Newtown is a suburb of Sydney, nestled four kilometres south of the central business district. The community is only about a 10-minute walk from Sydney University. The neighbourhood has earned a reputation for being one of the most culturally diverse areas in Sydney. Its main artery, known as King Street, features a diverse cuisine that is truly the melting pot of the world’s cultures. The stretch of road is also known as Eat Street. The neighbourhood is rapidly growing, with the population surpassing 15,000 in 2019. You will find new homes and businesses sprouting from every inch of Newtown almost every day.
Whether building a new home or setting up a new business, you need the services of an electrician in Newtown. Hiring a licensed professional will protect you and your loved ones from danger. According to data, faulty wiring is the number one cause of residential fires in New South Wales. For instance, 4 in 10 of residential fires in the state are due to electrical short-circuit or electrical faults.
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How Much to Hire an Electrician in Newtown
If it is your first time to hire an electrician, you might be wondering about your budget. On average, the professional fee of an electrician in Australia ranges from as low as $50 to as high as $150. Electricians in Sydney, due to its high cost of living, typically charge a higher rate compared to other cities, such as Adelaide or Hobart, for instance.
Generally, you will pay about $85-90 per hour if you hire an electrician in Newtown. You can also pay a fixed rate, depending on the task at hand. For example, if you need to replace your electrical switch or your wiring cables.
For new installations, you will usually pay more. The cost ranges from $60 to $90 per square metre for a single-storey private dwelling. For a multi-storey building, the cost will spike to $75 to $120 per square metre.
Factors that Affect Pricing
You might be wondering why your next-door neighbour paid less for what you think is the same job. It is because service providers consider multiple factors in computing your final bill. Here are some of those considerations:
- The complexity of the job — No job is the same, even between two similar-sized houses in the same neighbourhood. Some unforeseen circumstances will force the electrician to spend more labour hours to fix the problem. As you may expect, it will affect the final bill.
- The scope of the task — The bigger the size of the space, the more time the electrician will spend to cover the entire area. It means logging in more hours in your home or place of business.
- Materials used — Premium and branded materials will cost more compared to the generic ones. If electricians use special tools for the job, you can bet that it will add to their total fees, as well.
In the same vein, the call-out fee will also affect the final bill for an electrician in Newtown.
As a rule of thumb, the more time an electrician spends on the job, the higher the fee they are going to charge. The good news is that you can always request a quotation for the estimated cost of the project before hiring the professional, which will allow you to prepare your budget.