How our quotes work

Last updated: 15 October 2026

We price most jobs from photos and a conversation, and most of them never need a visit. That only works if both sides know what the price is based on and what happens when something on site turns out different. These are the rules we work to on every job, whether it is a switchboard, a solar and battery system or an EV charger. Where a rule does not apply to your job, it will not be on your quote.

1. Free estimates, and what "confirmed" means

Our estimates are free, and we work them out at our desk from the photos you send us. We don't visit to estimate. Photos are the minimum we need: without them we would only be guessing, so we can't give you an estimate. If you can't send photos, book a paid visit instead: the $299 Solar & Battery Design Visit for solar and batteries, or a visit at our standard call-out rate for other electrical work.

Solar and batteries

This is a free estimate, based on what you have told us and any photos you have sent, and we confirm it before anything is ordered. Clear photos settle most of it, and on plenty of jobs that is all it takes. If something cannot be confirmed that way, we will explain why, and a design visit may be needed before we can confirm the price. A design visit is $299 including GST, credited back in full off the installation if you go ahead with us within 30 days of the visit. If anything turns out different to what is priced here, you get the revised figure in writing and you decide before a dollar is spent. We do not order equipment or start work off an unconfirmed price.

Other electrical work

This is a free estimate, based on what you have told us and any photos you have sent, and we confirm it before anything is ordered. Clear photos settle most of it, and on plenty of jobs that is all it takes. If your photos can't settle it, we'll tell you why and book a paid visit at our standard call-out rate. If anything turns out different to what is priced here, you get the revised figure in writing and you decide before a dollar is spent. We do not order equipment or start work off an unconfirmed price.

Your price is locked in

After a paid design visit, your quote carries this clause instead:

We have checked your home in person, so this price is fixed for 30 days from the date of this quote. There will be no extra charges later for anything we could see on the day. Only four things can change it: a change you ask for, something hidden that nobody could see on the day, a requirement Energex sets after we apply, or a change to the government rebate. If one of those happens, you get the new figure in writing and you decide from there.

The design visit also gives you a written design that is yours to keep, whether or not you go ahead.

If we have already been to your place, for a design visit or a safety check, your quote will say so, and the price is based on what we checked on site as well as what you have told us.

2. The cable run allowance

The distance from your main switchboard is the one thing on a site that quietly moves a fixed price, so every quote states what is included up front.

• Solar and batteries, the 10 metre rule: the price includes the inverter, and the battery if there is one, installed within 10 metres of your main switchboard.
• EV chargers, the 15 metre rule: the price includes up to 15 metres of cabling from your main switchboard to the charger, which covers the cable, the conduit and the labour.

If the best spot turns out to be further than that, the extra run is charged by the metre beyond the included distance. The per metre rate is stated on your quote, including GST. We measure and confirm the exact distance with you before any work starts, so there are no surprises later. The same rule applies to any backup option.

This rule is about the run from your main switchboard. It does not cover extra battery cable between the inverter and the battery: if the battery has to sit away from the inverter, that extra cable is priced separately for your job and shown on your quote.

3. Your switchboard

Every price is based on your existing switchboard being able to take the work, and what is behind the panel is the one thing that can move it. We confirm that from clear photos of your switchboard, or at a paid visit if one is needed, before anything is ordered.

If it turns out there is no spare space in the board for the new circuit protection, or the board or its enclosure is not in a condition to work on safely, that work is quoted separately, put in writing, and you approve it before we start. Nothing on your switchboard is charged without you agreeing to it first.

4. Your supply and inverter capacity

Your electricity network, Energex for most of our customers, limits how much inverter capacity can be connected at your property, and that limit counts every inverter on the place, including any solar inverter you already have. On a single phase supply that is up to 10kW in total. On a three phase supply it is up to 30kW, 10kW on each phase.

If you already have solar, the usual way this is done is that your existing solar inverter comes out and your panels move across onto the new hybrid inverter, so you end up with one system and one app instead of two. Send us the make and model of any inverter already on the property, plus the number and wattage of your panels, and we confirm it all fits before anything is ordered.

One thing worth knowing when you size a battery: the power a battery can deliver to the house, in a blackout and day to day, is capped by the size of the inverter, not by the panels. The panels only set how fast the battery charges. A bigger inverter is what raises that output, and we can price one for you on request.

5. Reusing existing solar panels, and string rewiring

Where a price includes moving your existing panels across onto a new inverter, it assumes they are in good, safe working order. We test them as part of the changeover. If a panel turns out to be faulty, damaged or no longer safe to reconnect, we cannot put it back into service, and we will show you what we have found on the day before anything is done about it. Replacing panels is not included in the price. If it comes to that, the replacement is quoted separately and you approve it before we go ahead, and we tell you what leaving a panel off does to the output of the system.

The same goes for the way your array is wired. How the strings are run and joined only shows itself once we are in the roof and at the isolators on the day, and a wiring layout that suited your old inverter does not always suit a new one. If your panels turn out to be joined in parallel in the roof, or a string carries more current than the new inverter accepts, the array has to be rewired to suit, and that rewiring is not included in the price. It is a variation: we show you what we have found on the day, put the price for the rewiring in writing, and you approve it before we go ahead.

6. Backup power and safety switches

A battery connected to the grid with no backup needs no safety switch work. It is backup that changes things. During a power cut the battery becomes the source of supply for the circuits it backs up, and the wiring rules then require Type A safety switch protection on those circuits. It is the backup that triggers this, never the battery on its own.

Backup for chosen circuits

If your quote includes backup for chosen circuits, Type A protection applies to those circuits only, and nothing else about the board has to change. If the circuits you pick already have that protection, there is nothing more to do. If they do not, we fit it, and we confirm that small cost from clear photos of the board before we start.

Whole home backup

If you choose whole home backup, every circuit in the house is fed from the battery during a power cut, so the wiring rules require Type A protection on every final circuit in the board, not just on the new work. What your board is, and what condition it is in, is what decides how this goes. A newer board with room in it may take the change easily. An older board, a full one, or one that is not in a condition to work on safely has to be brought up to scratch first, and on some boards that work is what makes whole home backup possible at all. It is the one part of this we cannot settle from a price list.

We confirm exactly what your board needs from clear photos, or at a design visit if one is needed, before anything is ordered. Any board work is quoted separately, in writing, and you approve it before we start.

The whole home option

Some of the systems we install, including the GoodWe ESA, can run your whole house through a blackout rather than a few chosen circuits, and we put that option in front of every customer who buys one. It is never included in the base price and there is no obligation to take it. If you want it, the figure is stated on your quote, and the cable run allowance above applies to the backup work in the same way as the rest of the install.

7. Switching on an EV charger: the metering wait

On a single phase supply there can be a wait between the charger being installed and being allowed to switch it on. Your electricity network or your retailer's metering provider may need to attend first to fit or reconfigure their own equipment at your meter. We complete our part of the paperwork as part of the job, but the timing of that visit sits between you, your retailer and the network, and it is not something we control. We will tell you what has been lodged so you can chase it with your retailer if it drags on.

8. Surge protection, and doing the board in one visit

There is one thing that can take out a new inverter, battery or charger without any warning, and that is a voltage spike, whether it comes from a nearby lightning strike or from the network out in the street. A surge protection device sits in your main switchboard and clamps that spike before it reaches the new equipment, and it protects the appliances in the rest of the house at the same time. Surge damage is generally treated as an outside event rather than a fault in the equipment, so it is not usually something a manufacturer warranty picks up.

Surge protection is an offer, not a requirement. It is not included in a quote unless the quote says so, and there is no obligation to take it. Ask us and we will put the figure in writing for you. The same goes for the board itself: if it is due for an upgrade, having that done on the same visit as the installation is the cheapest it will ever be, because you are not paying for us to come back and set up a second time.

9. Warranties

Every panel, inverter, battery and charger we install carries the manufacturer's own warranty. Manufacturer warranties are given by the manufacturer, not by us, and their own warranty document sets the terms. We give you those documents with your handover paperwork, and your quote names the warranty on each item it includes.

We register your battery and your EV charger with the manufacturer when we commission them, which they require for the warranty to hold, and we give you the registration details with your handover paperwork.

Our installation work is separate and is covered by our lifetime workmanship warranty (conditions apply, see our Terms). None of this limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

10. Australian made panels

Every solar quote we write comes with an Australian made option. Our standard panel is a proven international panel and the right pick if budget is the priority. The Australian option is the Tindo Walara, designed and made in Adelaide by Australia's only solar panel manufacturer: the same wattage, so nothing else about your system changes, built for Australian conditions, carrying Tindo's own warranty, and with the maker's support here rather than overseas.

Tindo also backs these panels with their $1,000 Worry Free Warranty: if a panel ever needs replacing under a valid warranty claim, Tindo pays you $1,000 on top of fixing it, provided the system is registered with Tindo within 60 days of installation (conditions apply).

Choosing Australian made costs a little more, and we do not profit from that choice: you pay only the difference in what the panels cost us, plus GST, with no margin on top. Say the word and we will put the exact figure for your system in writing on your quote before you decide anything.

11. Who you are dealing with

Nuvolt is an electrical contractor first, not a sales company. We are Australian owned and operated, with a local crew on the Sunshine Coast and no overseas call centres. The people who price your job are the licensed electricians who do the work and stand behind it afterwards. There is no sales team on commission, so the advice you get is what we would do at our own place, not whatever earns the biggest sale.

And when the job is finished we are still here, for warranty, for servicing, and for anything electrical you need down the track. That is what our lifetime workmanship warranty (conditions apply, see our Terms) is built on, and it is why we would rather quote you right than quote you fast. Take your time with any quote we send, compare it with anyone, and ask us anything. We will never pressure you to sign.

12. How payment works

Nothing is scheduled and nothing is ordered until the deposit has been received in full. How the rest is staged depends on the size of the job, and your quote shows the instalments that apply to it.

• Jobs under $50,000 including GST: two invoices. A 50% deposit on acceptance, before scheduling and ordering, and the balance on completion.
• Jobs from $50,000 including GST: three instalments. A 50% deposit on acceptance; a progress instalment invoiced when the installation date is booked and due on the day our crew arrives on site; and a final instalment on completion of 20% of the price, never more than $20,000. The progress instalment is whatever remains.
• Jobs over $110,000 including GST: the instalments are set for the job and shown on your quote before you accept it. The final instalment is never more than $20,000.
• Variations: a variation you approve during the job is added to the final invoice, unless adding it would take the final to $25,000 or more, in which case it is invoiced when you approve it.

Payment methods, due dates and what happens if an invoice is overdue are set out in our Terms and Conditions.

The quote is the agreement

Your quote is the agreement between us. These notes explain the standing conditions it is written under, and our Terms and Conditions apply to every job. If anything on your quote is unclear, ask us before you accept it. We would rather answer the question now than have it come up on the day.