Short answer
A licensed electrician for any alarm wired to the mains, which covers most alarms installed in the last few decades and every alarm required in a new build. A standalone battery alarm screwed to the ceiling is a householder job. If you are a landlord, the obligations are specific and they are yours rather than the tenant's.
What to do before anyone arrives
- Look at the alarm. If there is a cable going into the ceiling, it is mains-powered and it is an electrician. If it comes off the ceiling with a twist and has only a battery, it is not.
- Check the manufacture date printed on the back. Alarms have a service life — commonly ten years — and expire whether or not they have ever sounded.
- Count how many you need. Requirements have moved towards an alarm in every bedroom and interconnection between them, so the number you have may not be the number you now need.
- If you rent the property out, check your state's rental rules specifically. Several states require photoelectric alarms, annual testing, and records.
What to ask when you book
- Are you fitting photoelectric alarms, and are they interconnected?
- Do they have a ten-year sealed battery or a replaceable one?
- Does the quote cover every location my state now requires, or only replacing what is there?
- Will you leave documentation of the install date and locations?
What changes the price
No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.
- How many alarms, and whether they have to be interconnected — wired interconnection is more work than wireless.
- Whether new locations need cable run to them.
- Ceiling access.
What you can do yourself
Is this licensed work?
Connecting, replacing or interconnecting mains-powered alarms is licensed electrical work. Requirements for what type of alarm, where, and how often they are tested are set by each state and by the building's age and use, and they have been tightened repeatedly.
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.
Common questions
- Who should I hire for smoke alarms to replace
- A licensed electrician for any alarm wired to the mains, which covers most alarms installed in the last few decades and every alarm required in a new build. A standalone battery alarm screwed to the ceiling is a householder job. If you are a landlord, the obligations are specific and they are yours rather than the tenant's.
- Do smoke alarms really expire?
- Yes. The sensing element degrades, and manufacturers print an expiry or manufacture date on the back for that reason. An alarm that chirps for a new battery is asking for a battery; an alarm past its printed life needs replacing even if it tests fine, because the test button checks the sounder rather than the sensor.
- Photoelectric or ionisation?
- Australian state requirements have moved decisively towards photoelectric, which responds better to the smouldering fires that produce most residential fatalities. Several states now require photoelectric alarms outright in rental and new work. If you are replacing alarms at all, photoelectric is the type to buy.
Find a Electrician near you
3,996 electricians in this directory, ranked on published evidence rather than on advertising.
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General information about who does what, not advice about your specific job. Licensing, consumer law and council rules differ by state and change; the regulator for your state is the current source. More guides to hiring a tradesperson.