Strata electrical work has its own rhythm. The decision-making sits with the committee, the invoicing goes through the OC manager, the access happens after hours so residents aren't blocked, and the maintenance schedule has to mesh with the building's insurer-driven audit cycle. The work itself is recognisable commercial scope — common-area lighting, emergency-lighting compliance, MSB maintenance, basement power, intercom, lift circuits, increasingly basement EV-charging schemes — but the way it's procured is different. Millar Electrics services owners corporations across Melbourne's eastern suburbs, working to whatever cadence the OC has resolved and reporting in the format the manager and committee need.
What we maintain
Common-area lighting — foyer, lift lobby, basement, stairwells, walkways, exterior bulkheads. Emergency escape lighting and exit signs to AS 2293.1 / 2293.2 — 6-monthly discharge tests, annual full inspection, battery and unit replacements as findings come up. Main switchboard maintenance — RCD testing, visual inspection, thermographic inspection where the insurer requires it. Common-area GPOs, intercom power, lift-machine-room circuits, basement extract fans, garbage-room electrical. The whole common-area envelope from the boundary inward.
Working with the committee and manager
We quote each piece of work line-itemed so the OC manager can match expenses to maintenance lots or capital-works fund categories. For anything requiring committee resolution — a riser upgrade, an EV-charging scheme, an MSB replacement — we attend committee meetings as needed, answer questions, and provide the technical detail in language non-electrical committee members can read. For routine maintenance we work to a pre-approved standing-rate schedule so call-outs don't need fresh approval each time.
Insurer audit response
Most commercial strata buildings carry insurance with carriers (IAG, QBE, Allianz, FM Global, Zurich, Liberty) whose risk engineers run periodic site audits. The output is a punch-list of items the OC needs to action. We work to that punch-list directly — quoting each item against the audit reference, closing out with documentation the insurer will accept (test certificates, replacement records, dated photos), and reporting back to the OC manager so the audit can be marked closed. Annual thermographic inspection is increasingly part of these audit programmes; we cover that under our thermographic inspection scope.
Basement EV charging
The growing edge of strata electrical. Most buildings are now resolving on a building-wide EV scheme rather than handling chargers ad-hoc, which means the OC needs an electrician who can scope a load-management system, run cables through approved riser routes, install sub-meters where the scheme requires per-bay billing, and provide the resident-facing documentation each owner needs for their strata file. We do all of that, working to whatever scheme the OC has approved.