Home Maintenance near you

Twice a year suits most Australian homes, timed to the local extremes rather than to the calendar. In the southern states, late summer to early autumn for roof drainage and autumn for draughts and heating, then late winter for exterior timber and coatings. In the north, the year is built around the wet season, so gutters, roof fixings and drainage get done before it rather than after. Houses near the coast, under trees or above a subfloor warrant a closer interval.

Anything electrical, at any value — electrical installation work must be done by a licensed electrician. Anything involving gas. And plumbing or drainage, which Queensland licenses at any value through the QBCC and Victoria through its building and plumbing regulator. Beyond those, general building and trade work becomes licensed work once it passes the value your state sets: New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia each set their own, and Victoria and Western Australia also look at whether a building permit is required.

It is the classic example of a job that looks trivial and causes serious injuries. Ladder falls around the home are common and preventable, and NSW electrical safety guidance specifically warns to keep clear of the overhead wires attached to buildings when painting, clearing gutters or using ladders. If you have a single-storey house, a stable surface and the right ladder, it is a decision you can make. If any of those are missing, it is worth hiring out — it is one of the cheapest items on a maintenance list.

A written record of what was checked, what was done and what was deferred, with photographs of anything in a roof space, a subfloor or on the roof that you cannot see yourself. Plus the compliance paperwork from any licensed trade that was involved. That record is the baseline for the next visit, and it is what turns a series of one-off jobs into an actual maintenance history for the house.

It is, and it is the one most often missed. ACCC Product Safety lists bookcases, chests of drawers and wardrobes, cabinets, entertainment units, unsecured televisions, hall tables, buffets and sideboards among the items that topple, and advises securing them to the wall or floor with an anchoring device in every room. Households change — a child arrives, a room changes use, furniture gets moved — and a maintenance visit is the natural moment to check that what was anchored still is, and that what was not now is.

Ask for the licence or registration number and the name it is held in, then check it on the regulator's own public register — not on a logo in a quote. Confirm three things: that it is current, that its class covers the work you are asking for, and that the name matches the business that will invoice you. Remember that each trade has its own register: in Victoria, for example, electricians are licensed by Energy Safe Victoria while plumbers, gasfitters and drainers are registered with the building and plumbing regulator.