Send a photo. Get a fixed price.

It depends entirely on what is behind the cover, which is why we ask for a photo rather than quoting a number that would be wrong. A board with room to spare and modern wiring is a very different job to a ceramic-fuse board with no earth. Send a clear photo of the open board and we will give you a fixed price before anyone visits.

Because it answers most of the questions in one go: how many circuits, whether there is a main switch and safety switches, whether it is fuses or breakers, how much room is left, and the age of the wiring coming into it. Ten seconds with a phone saves a call-out and lets us quote a real figure instead of a range.

Safety switches (RCDs) detect current leaking to earth and cut power in milliseconds - they protect people, where a fuse only protects wiring. Any home with ceramic fuses and no RCD is relying on 1950s protection. NSW requires them on new and altered circuits, and they are the single most worthwhile thing on an older board.

Ceramic fuses with fuse wire; no safety switches; the board is full with no spare positions; breakers that trip repeatedly; scorching, buzzing or a burning smell; an asbestos backing panel; or the board is simply too small for what the house now runs. Any of the last three is worth a call sooner rather than later.

Often, yes - if there is a spare position and the board is otherwise sound. Creating space in a full board typically adds $150 to $400. Where a board is unsafe or beyond its capacity we will say so rather than adding one more circuit to a problem.

Usually not. What matters is a spare position for the charger's own circuit protection. If there is none, creating space adds $150 to $400, confirmed with you before we proceed. A board that needs genuine replacement is a separate conversation, and you hear about it before any work starts.

Most domestic boards are a day, with the power off for part of it. We tell you beforehand how long you will be without power so you can plan around fridges, freezers and anyone working from home.

Backing panels in older boards can contain asbestos. If we find one, it is handled to the required standard rather than drilled or cut - and you are told before anything is disturbed, not after. It changes the job and it changes the price, and both are agreed first.

We work within 25 kilometres of our Cromer base, covering the Northern Beaches, both North Shores, the Northern Suburbs, the Sydney CBD, the Inner West and the Eastern Suburbs. Ring 0417 297 285 if you are not sure.