Demo. Tradies Bureau is running as a public demo, with made-up businesses to try and no sign-up. See it as an electrician, a plumber or a builder.
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Electricians: what applies and how to set up

What an electrician in Victoria has to hold, how to set the app up for one, and a walk through the electrician demo.

What applies to an electrician

Start with what every business in the trade holds. Each question you answer yes to adds its own branch. This tree is drawn from the same rules the Compliance Checker and your compliance map use, so it changes when a rule does.

StartYou're an electrician in Victoria

Every business in the trade

Licences

  • A-grade Electrician LicenceBy lawEnergy Safe Victoria. Personal licence; renews every 5 years with CPD.

Registrations

  • Registered Electrical Contractor (REC) RegistrationBy lawEnergy Safe Victoria. The business registration needed to contract for electrical work; renews up to every 5 years.

Insurance

  • Public Liability InsuranceBy lawA Registered Electrical Contractor must hold at least $5m public liability (Energy Safe Victoria). Contracting without it is an offence.

Training and tickets

  • CPR/First AidA current CPR or first aid certificate. Not a licence, and not required by law for the trade, but builders and sites often ask to see one.
  • White CardConstruction induction card. Good practice on home jobs, and mandatory on commercial sites. Doesn't expire, but must be redone after 2+ years out of construction work. In Victoria the course must be done face to face.

Jobs

  • Certificate of Electrical SafetyBy lawOn each jobCopies to the customer within 1 month of finishing.

Deadlines and business obligations

  • Written notice of a notifiable incidentBy lawTracked on its own screenNotify WorkSafe straight away, preserve the site, and send written notice within 48 hours.

I work at heights (roofs, scaffolding, elevated platforms, balconies)

If yes, add

Training and tickets

  • Working at HeightsTraining for work where you could fall, such as roofs, scaffolds and elevated platforms. Good practice, not a licence.

Set up under Dashboard → Compliance map

I have staff

If yes, add

Insurance

  • WorkCoverBy lawRequired once you pay more than $7,500 a year in wages, or employ any apprentice or trainee (WorkSafe Victoria). Register within 60 days.

Staff

  • Fair Work Information StatementBy lawChecked on each person's pageGive every new employee the Fair Work Information Statement before they start, or as soon as possible after (Fair Work Ombudsman).

Set up under Onboarding → Employees

I employ apprentices

If yes, add

Deadlines and business obligations

  • Electrical apprentice supervision ratioBy lawTracked on its own screenFrom 1 September 2025: a first-year apprentice works under direct supervision, one to one; under broad supervision one supervisor can have up to 5 apprentices.

Set up under Onboarding → Employees, on the apprentice's page

I engage other trades on my jobs

If yes, add

Each trade you engage is checked against that trade's own list before they start: licence, registration and insurance.

Set up under Onboarding → Subcontractors

11 things at most, 8 of them required by law

These rules are a guide to what to hold, not legal advice. Check anything you're relying on with the regulator or your adviser.

Set it up for your own business

  1. Run the Checker as an electrician. Tick Electrician and answer the questions. It lists your registration, licence, insurance and tickets, and what staff or apprentices add.
  2. Add what you hold. Enter your contractor registration and licence with their numbers and expiry dates, and your public liability certificate of currency with the insured name and cover amount.
  3. Add your people. Add each employee and apprentice. An apprentice's page tracks the training contract, registration and yearly progress, and who supervises them.
  4. Log jobs as you book them. Each job picks up the certificate its work needs. Mark it complete when you finish and the deadlines start.
  5. Add a contract when you work for a builder. Enter the subcontract and log each payment claim on the day you send it. The app counts the builder's deadlines for you.

See it working in the demo

The electrician demo is a made-up business, Brightwire Electrical Co., with Sam as its owner. A registered electrical contractor with a first-year apprentice, doing rewires for home owners and switchboard work for a builder.

  1. Open the electrician tour at /tour/electrician and choose Open the electrician demo. There's no sign-up and no email.
  2. Dashboard. What needs Sam this week: Sam's contractor registration runs out in 3 days. The rewire starts in 4, and it can't start without a safe work method statement. Further up the page, the insurance check has spotted the kicker: an apprentice on the books and no WorkCover. Red means this week. Amber, this month. Green, leave it alone.
  3. Jobs. A certificate on every job: Mark a job complete and the clock starts on its certificate of electrical safety. The switchboard upgrade? Done and delivered. The EV charger job is the one to watch: the certificate's issued, but the customer's copy is still sitting with Sam.
  4. Jobs → Rewire, stage 1. Before the next job starts: Stage 1 of the rewire is right next to live parts. That makes it high risk construction work, so the job asks for a safe work method statement. And it keeps asking until there's one on file.
  5. Contract Admin → Contracts → L14 Distribution Boards. Getting paid by the builder: Brightwire is the subbie on an apartment job, and claim 2 went in 4 days ago. The app counts the business days for you: when the builder's payment schedule is due, and when the money is. Miss either date and the claim gets flagged.
  6. Dashboard → Share my credentials. Prove it in one link: A builder asks for Sam's licence and insurance. Sam sends one link, not a folder of PDFs. Whoever opens it sees what's current that day. When Sam pulls the link, it stops working.

Everyone trying the demo shares the one business, and it's rebuilt every night, so don't enter anything private and expect anything you add to be gone by morning. No emails or messages are sent. To see another trade, use the links in the yellow bar at the top.

Good to know

  • A written contract with a home owner for electrical work only goes in as Single-trade work. It isn't a domestic building contract, so there's no cooling-off, home warranty, building permit or inspections to track. Variations, RFIs and delays are still counted.
  • If the contract takes in another trade or other building work, choose Building work: then it is a domestic building contract. Small jobs with no written contract stay under Jobs.
  • Use Contract Admin when you're the subcontractor on a builder's or a commercial job too. That's where payment claims, variations, RFIs and delays are counted.
  • Mark a job complete on the day you finish. The certificate's deadlines count from that date, not from the day you get to the paperwork.
  • Enter the insured name from your public liability certificate. The dashboard checks it against your registration and keeps asking until it's there.
  • Once anyone is on the payroll, apprentices included, the insurance check asks for WorkCover.