Queensland homes have a smoke alarm deadline of 1 January 2027
Every existing private home, townhouse and unit in Queensland must have interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms — in each bedroom, in hallways connecting bedrooms, and on every storey — by 1 January 2027. Rentals and properties being sold have had to comply since 2022. If you are on the Gold Coast side and have not looked at this yet, it is worth doing before the rush. NSW requirements are different, and we will tell you what applies to your place.
A fuse box is not a switchboard with safety switches
Plenty of houses still have ceramic fuses, or circuit breakers with no safety switch on the circuits at all. A circuit breaker protects the wiring from overload. A safety switch — an RCD — cuts the power when current leaks to earth, which is what protects the person holding the drill. They are not the same device, and having one does not cover you for the other.
Wiring from before the 1970s is on borrowed time
Rubber-insulated cable goes brittle and drops its insulation, and some 1960s and 70s homes have aluminium wiring that works loose at the terminations over time. If your house is that vintage and has never been rewired, it is worth having someone look before it announces itself.
Adding load usually means looking at the board first
Air conditioning, a pool, an induction cooktop, solar, an EV charger — each of these can be the one that tips an older installation over. Checking capacity early is far cheaper than discovering it midway through a renovation.