New Build & Renovation Electrical Consultation
Sit down with your plans before the gyprock goes up. Once those sheets are on the walls, it's too late — and far too costly — to go back and add what's missing. A proper electrical consultation catches the additions, removals and repositioning a builder's quick walk-through usually misses, while it's still just a conversation and not a repair job.
When it's worth booking one
The best time to talk through your electrical is before the frame closes in — once the walls are up, changes get expensive.
- Building new or renovating and want more than a builder's standard electrical walk-through
- Not sure where power, data, TV or speaker points should go until you're actually living in the space
- Want to future-proof for data, antenna, audio-visual or smart-home wiring without paying to retrofit it later
- Reviewing your plans and want an independent second opinion before signing off on the electrical
- Already have a builder and electrician but want extra eyes on the plans before it's locked in
Why a consultation pays for itself
Cheaper before the walls close up
Adding or moving a cable once the gyprock's up is often costly, or sometimes just not achievable, without repair work to put right. Sorting it on paper first avoids that altogether.
Wiring for how you'll actually live
We go through the plans room by room and talk through how you'll actually move through and use the home — not just where the builder's standard points happen to fall.
Future-proofed for very little extra
Running data, antenna, audio-visual and other specialty cabling now costs very little compared with a retrofit. Even if you don't connect it all straight away, the hard part is already done.
Marked-up plans, no lock-in
We digitally mark up your plans with our recommendations using a PDF markup tool, then hand them back to you — they're yours to keep and use however you like. Take them to your own builder or electrician for the amendments, or have us carry out the install — entirely your call. We're just glad to have earned your trust with the design.
What's included
A proper sit-down working through your build or renovation plans, not a five-minute chat on site.
- Sit-down review of your build or renovation plans
- Recommendations on power point additions, removals & relocations
- Data, antenna & audio-visual cabling planning
- Smart-home & automation wiring planning
- Security & access-control cabling planned in early
- Lighting layout & circuit planning
- Marked-up plans to keep, use or hand to your builder
- Optional: Hood Electrical carries out the resulting install
Four steps, one sit-down
1. Sit down together
We go through your plans page by page — power, data, AV and smart-home wiring included.
2. Think it through
We suggest additions, removals and relocations, and prompt the questions most people don't think to ask until they're living in the home.
3. Mark up the plans
You keep a set of plans marked up with our recommendations — cabling included, whether or not you connect it all on day one.
4. You choose who installs
Sit down with your own builder and electrician to go through the amendments, or have Hood Electrical carry out the install — entirely your call.
It's a service most builders' electricians don't offer beyond a quick walk-through, and it's one of the most valuable things we do — clients who've been through it consistently say it got them thinking about their home in a way a standard electrical consultation never did.
A light bulb moment for first-home builders
Sitting down with a couple building their first home, we went through the plans room by room — and found a gap the standard walk-through had missed. Coming home in the evening through the garage, there was no way to turn the hallway light on until you were already standing in the dark hallway. The fix was simple once we spotted it: a 3‑way switch, so no matter which door you come through, the lights are always just one switch away.
It's a small thing on its own, but it's exactly the kind of thing we catch every time — provisioning power for an alfresco you're not building yet (impossible to add once the house is up), running cabling for Christmas lights, wiring in indoor and outdoor speakers before the gyprock goes up so they can be fitted off later when finances allow. None of it costs much to run in now. All of it is expensive, messy, or simply impossible to add after the walls close up.
Book your consultation before the frame closes up
Bring your plans and we'll sit down and go through them together — a small amount of time now can save a lot of money later.