I'm getting solar hot water ( electric boosted as no gas to the block ) installed soon and apparently will need a new power point installed. As I have the old fuse wire type switchboard I'm told I will need to have it replaced with a modern switchboard.

The house is single storey weatherboard 1920s - the wiring looks fairly new apart from the switchboard. House is 3 bed, with one big living room. at some point in the future I will be renovating and adding a family room to the kitchen and probably a study too - rearranging the floorplan may mean a small 2nd storey extension rather than losing garden. My garage and workshop is at the bottom of the garden - I currently don't have table saw etc but oneday. The cooker is electric.

I had a written quote ( the guy came to the house first) where the quote goes into quite a bit of detail - 17 pole switchboard including 2 x main switches, 7 x circuit breakers, 2x safety switches, spare space for the future. for $500.

I had another verbal quote of $700 over the phone - for a 14 position switchboard - the guy didn't really ask many questions at all and wasn't interested in being emailed photos or plans to help him with his quote.

I should have had a third quote but the guy showed up was here ages and then disappeared off of the face of the earth.

Obviously I'm happier with the lower more detailed quote I'd just like to be sure that the size of the switchboard quoted and what is going into it sounds reasonable. What I don't want is 3 or 4 years down the track to be told that the switchboard is undersized ( or to pay for a switchboard that is way oversized ).

Is there anything which is missing from the quote that I should be wary of? The safety switches seem like a good idea.

Any opinions on the sizing and equipment would be most useful. Thanks, Jackie


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