Fault finding is one of the few things we charge for time rather than fixed-price up front, because the symptom you're describing might be a 20-minute job or a 2-hour one — we can't always tell until we're there with a meter on the circuit. The band above is what most diagnostic visits land at across Melbourne's east, including the rectification of straightforward faults found on the day.
How to keep the bill down
Three things help: tell us as much context as you can over the phone (when did it start, weather, recent appliance changes, recent work on the property), don't reset a tripping breaker repeatedly before we arrive (it can mask the fault we're trying to find), and bundle small jobs you've been putting off — once we're on-site with the board off, adding a power point or replacing a faulty fitting takes very little extra time.
What's included in a Millar Electrics quote
A scheduled on-site visit, full diagnostic of the root cause (not just a symptom fix), make-safe work to isolate the fault and restore power where possible, a written quote for any larger rectification before any extra work happens, and the Certificate of Electrical Safety lodged for any prescribed work. Most common faults — switchboard issues, dead circuits, tripping RCDs — we make safe and fully repair on the first visit.