Software for electricians in Australia: certificates, test and tag and estimating

What does an electrical job have to produce besides an invoice?

An electrical job ends with a legal record: a certificate that the work was tested and is safe, issued in the format your state requires and kept for years. The invoice is the easy part. The certificate, the test results behind it and, for maintenance clients, the test and tag history are what an inspector, insurer or builder will ask for later.

That changes what good software looks like for an electrical contractor. A plumber or a painter can live with a job card, photos and an invoice. An electrician needs the job record to carry test values, licence numbers, the address and the equipment worked on, in a shape that can become a certificate without someone retyping it at night.

If you want the general picture of job platforms first, our trades software comparison covers pricing and fit. This page stays on the electrical paperwork.

How do certificates differ between NSW, Victoria and Queensland?

Each state names the certificate differently, sets a different deadline and runs a different lodgement channel. The table summarises what the regulators publish at the time of writing (November 2026).

State	Certificate	Deadline	How it is lodged or given
NSW	Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work (CCEW)	No later than 7 days after completing the safety and compliance test	Building Commission NSW eCert portal, or an approved API
Victoria	Certificate of Electrical Safety (COES), prescribed or non-prescribed	Prescribed: to the customer within 16 calendar days of completion. Non-prescribed: within one month	Electronic COES through ESVConnect; paper COES from wholesalers, lodged by phone
Queensland	Certificate of testing and safety (Electrical Safety Regulation 2026, section 208)	As soon as practicable after testing	Given to the person the work was done for; contractor keeps a copy for at least 5 years

A few details matter for software design:

• NSW counts like for like swaps. Building Commission NSW says a CCEW is needed for installing, repairing, adding or altering electrical equipment, including replacements such as water heaters and ovens. Small jobs generate certificates too, so volume is higher than many owners expect.
• Victoria splits by risk. Prescribed work, which includes consumer mains, main earthing, solar and other generation systems, and medical areas, must be inspected by a licensed electrical inspector before connection. Your system needs to track the inspection step as well as the certificate.
• Queensland renumbered its rules. The Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 commenced on 1 September 2026 and replaced the 2013 regulation. WorkSafe Queensland says the obligations did not change, but templates and checklists that quote old section numbers (section 26 became section 208) should be updated.

Other states and territories run their own systems. A business working in more than one state needs a certificate module per state, sharing one job record underneath.

Where do simPRO, AroFlo, Fergus, ServiceM8 and Tradify stop?

They handle quoting, scheduling, invoicing and forms well; the gaps appear where state certificates, client site asset registers and multiple wholesalers meet. Simpro sells a Digital Forms add-on and AroFlo lists inbuilt compliance forms, so a form that looks like a certificate is easy. The harder parts are:

1. Filling the certificate from test results already captured on the job, so values are typed once.
2. Sending it to the state system without an office worker logging into a portal.
3. Holding test and tag history by client site and asset across years, independent of jobs.
4. Comparing prices across several wholesalers when you buy from more than one.

Before scoping anything custom, ask your vendor directly: do you submit CCEWs through the eCert API, can we export test results per asset, and which wholesaler feeds do you support? The answers decide whether you need a build at all.

Can job data become a certificate without retyping?

In NSW, yes, through the BCNSW eCert API, which accepts certificate data from job management systems and high volume contractors once they are onboarded. The portal still validates the licence, stores the certificate and distributes it.

Building Commission NSW describes a five stage onboarding:

1. Confirm the business is eligible under the legislation.
2. Request test environment access, with business details and technical specifications.
3. Build and test the integration against the documentation.
4. Request production access, with confirmation of testing and example payloads.
5. Receive credentials and start submitting.

The eligible groups listed are job management software vendors, electrical businesses holding a company or partnership contractor licence that submit high volumes, and users of the registered CER installer portal. For a mid sized contractor, the realistic options are to choose a platform that already submits, or to build a small service that reads completed jobs from your platform’s API, shows the electrician a draft for sign off, and sends it through eCert under your own approval.

In Victoria, the regulator states that electronic COES purchase and lodgement happens in ESVConnect only. We could not find a published API for third party software, so the practical build there is a draft generator that fills the certificate fields from the job, not automated lodgement.

What should a test and tag register hold?

A useful register is organised by client, site and asset, with each test result, the tag issued and the next due date. AS/NZS 3760:2022 sets the inspection and testing procedures, recommended frequencies by equipment type and environment, tagging and record keeping, and the competency of the tester. Your software holds the evidence; the standard and the client’s workplace obligations set the intervals.

Use this checklist when you assess a test and tag tool or brief a build:

• Asset ID matching the tag, with description, location and photo
• Test type and results (visual inspection, earth continuity, insulation resistance, polarity, RCD trip time where relevant)
• Tester name and competency record
• Pass or fail, with failed items quarantined and a follow up job created
• Next due date calculated from the interval the client has set
• A client portal or scheduled report showing what is due, failed or overdue
• Offline capture on a phone or tablet, because plant rooms and basements lose signal

Queensland’s regulation also names AS/NZS 3760 directly for workplace safety switches and requires hired out equipment to be inspected, tested and tagged at least every 6 months, which shows how regulators lean on these records. For on site capture, a cross platform app built in Flutter is a common fit.

How do wholesaler price files feed estimates?

Major electrical wholesalers already publish price files and invoice feeds for the main platforms, so estimating accuracy often comes down to switching them on. Middy’s lists direct integration of invoices and price files with simPRO, Xero and Fergus, emailed CSV files for AroFlo, and delivery for ServiceM8 and MYOB users, in daily, weekly or monthly cycles. Rexel lists a simPRO integration that keeps the price book current and assigns supplier invoices to the right job.

Custom estimating work earns its place when you buy from three or more wholesalers and want the cheapest current price per item, when you price assemblies (a switchboard upgrade as one line with its components behind it), or when you want margin by job type reported back from actual supplier invoices. That is integration work rather than a new system, and our API integration cost guide explains how those projects are priced.

Where do switchboards and solar double the paperwork?

Switchboard upgrades and solar or battery installs create more than one record per job, because they involve the network, the regulator and sometimes a rebate. In Victoria, generation systems sit in the prescribed category that needs an inspection. Solar and battery work also carries the Clean Energy Regulator’s evidence trail, which our solar installer software page covers. If your business does both general electrical and solar work, keep one customer and site record and attach each certificate and claim to it, rather than running separate tools.

What do these builds cost?

Most electrical contractors need one focused module, not a new system, and those sit in the simple tool to lower mid complexity range. These are indicative AUD market ranges, ex GST, not quotes. They sit inside the bands Expeed publishes for Australian custom software: $15,000 to $40,000 for simple internal tools and $40,000 to $150,000 for mid complexity systems.

Build	What it includes	Indicative range
Certificate generator and lodgement helper	Reads completed jobs, fills the state certificate, electrician sign off, eCert submission where onboarded	$15,000 to $40,000
Test and tag register with client portal	Offline mobile capture, site and asset register, due date engine, client login and reports	$25,000 to $60,000
Multi wholesaler estimating integration	Price file imports, assemblies, cheapest price lookup, invoice to job costing	$15,000 to $35,000

Ongoing hosting and maintenance add cost each year; Expeed puts maintenance at 15% to 20% of the build annually. Ranges move with the number of states, the platform’s API and how much offline capture you need.

How AWLabs works with electrical contractors

We start with a Development Consult to hear where certificates, test records or prices get rekeyed. If custom work looks worth doing, a paid Discovery Audit checks your platform’s API, the state certificate channels you use and your wholesaler feeds, then you get a fixed price Schedule of Work with three options: The Minimum, The Recommended and The Complete. Senior engineers lead every build, with updates every Tuesday and Friday, Sydney time.

We haven’t yet delivered a project for an electrical contractor, and we’ll tell you if your platform can already do the job with better setup. See our wider construction and trades work and our API development service. This page is general information, not legal advice; your licensed staff and the regulator decide what each certificate must contain.