Switchboard Upgrades for Kensington Homes
A switchboard upgrade swaps your old fuse board for a modern board with safety switches (RCDs) and proper labelling. Call (02) 9134 9029 for a free written quote anywhere in Kensington, under our NSW electrical contractor licence #452529C.
Switchboard Upgrades: What We Actually Do
Most of this work is the same handful of jobs. Here is what a board upgrade actually involves once we are on site.
Full board replacement. We take the whole board off the wall and fit one with room for what you run today and whatever gets added next.
Fuse-to-breaker conversion. Rewireable fuse ways are replaced with circuit breakers, so a fault trips a switch you can see instead of melting a wire you have to rebuild.
Safety switches (RCDs) on the circuits that need them. These watch for current leaking to earth and cut power in milliseconds, which fuse wire has never done.
Circuit labelling. Every way is marked, so nobody has to play guess-the-switch to find the kitchen.
Defect rectification. If the board has been flagged by a network inspection or a previous sparkie, we fix the defect and sign the work off.
Six Signs Your Home Is Asking for Switchboard Upgrades
You do not need to open the board to know it is due. These are the things that bring people to the phone.
- Ceramic fuse holders with fuse wire, rather than switches you can flick back on.
- No safety switch on the board at all, or one covering only a single circuit.
- Breakers that let go whenever two hungry appliances run at once.
- Scorch marks, a burnt smell, or a buzzing noise coming from the board.
- Handwritten or missing labels, so nobody knows which way feeds what.
- An electrician has already told you the board cannot take another circuit.
The Kensington Angle on Switchboard Upgrades
Ceramic rewireable fuse boards are still live in many of Kensington's pre-1940 houses and its older walk-up blocks, and they are the reason this page exists.
A rewireable fuse does one job. It melts when too much current runs through it.
What it cannot do is notice current leaking to earth through a person. That is the job of a safety switch (RCD), and no amount of new fuse wire adds it to an old board.
The other catch is space. Those boards were built for four or six ways and a much shorter list of appliances, so there is rarely room to add protection without replacing the enclosure itself.
What Affects the Cost of Switchboard Upgrades
We quote the job, not the hour. A few things genuinely move the price, and you will see all of them on the quote before we start.
- Circuit count. Every way that gets its own breaker or RCBO is a component, so a six-way fuse board that becomes a properly protected board grows in both parts and enclosure size.
- Condition of the tails and cable. Brittle or heat-damaged cable at the terminals has to be made good before a new board goes on it.
- Access. A hallway cupboard or an external meter box is slower to work in than an open wall, and that time is real.
- Rectification found on the day. Non-compliant work behind the cover gets quoted, not quietly absorbed.
- The gear you choose. Options run from solid and standard through to premium, and we price them side by side.
There is no call-out fee for quoting, and the price we quote is the price you pay.
If the cover comes off and something genuinely unexpected is behind it, we stop, show you what we found, and re-price it with you before carrying on.
How the Job Runs and How Long It Takes
Most straightforward board swaps are a single day, and the power is only off for part of it. Bigger jobs with rectification can run longer, and you hear that at quoting time, not once we have started.
- We isolate and make safe. The supply comes off, we confirm it is dead, and temporary power is sorted out if you need something running.
- Out with the old. We check the condition of every cable as it is disconnected, because that is when problems show themselves.
- The new board goes in. Circuits are terminated, protection is fitted, and every way is labelled as it is connected.
- We test and sign off. Every circuit is tested before we sign off, and your compliance paperwork follows by email.
Standards and Paperwork, Explained Simply
A switchboard upgrade is notifiable electrical work. That means the paperwork is not optional.
When we finish, a Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work is lodged with NSW Fair Trading, and yours arrives by email. It is the document that says a licensed person did the work and tested it.
Our licence number is #452529C, and it is on the paperwork you receive. You can check it yourself.
The short version of the law: DIY electrical work is illegal in NSW, and a switchboard is the last place to test that. The main switch does not isolate everything behind it, which is why the meter side of the board is Level 2 territory.
Why This Is a Job for Our Team
A board is the one thing in the house that every circuit runs through, so it is worth getting a team that does them regularly rather than occasionally.
600+ five-star reviews sit behind that, and the job is signed off with paperwork you can check rather than a handshake.
Ring back later with a question about your own board and a real person answers the phone.
Servicing Kensington and the Suburbs Around It
A board upgrade often starts because of something else. If your lights are the reason you rang, light installation may be the actual job, and a board with no spare ways has to be sorted before EV charger installation.
Anything on the supply side of the meter is Level 2 electrician work, and we do that too.
We cover Kensington and the surrounding Randwick area, including Kingsford, Randwick and Coogee.
Book Your Switchboard Upgrades Today
Call (02) 9134 9029 and we will book you in for a time that suits, inspect what you have, and put a fixed written price in front of you before anything comes off the wall.
Common questions
Common Switchboard Upgrades FAQs
Answers to the board questions we get asked on the phone. Ring us if yours is not here.
Can switchboard upgrades be booked for a Saturday in Kensington?
Our standard hours are Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm. Tell us when the power can go down and we will book you in for a time that suits, and genuine emergencies are covered around the clock.
Do NSW rules require anything to be lodged for switchboard upgrades?
Yes. A board swap is notifiable electrical work, so a Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work is lodged with NSW Fair Trading and a copy is emailed to you.
Does switchboard upgrades have to be done by a licensed sparkie?
Always. The main switch and consumer mains stay live until they are isolated properly, and DIY electrical work is illegal in NSW for exactly that reason.
How is switchboard upgrades covered if something fails later?
Our workmanship carries a lifetime workmanship guarantee, and the breakers and switches themselves carry a 12-month product warranty on top of the maker's own cover.
What does switchboard upgrades usually cost?
Nobody can price a board honestly without seeing it. The circuit count, the condition of the wiring behind it and the space available all move the price, so you get a fixed written quote first.
Does the age of the house change how switchboard upgrades is done?
Age changes what turns up. A ceramic fuse board in a pre-1940 house often hides brittle old cable at the terminals, which we check and quote before anything is swapped.