Cochrane Street Paddington Project 

These are things that must be done by contractors who have the appropriate (occupational) licences. If you don’t have these yourself, you must outsource this to get your certification forms.

Electricals must be outsourced to a licenced contractor. When getting a sparky, ask for quote based on an hourly rate as opposed to a fixed amount quote. If you have time, ask to help running cables if that keeps the costs down, some let you help, some don’t.

Aircon

We don’t want the entire house to have aircon  

Smoke Detectors

As part of a building approval process, projects like ours should have the required smoke alarms installed in line with the requirements of the National Construction Code (NCC) formally known as Building Code of Australia 1988 (BCA) and the Building Regulation 2006 (Qld). Make sure you get 240V hardwired smoke alarms. We will install Google Nest Protect Smoke Alarms (Wired), they are considered the best but they aren’t cheap at about A$150 each but worth it.

Solar

A plumber once said “Every house should have one and one only skillion roof facing North“.

Unfortunately it is still difficult to find a reliable  solar company that can install and give you comfort that they will look after you once the job is done.

Batteries are (in 2024) not really up to standard and there are too many horror stories re spontaneous fires caused by them. We decided not to go the battery route.