to buy and have installed, and why the cheap ones aren’t always the bargain they look like.
Not sure which guide you need?
Not sure which guide you need? Give us a call and tell us what’s happening. Luke and the team have been fixing these exact problems around Perth’s northern suburbs for years, and we’ll tell you honestly whether it’s something you can sort yourself.
How your electrics work
Reference guides for when you want to understand what’s going on behind the walls.
What each wire colour means in an Australian home, including the older colours you’ll still find in Perth houses.
The questions we hear on nearly every job, answered the same way we’d answer them standing in your kitchen.
Consumer Mains Explained
The cable that brings power from the street into your switchboard, why it matters, and when it needs upgrading.
All the words electricians throw around, from amps to zone ratings, explained so you can follow along.
Costs, savings and rebates
What the common jobs cost, how to trim your bill, and the rebates worth knowing about.
The going rate for downlights in Perth, per light and per room, plus the things that add to the bill.
Still not sorted?
If your guide points to a job that needs a licensed electrician, get in touch. We cover Perth and the northern suburbs. And if you’re weighing up whether something is a job you can do yourself, Building and Energy’s guide to having electrical work done is the plain answer, straight from the people who write the rules.