She asked for two smoke alarms. The mains were 6mm.

This is the job to read if you have been quoted for a switchboard and the number surprised you.

It started with smoke alarms. The enquiry came in at five past twelve on a Monday, and the whole of it, in the customer’s own words on the form, was this: replace the current smoke alarm with a new one, and add another one in a different room. Two smoke alarms, and nothing else.

Michael’s note to himself before the visit was four words long. 2x smoke. That was the job.

We were on site Wednesday morning, and by 8.20am, about twenty minutes after arriving, the first part of the work was approved. The rest was approved on the Thursday morning before we started. Enquiry to finished job was three days.

What we found

Smoke alarms are hardwired, so fitting them means being at the switchboard. That is where this stopped being a smoke alarm job. There was a cable burning out behind the main switch, and the cause was upstream of the symptom.

The main reason they were having issues with the cable burning out behind is because the old main switch wasn’t a current limiting device. So basically the stress of the house is all running through the mains. And if you have a look at the mains, they’re only a 6mm cable.

Michael, at the meter box

Six millimetre consumer mains. To put that in perspective, in most homes a 6mm cable is what feeds a single oven. Here it was carrying the entire house.

In modern homes that have a few air cons, sometimes on the walls, your oven, maybe EV chargers, all these sorts of things, it was never made to handle that.

Michael, Leumeah

That is the honest answer to why the price is what it is. The board itself was only part of it.

What was done

• Consumer mains upgraded to 16mm. Supply and installation of the new mains, terminations at the meter and the main switch, and testing covering insulation resistance, polarity and loop impedance. Carried out to AS/NZS 3000 and the NSW Service and Installation Rules.
• Meter panel rebuild, Level 2 related. New panel installed, meters, service fuses and associated wiring transferred across, labelled and tested. Also performed under AS/NZS 3000 and the NSW Service and Installation Rules.
• Switchboard internals replaced including the main switch, 18 pole, with individual safety switches.
• An earth stake installed a safe distance from the house.
• Surge protection installed into the switchboard enclosure.
• Smoke alarms: one 240V photoelectric alarm replaced and one new one installed, including a 9V backup battery and in-roof cabling.
• A Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work issued, prepared with the relevant test results entered and submitted to NSW Fair Trading, with a copy to the customer.

A Level 2 partner attended for the metering side of the work. We start early on jobs like this, 6.45am, because the power is off for a good part of the morning and it is better for the household to have it back before the afternoon.

Two smoke alarms, and everything behind them

Both smoke alarms went in. One existing 240V photoelectric alarm replaced, one new one installed with a 9V backup battery and the in-roof cabling to reach it. The customer got exactly what they asked for and it is on the invoice.

Everything else was a separate decision, made by the homeowner, after we showed them what was behind the panel. The first approval came on the Wednesday morning while we were standing there. The consumer mains went on a second quote entirely, approved at 7.14 the next morning before we started work. Nothing was bundled in quietly.

We are writing this one up because it is the most honest version of how these jobs actually happen. Nobody goes looking for a full mains and switchboard job. They ring about a smoke alarm in the hallway.

Where the money actually goes

A straightforward switchboard upgrade, where the board is replaced and the mains and metering are left alone, is a different job at a different price. Our Cecil Hills job is that version. What lifts a job into this territory is consumer mains, a meter panel rebuild and Level 2 involvement. Not, as is often assumed, the backing board.

Need smoke alarms or a switchboard upgrade around Leumeah? We cover the whole Campbelltown area, and we will tell you what is behind the panel before you decide anything.