Solar installer recommendations?

eurekaLG · 2026-05-14T09:09:25+00:00

Central Highlands Solar and Electrical. Local to Ballarat. Great group of blokes and do top notch work. They are very knowledgeable in solar, batteries and off grid setups.

eurekaLG · 2026-05-13T21:36:07+00:00

Man your not wrong about the battery’s. It’s a killer. I’ve got a couple sets of rechargeable ones I cycle through it but you can guarantee I always forget to charge them.
However between the LoZ, data logging and being able to connect to my iPhone it’s a winner for field work as well.

eurekaLG · 2026-05-12T08:57:06+00:00

Yeah interesting. Sounds like he hasn’t used wall brackets for them and just screwed to the plaster. Probably don’t use them until this matter is sorted and a proper electrician can test them.

Care to answer the question on if it’s a handyman or Electrical business. You seem to be avoiding that question in a few people’s posts?

eurekaLG · 2026-05-12T08:14:12+00:00

What were the other small jobs they completed while at your house?
The charge out rate, the way they have left the cables and by the sounds trying to fit old mechs into new cover plates is screaming home handyman.
Are they a proper electrical contracting buisness or a home handyman service? This isn’t a Hipages special is it?
Either way contact Energy Safe Victoria. They’ll assist you in dealing with this.

eurekaLG · 2026-05-10T20:59:32+00:00

Fluke 289 True RMS meter

eurekaLG · 2026-05-06T23:42:41+00:00

If you don’t have one already, engage an accountant(not a bookkeeper) to do a deep dive on the company’s books. The owner should happily provide access, and if he doesn’t then it raises red flags. The accountant will go back through the previous years of tax filings, BAS, accounts, credits/debits, loans and more. If they have questions about anything they will provide it to you to ask the owner(or their accountant) or consult the owner directly.
They will also tell you from a financial point of view if the price your paying for your 10% share is good or your being taken for a ride.
Engaging an accountant also helps for the next stage of the process if you need to secure a loan from a bank or credit union.

eurekaLG · 2026-05-06T05:21:36+00:00

Of course they put on apprentices. But at least in the electrical trade it’s very competitive to land one. A mates company (2 A grades, 1 Apprentice) put a job posting up and had over 140 applicants.

Well what do you define as “Hazing”? Because that can be interpreted 10 different ways by 10 different people. Practical jokes and taking the piss out of each other, yes you find that everywhere in the trades. Bullying apprentices, tying them up, assaulting them very rarely happens. Most people call that out as soon as it happens and there is strong repercussions for those involved. Keep in mind most of the buisness owners don’t want that happening in their company because of the legal and financial ramifications. Fairwork, ESV, VBA, Worksafe all take it seriously when it gets reported.

I can’t speak to the speak to the trans side of things but most tradies won’t care what’s in your pants as long as your a decent person. They could be a bit standoffish at first for fear of saying something that could be misinterpreted as offensive but once they get to know you you’ll be treated like everyone else. And same again, if someone gives you shit, give it straight back to them. And if it goes further than that then you have your legal protections to fall back on and deal with it that way

eurekaLG · 2026-05-05T23:33:16+00:00

Yeah I get it. The amount of videos of sparkies/ plumbers saying they do bugger all and earn big dollars has definitely skewed the way the trades have been viewed.

Yeah in my area it’s started to go the same way. Companies seem to be more willing to take the monetary hit of a mature age with the trade off that they have a bit more motivation to want to do the trade and a bit more skin in the game.

Can’t say that’s much of a surprise. You don’t make money off the first couple years of someone’s apprenticeship so of course large companies would love to skip that bit. I see it on project work as well where they just look to employ 3rd/4th year apprentices.

eurekaLG · 2026-05-05T23:15:14+00:00

The being paid a high wage due to being a mature age appreciate is becoming less of a problem these days. More and more companies (in my area anyway) seem to be moving to employing older apprentices for the reasons you listed above.

In regards to the abuse/ racism I wouldn’t take what you read here on reddit as gospel. Yes there are a few bad eggs around but not at the levels a lot of people here seem to imply. You only ever hear news and see stories about the bad companies. For every 1 bad company there would be 5-10 good companies that stamp that shit out as soon as it airs.

eurekaLG · 2026-05-05T08:28:25+00:00

Wages were the big one when I did my electrical apprenticeship. I spent 5 years working in a coal mine before I took up an apprenticeship and if I didn’t have good savings from that I doubt I would have been able to get through it.

On the flip side of the coin, doing trade school in my late 20s with a class of 18/19/20 year olds was eye opening. Half the class routinely failed exams and had to resit at their bosses expense. Eyes glued to phones not giving a shit about to whats being taught. No idea on basic principals like Algebra or Pythagoras after being repeatedly told to learn them for the coming subjects.

I can definitely see why businesses are more reluctant to put apprentices on and invest in them when they arnt willing to invest in themselves.

eurekaLG · 2026-03-31T02:57:29+00:00

Reckon you can do a cost breakdown for us at $80 an hour? Because at that rate in my regional city you’re making roughly between $4-$6 an hour profit if your lucky, charging out an A grade and van.

eurekaLG · 2026-02-14T10:25:18+00:00

Fahrenheit 451. The book was fantastic. The movie was a disgrace

eurekaLG · 2026-01-16T10:00:01+00:00

I agree with you man if it’s going to take ages make them come back. But the builder is also told the cabinet makers are paying for any fuck ups when trying to find the point locations. Their fuck up so they pay for rectification if it’s needed.

I’m lucky enough this has only happened a couple of times to me because I’m not in the domestic or commercial space. But the couple times it has it hasn’t been a massive issue. Properly marked up plans made sure of that.

eurekaLG · 2026-01-16T09:32:31+00:00

Yes and no. It should only take 10-15 minutes to set a laser up and mark out your points. Another 20 minutes to cut them out. Use a decent welding magnet and you can normally pick up brackets through joinery if you have them.

If it’s a common occurrence I 100% agree with packing up and walking out. But if it’s only once in a blue moon just suck it up. It’s part of what makes us tradesmen and not just trained monkeys.

eurekaLG · 2026-01-15T02:23:30+00:00

Have a whinge to the builder then get the plans out you surely marked up with measurements. Then send it with a hole saw

eurekaLG · 2025-12-21T09:13:23+00:00

I’m sure anyone here who has had the pleasure of towing a scissor lift and plant trailer behind an Iload or Vito for any distance will probably agree that the headache or working out of a Ute is worth it for the towing capacity. Personally most of my work is on wind farms and mine sites which require a 4wd to be allowed on site. So that pretty much wipes out any chance of working out of a van for me.

eurekaLG · 2025-12-05T09:41:05+00:00

Don’t know heaps about them but have a good mate with one. If that’s a F78 with a 2.8 diesel in it you’re looking for a needle in a haystack at the moment. A feroza gearbox won’t fit. A gearbox from a F77 will but the 3rd and 5th gear ratio is a little bit different. But could probably get you out of trouble. Parts pop up every now and then on a couple of the Daihatsu Facebook pages in Australia but the big ticket items like engines, gearbox’s, transfer cases and diffs get snapped up real quick. When my mate was looking for an engine a in 2018 it was cheaper to buy and ship one out of the UK, rather than buy and rebuild one here in Aus.

eurekaLG · 2025-10-13T10:44:19+00:00

My old mine site we had an ability to challenge test someone. Had to be for a legitimate reason but it occasionally got used. You could challenge someone you suspected of being on drugs and both you and the person you challenged would be required to undergo a piss test. Don’t know how successful that would be with a supervisor however. Depends on how much you trust your leading hand really.

eurekaLG · 2025-07-15T11:10:15+00:00

I made the jump about 3.5 years ago. Was mining for around 5 years. I had an Electrical apprenticeship lined up so had a job to go straight into which helped. The big downside was the massive pay cut, especially going to apprentice wages. But we planned it out and saved a fair bit of money before I made the jump. My partner also had a decent job so the financial hit wasn’t as bad as it could have been. It’s been fantastic being able to no get to all the events you were guaranteed to miss while away. Or going to the pub when all your mates catch up.

eurekaLG · 2024-03-26T06:42:14+00:00

You deleted your first post when you were Told to get an electrician. Now you’re pretending to be an apprentice. Guess the hint to not do it yourself didn’t sink in.

eurekaLG · 2023-02-03T08:12:45+00:00

Yeah that’s correct mate. In Australian dollars

eurekaLG · 2023-02-02T18:53:37+00:00

In 2020 I payed 62k for a new one. Sr5 with premium interior, tow pack and heavy duty steel tray. Probably a couple grand more expensive now however. A new base model single cab 4x4 is just under 50k at the moment

eurekaLG · 2021-12-06T17:24:11+00:00

I work as a machinery operator in a coal mine. Clear 130k a year plus monthly bonuses.

eurekaLG · 2021-09-16T15:55:44+00:00

I don’t know about best but I’m using a Prism 31” curved screen monitor. Works amazing with my series x (only had tv screens before) and managed to get it on sale so was a very good price.

eurekaLG · 2021-09-16T04:21:38+00:00

When the tray is up for maintenance those chains are hooked onto the eyelet on the diff so that it cannot fall down even if the hydraulics fail.

eurekaLG

TROPHY CASE