Considering the overblown prices electricians charge in this country (if you can even get them to show up!) and the laws against doing any electrical work without a license, why aren't there any short courses offered that would legally certify homeowners to do their own minor electrical work (change power points, lights, run Cat6, etc.)? This seems absolutely crazy considering it is almost impossible to get an electrician to turn up to do minor jobs, and if you are lucky enough to get one then they expect you to pay a ridiculous amount. Are there any initiatives trying to change this within our government or is it just a flat our cartel by the Electrical Trades Union?
Why Aren't There Courses to Certify Homeowners to Do Their Own Minor Domestic Electrical Work?
dogboy on 04/07/2026 - 08:16
Comments
I've got some pretty strong feelings about this because I've never found any information published anywhere that demonstrates there's any particularly positive outcome to Australia's licencing rules around electrical work compared to the vast majority of other countries that just let people get on and live their own lives.
Most other places in the world, home owners can wire a plug, a socket and run some cable if they want to. I would challenge you to show me any statistical information that demonstrates that they have higher rates of death or property damage than is seen in Australia. I just think this all boils down to the Australian issue of the "cult of the Tradie".
I think at the end of the day most people who aren't competent to do it probably wouldn't try and do it because they're not competent whereas most people who are competent to do it do it because they're competent.
I'll further add that, frankly, I've never had any electrical work done in Australia that, when I've subsequently inspected the job, I have felt has been done to any particular high standard compared to how I would have done it in terms of jobs like wiring sockets, moving cables within walls.
I'd agree that a good licencing system would mean people who had the licences understood that with that licence came a privilege that required them to do good and safe work. I've never seen any evidence that any licenced electrician has been particularly aware of the privilege they carry. That includes me having to lift bare wires loosely wrapped in spools of electrical tape off copper pipes in my home after the electrician had come around to do the job during my reno. Good thing he left me with the compliance form. I just did it all myself properly after that.That said I know my own limits and clearly I would never touch something like my own fusebox.
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The problem with electrical work is that a little bit of knowledge is dangerous, because someone may know how to make something work, but do it in a way that could get the next person to look at it killed. Just a couple of weeks ago, I did some electrical work in my own house and found the previous person had used the earth wire to run a permenant active to a light to then pick up power to install a ceiling fan instead of running a new cable down to the switch. It worked fine, but could have killed me if I was not concentrating on what I was doing.
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I agree. What I'm saying is the problem with the current laws in Australia is that some of us don't have a little bit of knowledge. Some of us have enough knowledge to do basic work. You don't say in your post if you're a licenced electrician or not but if you're not, I assume those people include you.
I'll also add that, like most Australian laws, of course, it's completely unenforced and so the reality is that we are actually in the same position as most other countries anyway, which is to say that people who don't want to or are uncomfortable with it don't do it. People that do want to and are comfortable with it do do it anyway
Hence the proliferation of clearly non-electricians standing in the Bunnings Electrical aisles every Saturday buying the other stuff they need.
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@EspressoDan: To clarify, I am a licenced electrician. You are correct that it could have been a licenced electrician that did the previous wiring. I would also expect that if someone with some, but little experience found what I did, they could have easily wired another light or fan to the previous bad work in a way that the metal frame would be live when the power is turned back on and killed the next person that happened to touch that frame. I have seen some exteremely dangerous unlicenced work including lighting circuits run in speaker wire, fencing wire in fuses, and someone that was stealing electricity by peircing the mains cables with sharpened metal g-clamps sitting live and uninsulated in the roof.
I also remember once when a handyman had to replace the architrave that had a switch on it tell me that light circuits didnt have enough current to kill you when he took the switch off without shutting off the circuit. He apparently had a disconnect/reconnect certification.- 2
@Tonyh87: Just to clarify, it wasn’t some random — it was a sparky. Quotes were supplied, the job was accepted, and the sparky and his apprentice turned up. Nothing “dodgy” about them: white van, local name, still see them on the road now. They went on to complete a job primarily involving moving electrical outlets and installing some new ones, apparently using pliers and electrical tape as the main tools of the trade.
Existing wires were cut, stripped, and jointed with new circuits entirely by twisting conductors together and then wrapping them in electrical tape, then squishing the whole parcel together and wrapping it in more electrical tape and shoving it back into the wall space or just leaving it in the roof-space. That includes runs where they should have removed existing cable completely and run new cable but instead they inline-spliced cables into existing cable from existing sockets simply to extend a run. Holes for new outlets were created with a hammer. And, as previously stated, when I got home and had a quick look at the work, in one case a bundle had been shoved back inside the wall cavity with a live conductor strand poking through it's electrical tape ball-of-awfulness and touching a copper pipe.
Another electrician, some months later, installed an external conduit for a ceiling fan in a flyover roof. It turned out he used internal, non-UV-stabilised flexible conduit, so three years later it’s crumbling into dust. Basically, electricians are 2 for 2 on shit work in my household.
I’m not saying all tradies are cowboys. Tonyh87, I have no doubt you are competent and professional. I’m saying the industry is horribly flawed, and in my opinion the current licensing laws have something to do with that, because I get the impression that some people exploit that privilege with a “what are you going to do about it?” attitude, rather than an “I have the privilege of holding a licence and will to do a good job” attitude. And when people some people look at expensive, poor-quality, and sometimes unsafe work that they could have done better themselves, it stinks.
Most domestic 240V AC electrical work is simple: use the right colours, prepare properly, don’t leave any conductor exposed, consider the total load on the circuit, don’t put it back near anything that could catch fire or drip water onto it, and if there’s even the slightest chance of an upstream risk, use a drip loop, lighting circuits are for lights. Always check with a meter before you touch it, and always assume it’s live. If you damage it, start again, if you find it damaged, replace it (esp our super-shitty-quality twin and earth cable if it's more than 20 years old). If you do anything with the breaker untripped and end up relying on somebody — including yourself — remembering not to turn on the inline switch, you’re a moron and you’ll kill yourself, always have a plan when you turn the breaker back on at the end, don't use the cheapest one at Bunnings, because the terminal-blocks will round-out.
TBH, Currently it's the plethora of IOT / LED projects and geeks doing their own 12 or 24v DC work in roof spaces that is probably the biggest fire risk.
"When did his house burn down? "About 2-3 years ago. Hey, how did you know his house burned down?".
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@Muppet Detector: White van with his company name all over it, nice branding. Second guy had a ute if it makes you feel better.
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@EspressoDan: It was a joke… who is the stereotype for having a white van?
(I'm otherwise agreeing with you) :)
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@EspressoDan: Thanks for some sanity.
To add: A sparky worth their job WILL make sure their work complies. Yes, it will be more expensive, but that's the rules.
Now IF the sparky hasn't done a proper job, there are avenues to get that resolved, or contacvt the relevant licensing mob.
And if there should be an incident where someone is injured (or…) then, yes, insurance companies get involved and claims are made against the sparky. That, as you say, can get very expensive.
If anyone does come across shonky work, it must be fixed, and reported.- 0
"I have seen some exteremely dangerous unlicenced work including lighting circuits run in speaker wire, fencing wire in fuses, and someone that was stealing electricity by peircing the mains cables with sharpened metal g-clamps sitting live and uninsulated in the roof.
I also remember once when a handyman had to replace the architrave that had a switch on it tell me that light circuits didnt have enough current to kill you when he took the switch off without shutting off the circuit. He apparently had a disconnect/reconnect certification."I agree, those are all bad things done my incompetent people. The current law didn't prevent any of them happening. If the law didn't exist, they would have done it anyway. The law did exist, and they did it anyway.
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What I'm saying is the problem with the current laws in Australia is that some of us don't have a little bit of knowledge. Some of us have enough knowledge to do basic work.
Most laws are a one size fits all kind of deal and they usually have to legislate for the lowest common denominator.
I think it's only in healthcare where things exist on a spectrum. Everything else is pretty black and white and we have minimum standards set.
Besides, why give insurance companies excuses to reject a claim?
I'll also add that, like most Australian laws, of course, it's completely unenforced
Until you get caught. If something goes wrong, you can bet the insurers will be enforcing it as will any third party who has a civil claim against your illegal or negligent actions.
If something done by an unqualified person results in GBH or above, that's a fine of up to $600,000 and five years imprisonment on top of any civil claims.
People that do want to and are comfortable with it do do it anyway
Q: You know what every defence lawyer loves?
A: A defendant.
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The problem with electrical work is that a little bit of knowledge is dangerous, because someone may know how to make something work, but do it in a way that could get the next person to look at it killed.
If it's so important to regulate anything that could be dangerous, then lets make using double adapters more illegal than replacing a gpo without a sparky cert.
While we're at it, lets make almost every other diy activity illegal without a regulation, since they're all on a spectrum of danger. You got a loicence to put up that garden shed m8?
Yet, somehow, despite being unregulated, diy serviced car brakes aren't failing left and right, killing pedestrians daily, nor are colorbond roof sheets flying off and slicing people open. Somehow most people manage to stay within their limits and function as adults.- 2
You got a loicence to put up that garden shed m8?
In Qld, if it's over 3 x 3 m (I think) and I want to leave it there, I do need council approval. Eventually I need gutters and storm water discharge as well.
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@Muppet Detector: In this hypothetical it's a 1.5x1.5m tin shed from bunnings being installed in a rental on a 1 year lease.
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@Muppet Detector: I'm not sure your point - mine is that double adapter usage is a better example of a little knowledge can be dangerous than basic home electrical work.
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@ssfps: My point is that we are allowed to do some things and then there are other things that we are not.
I have to fence my pool, but not a dam or creek on my property or any lake or canal or ocean frontage.
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@ssfps: Can't keep a rat in a restaurant in Australia either. Not a live one anyway. Can keep live seafood and shellfish though.
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But you are assuming that it was a random doing the wiring, that could just have easily been a sparky being lazy.
Just because they are certified doesn't mean that they actually are competent.
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@Leiothrix: I took from that that the point was that it was ExpressoDan's experience and training that enabled him to identify the incorrect work and was able to diagnose it and correct it without being harmed himself from the previous person's poor work regardless of who did it.
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because I've never found any information published anywhere that demonstrates there's any particularly positive outcome to Australia's licencing rules
Then you are looking in the wrong place. What is the purpose of the rules? - that seems to vagues a question, but by "purpose" I mean the actual motive behind those who lobby for the rules.
Then look at the cost of electrical work in Australia. Is it higher than other places? The yes, the rules are a stunning success for the lobbyists.
You just made a naive assumption that they are intended to benefit society.- 2
Firstly, your first paragraph suggests that if there was no requirement for a licence there would be no more accidents than there are now? Hmm. Very unlikely.
I have seen some downright deadly installations done by unlicensed people. Ceiling fittings wired up with speaker wire. Poorly stripped wire in sockets. Incorrectly fitted eathing wiring. Under rated cabling, especially on long runs. Wrong plug types. Incorrect switches used. Incorrect wire routing. Incorrect tapping of circuits with no knowledge of fuse/cct breaker ratings. No ELB's. Light switches wired up so the neutral is switched (leaving the active live in the socket when the switch is off). Mains cable run under ground… (with no protection).
I saw once a guy had wired up an extension cord to his how water tank so he could have a yard power point.
Fun stuff.
Bear in mind, the licence means the tradie will install to a standard. Subsequest tradies assume the wiring is up to that standard and can work safely by tripping the relevant breaker, quickly double checking for no power and get to work. If they find there's still power around after tripping the breaker, then they have a lot more work to do (costing $$$).
And, IF something goes wrong, the blame can be attributed to a licensed tradie. So that keeps insurance companies happy (and regulators).- 1
I have seen some downright deadly installations done by unlicensed people.
Those things were done in the current environment. The law did not prevent them from occurring, and there are regulations governing the use of compliant electrical components (for example AS/NZS wiring standards) that should not be repealed, are necessary, useful and would still cover the scenario of ensuring that morons using speaker wire to connect ceiling fans are committing an offence.
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If only we took NZ's approach. The regulations in Australia are state-based. You need to hold an electrical licence to fix a portable 240V appliance in QLD. But not in NSW.
https://www.worksafe.govt.nz/managing-health-and-safety/cons…
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And even more crazy is that we have common wiring regulations with New Zealand
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This will be changing soon.. a single universal aus wide set of rules governing electrical work is coming in 2027
it will also mean u can work across border with much less hassle.
and offer CES in any state you work in.- 3
Whilst I don't understand the intricacies, it does make sense to have nationwide laws and guides about most of these industries.
Are they primarily state based though as commonwealth has no federal jurisdiction over these matters?
Similar to legal, healthcare etc.
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@Muppet Detector: yeah the changes are state based, but the ability to work across borders is the main issue, especially those who work / run biz in border towns (albury/wodonga for example)
a national set of guildelines that will be adopted by all state bodies is being drafted
Sparkies have been able to make submissions since last year and i think the submission window closed in May- 1
@jimbobaus: Sparkies may be different,
But not much recognition between other NZ & Aust laws.
1. Privacy laws including what, who and when you can record or video including cctv cameras, home security, personal footage, own front yard…In NZ, no speed limit leeway. 1 klm over speed is an immodest strict liability traffic offence.
NZ has much higher number of medicines as pharmacy only
No meat or honey products through NZ customs.
In Australia, it is only legal to shear the sheep whilst alive and then slaughter and eat them once they are dead.
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You need to hold an electrical licence to fix a portable 240V appliance in QLD. But not in NSW.
There's higher humidity in QLD.
/s- 1
The question is, is there a higher number of negative experiences/outcomes in NSW than Qld.
One thing that I am thinking is that each state is also responsible for their health care services. If this reduces the number of negative health care situations and reliance on that framework, perhaps that is a consideration for these types of considerations?
Qld also provides free ambulance service to all qld residents whether within qld or if received while visiting another state (qld pays that state for the services you use).
Of note is that qld is the only state to cover ambulance for the transfer of a dead body. Most ambulance cover within PHI doesn't cover this as health care stops once the patient has died.
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Qld also provides free ambulance service to all qld residents
So it creates a moral hazard whereby Queenslanders are more reckless and carefree when fixing portable 240V appliances.
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So it creates a moral hazard whereby Queenslanders are more reckless and carefree when fixing portable 240V appliances.
Evidence for this?
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@tenpercent: lol if you think people would use the ambulance service for electrical work gone wrong, you definitely should talk to someone in the service. That’s at least legit. People call ambulance when they have a headache. What you think your tax is doing is always a completely different story irl.
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@gakko: VIC seems to have plenty of negative outcomes in just about every area of life according to the news (and jv).
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@gakko: Is anything they say untrue? Victoria is a bit of a mad house.
I was looking at ABS stats and you have a massive resident exodus still ongoing while all international migration more or less ends up there.
Melbourne really is the most leavable city.
Almost a quarter of your state taxes go to debt interest. Victoria's hamstrung for decades, your kids in primary will still be paying that off well into retirement.
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@Muppet Detector: That last point is a bit morbid! But sounds like a perfect rationale the Victorian government would use
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@serpserpserp: Not sure, but crime rate must be starting to reduce in VIC, apparently a lot of former Victorians are leaving.
Word on the street is that they're migrating to Qld though.
Loving to welcome the law abiding ones and opportunities for new friends etc, but a few things that we haven't had to share with so many people in the past are starting to become overwhelmed.
I hope that they're not just all moving here for our free ambulance service.
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@Muppet Detector: I guess what you are saying is all the criminals are moving to Queensland? Makes sense
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@serpserpserp: Crime stats allegedly down. Tough on youth crime too. Def no machete bins.
Beaches are getting busier though, especially when waves and conditions are good.
My mate reckons that he has seen the double in sales of jet skis.
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@Muppet Detector: We have the same Standards as NZ (AS3000) and they can do small jobs without a ticket yet they have fewer deaths per capita than we do .
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All the electrician's and liney's downvoting the fact
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You can't even legally run ethernet cabling through your walls without a license
Can I run an extension lead behind the lounge and around the entertainment unit?
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Yes but only if you're plugging in a 12-socket power board.
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How many double adapters can I plug into that?
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Can I run an extension lead behind the lounge and around the entertainment unit?
Idk? Do you have an extension lead and is it long enough to reach that far? Where is the entertainment unit in relation to the lounge and how large are each of these pieces of furniture?
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are you sure you can't run your own network cable? i thought it's only when it has to do with 240v that needs a tradie.
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You can't even legally run ethernet cabling through your walls without a license
are you sure you can't run your own network cable?
Yes, I tried asking about DIY when getting the house built and they said no because it had to be installed by qualified sparkie.
Asked a sparkie mate about it and they confirmed it to be true, seen as potential risk of fire (despite being low voltage) and insurance won't cover if they find it done by non-electrician. Scam all the way down
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I always heard it is anything inside the wall that carries electricity.
I think you can actually do some DIY outside of the wall, like DC adapters you need to attach a cord to that they sell at Jaycar.
edit: Check your local laws and regulations- 0
Any 'permanent' cabling can only be done with the required licence.
Ethernet going through a TV cabinet, along the ground, taped to a skirting board, loose etc = okay
Ethernet behind skirting board, inside a wall cavity, in roof space = licence required
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What if you just happened to have a hole in the wall, could you pass the cable through just like you can in a door way?
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More about liability and insurance protectionism than tradies. If you (profanity) up running ethernet and don't properly separate it from live power, you can fry the NBN guy who half-arses his safety checks before touching stuff. You can also start fires that doesn't behave the firies are going to assume for a house that looks up to code (you would not believe how many people will just remove firebreaks to run cabling without finding out what it's for).
All you need is one guy with a licence to sign off on the work, they don't actually need to DO the work.
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Changed my own power point outlets and lights and I'm no electrician. Probably saved about 1k$. The current rules need to be loosen for minor works.
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How are you still alive?
/s
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How is 'minor works' defined? Sometimes it's easier to put a blanket no, rather than saying yes if this and that, as Chad will probably think fiddling around the electrical board is minor works.
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Fair point. As an example, in the UK electrical works that need to be completed by an electrician (notifiable) are stipulated in building regulations.
Anything which is not notifiable can be done DIY, but still has to comply with the regulation.This is what many people on this thread are suggesting should/could be changed.
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You're the previous owner of my house.
Incorrectly grounded lights, incorrectly wired power outlets, non waterproof powerpoints and enclosures used on external walls.
is someone going to die? probably not, but scale it up to tens of millions and someone will.
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So what is your point? That the regulations are a failure, they only affect competent people, so should be abolished?
How should your anecdote inform debate?
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my point is that everyone thinks they can watch a youtube video about how to wire up electricals and think they know everything about it.
It's the equivalent of vibe coders thinking they are making apps.
I reckon you should be able to do your own electrical work, but it voids your insurance. why should I pay higher premiums for idiots doing their own work?
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So what is your point? That the regulations are a failure, they only affect competent people, so should be abolished?
I find this to be a weird argument.
Obviously a law does not prevent somebody from a doing an act or omission, but it does serve as a deterrent and has a framework of consequences for those who do it anyway.
According to your position, we should legalise murder, rape, child abuse and any other crime because hey, they don't prevent people from doing those acts or omissions either.
By creating a regulatory framework, it establishes a uniform procedure for a task to be completed and establishes a chain of causation to establish liability (if necessary) should something not be done correctly.
I accept that there are many dangerous activities that are not regulated to this degree, but it does come down to a question of balance and utility in most cases.
I am not opposing some kind of course to allow homeowners to undertake certain tasks within their own property, but a) this won't prevent people exceeding these allowances and b) it would be an impossibility to oversee and manage.
How long ago was the course done? What has become obsolete or not best practise since then? Was this work done whilst that certificate was current?
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Should have done your due diligence before buying your house. And report to the relevant authority to enforce the current regulations
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Should have done your due diligence before buying your house. And report to the relevant authority to enforce the current regulations
TLDR
Without tearing down walls, how do you do this? I have never had a building and pest inspection go to these extremes as to tell me what is going on behind walls or other inaccessible places.
Boundary and land surveys don't pick these up. Title searches, council registries don't either.
You can only report it once you become aware of it.
Then there are the homes with double brick walls or internal brick walls.
Never have I had a building and pest inspector remove built in cabinetry, particularly in a kitchen including behind built in equipment.
To my knowledge, they don't even interfere with any insulation products that may be in a home.
Similarly, they don't remove built in shelving or cabinetry in the garage, not even for termite detection.
Oh, and they don't remove tiles etc to look at the internal infrastructure behind them either.
At best, they identify unregistered works that deviate from registered plans and approvals or otherwise non compliant structures (low ceilings, fencing requirements, example).
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This is only law to protect the profits of union members. Replacing a switch or light fitting is extremely basic. The work done by "licenced electricians" in my house is far below what I consider to be a good standard.
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Is an Electrical Engineer allowed to do basic electrical stuff?
Its a grey area. A qualified electrical engineer can do work that would normally require a qualified tradesperson, but only in the course of their job. They can do pretty much whatever they feel its safe for them to do in a test environment. And they can do testing in a commercial or residential environment which involves working with mains power. But they can't operate as if they were tradespeople and wire a business or house.
I also did a short course at TAFE and got a little plastic card that says I'm legally allowed to do at least basic stuff, and am clear about what the limits of what I can do is.
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@GordonD: I think you mean there is a course in addition to an engineering degree to do basic electrical work. I have heard about this years ago, does it still exist?
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@yoho: Not as far as I'm aware. It's more or less do an apprenticeship and TAFE with partial RPL if you're lucky, including working on the tools. I was lucky enough to have an employer that did this but most engineers are unlicenced now.
Although I have come across an engineer that did it via those dodgey RTOs where you pay a decent chunk of money and they go more an RPL and evidence based method. Unsure how they got around the lack of apprenticeship part as I'm 99% sure when I applied for my licence I had to include the apprenticeship cert of proficiency in addition to the TAFE transcript.
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@Muppet Detector: There is next to no value in tradie liability insurance once they have completed a job. It's only real value is for restituition for damaged caused during works.
Unless you engaged the tradie, carefully kept records of the works performed - signed off by them, etc. you have next to no chance of holding them accountable for poor or non-compliant work. Even then you need to prove their negligence was the cause of the damage or harm you are claiming restituition for. Good luck. What about work performed by a licenced tradie before you owned the property? Yup - you have zero chance of claiming against their liability insurance for negligent / non-compliant work.
Given the costs the licencing requirements put on the general public, why isn't there a register of all licenced jobs to hold licenced tradies accountable to? There should be a mandated requirement that all works charged by a licenced tradie get recorded on a public register. Where / When / What / Who . But that will never happen because those with influence don't want accountability.
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Unless you engaged the tradie, carefully kept records of the works performed - signed off by them, etc. you have next to no chance of holding them accountable for poor or non-compliant work.
That is your home insurers problem, not yours. And their liability insurance is for them if somebody makes a civil claim against them.
The onus of proof is on the claimant (insurer). Respondent dimply needs to provide an eligible defence on BOP.
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@Muppet Detector: Ah, so what you are saying is that you must engage another service provider - an insurer - to cover you for the damages caused by poor/non-compliant work by tradies.
Instead of allowing property owners with the abilitiy to safely and to a high standard, carry out the work themselves, lets force upon the property owners 2 requirements - i) you must engage and pay for a licenced tradie to carry out the work and ii) you must engage and pay for an insurer to cover yourself for poor and non-compliant work.
Yep, that works well and makes perfect sense.
The interesting factor here, the type of work that could be carried out safely by a knowledgable and appropriately skilled property owner, is - under the licence schemes - more often than not carried out by a non-licenced tradie. Its frequently apprentices that carry out the minor work and very frequently the supervising and licenced tradie the apprentice is working under, doesn't check the work - as that would extra work would make the job 'commercially unviable'.
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what you are saying is that you must engage another service provider - an insurer - to cover you for the damages caused by poor/non-compliant work by tradies.
No, I am definitely not saying that.
Instead of allowing property owners with the abilitiy to safely and to a high standard, carry out the work themselves, lets force upon the property owners 2 requirements
Dude, I don't make these laws. I'm neither allowing you or preventing you from doing anything that you want to do.
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I'm neither allowing you or preventing you from doing anything that you want to do.
Yes, but your original comment I replied to was discourging people from doing so.
Risk fines of up to $40,000 … cannot sell your property if illegal works … It continues to astound me that people so blatantly ignore the law
At least if a qualified sparky makes a mistake, he carries public liability insurance for this.My point is that the main benefits of engaging a licenced tradie are often not realised:
- Tradie liability insurance is not there to benefit the receiver of their services / property owner. It is there to protect and benefit the tradie. Almost exclusively so.
- There is no evidence that supports mandating work to be only undertaken by licenced tradies is overall saving society money / other costs.
- The type of jobs property owners are likely to undertake are not even carried out by a licenced tradie in many cases when you engage a licenced tradie. They get carried out by unlicenced apprentices. The supposed benefit of supervision by the licenced tradie is not realised because in the majority of cases, the apprentices work is not checked. The licenced tradies seldom check their apprentices work effectively - if anything just a cursory glance at what is easily visible. They are not opening GPOs to check wiring, they are not checking pipe joints to check soldering.
- There is no register of licenced tradie work to allow accountability when such work is sub-par/non-compliant and leads to damage or worse. If you are a property owner it is next to impossible to hold previous tradies you didn't engage yourself responsible for their work.
- As per your example, if tradie non-compliant work led to a fire, unless you directly engaged the tradie yourself, its near impossible to hold them accountable. Near zero benefit.
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Yes, but your original comment I replied to was discourging people from doing so.
It was pointing out the risks. That seems like a good thing to do.
Tradie liability insurance is not there to benefit the receiver of their services / property owner. It is there to protect and benefit the tradie. Almost exclusively so.
Yes.
I'm not sure why you are trying to argue with me?
As per your example, if tradie non-compliant work led to a fire, unless you directly engaged the tradie yourself, its near impossible to hold them accountable.
If I have insurance and I can point to a safety certificate, that isn't my problem. I don't have to hold them accountable.
Again, you don't need to convince me of anything. I personally refuse to risk hundreds and thousands of dollars and any other civil or criminal claims so that I can save a few thousand dollars.
But you do you.
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At 10 years old at school in the UK all kids were taught how to rewire an electrical appliance plug………..Just saying
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Risk fines of up to $40,000 for an individual
Don't post it on youtube or tiktok.
Don't dob yourself in.
Don't be a dibber dobber and dob others in.
Problem solved.Gosh I love how Australians have such a no-can-do attitude these days.
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Don't post it on youtube or tiktok.
Don't dob yourself in.That was sort of my point. Dude did it and then goes around telling people he did it (and thus encouraging others who may not be as clever to do it).
"Two can keep a secret as long as one of them is dead".
I see it on here all the time (people admitting to illegal activity (including piracy), knowing full well that scotty has to hand over any identifying info such as emails and isp's that authorities may request.
- 0
Valid points. And it's something everyone should consider before doing it under the current rules.
- 4
More likely the electrical heater burns my house down than the powerpoint
- 1
Thank you. This is exactly the point of this post. There are heaps of tutorials online on how to do these things, the issue is legality, liability and the cost\pain to use tradies.
- 1
So many downvotes… those good and accurate points really hurt people's feelings.
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Sorry how exactly do they prove any of it?
If you bought a house with diy wiring, then sell it who is at fault in an incident?
- 1
Initially the current homeowner would be as they take on responsibility for the house.
However, this would not prevent them from pursuing previous persons in civil claims.
If it becomes a criminal issue, new home owner would attempt to establish previous owner as a defence to the allegations against them.
- 0
You can't even legally run ethernet cabling through your walls without a license, it's all about protecting the trades ability to fleece you. No universe the government allows you to legally do domestic electrical work.