Services
Iron and Air covers four service categories: standard residential electrical work, smart home and home integration, marine and vessel integration, and solar with battery monitoring. Each category has its own pricing model and entry point, but they share the same engineering discipline, the same Queensland Electrical Contractor licence, and the same audit-led approach where it applies. Pick the category that matches what you're trying to solve, or use the decision aid below if you're not sure where you fit.
Which service fits your situation
Most enquiries fall into one of four categories. The right starting point depends on what you're trying to fix, install, or assess. Each category links to a category page that breaks down the specific services within it.
Start with General Electrical if:
Your problem is a standard trade job. Switchboard upgrades, fault finding, EV charger installation, smoke alarm compliance, ceiling fans, hot water circuits, RCD installations, repairs to existing electrical work. Anything the average homeowner thinks of as "calling a sparky." General electrical work runs on a service-fee structure ($130 site visit covers Zone 1 travel and the first 30 minutes on site) with fixed-price quotes after the visit. No audit fee, no integration roadmap.
Start with Smart Home and Home Integration if:
You want infrastructure beyond standard electrical: a home running on Home Assistant with Matter and Thread devices, network failover so the house keeps working when NBN drops, smart lighting and climate retrofitted behind your existing switches, or all three integrated as one system. Smart home work runs through a paid System Audit ($450) that produces a written report and fixed-price install proposal. Three sub-services in this category: Home Assistant Integration, Network Failover with Peplink, and Smart Lighting and Climate Automation.
Start with Marine and Vessel Integration if:
Your vessel is stored at home, in dry storage, or on-trailer (not at a marina berth, which is deliberately outside scope). You want LiFePO4 battery upgrades, Victron commissioning, vessel monitoring through VRM, or unified home-and-vessel dashboards. Three sub-services: Marine 24V/48V DC Battery Systems, Vessel Monitoring and Remote Oversight, and Vessel-to-Villa Unified Dashboards. Marine work is quoted from a Combined Estate Audit ($900 covering both home and vessel) or a vessel-only scoped audit.
Start with Solar and Battery if:
Your existing solar has stopped producing or is producing less than expected, you want better monitoring across an existing solar-and-battery setup, you've inherited a system from a previous owner, or you need an off-grid system designed for a property without grid connection. Three sub-services: Solar Health Check ($250 diagnostic), Solar and Battery Monitoring (Home Assistant integration of the major Australian inverter and battery brands), and Off-Grid Solar System Design. Some grid-connect work is coordinated through SAA-accredited partner installers. See the category page for the transparent explanation.
If the work crosses categories (a property with general electrical needs and a smart home retrofit, or a home and a vessel both running Victron), the audit identifies the right scope and the right order. Most multi-category projects start with the audit that fits the largest piece of work, with the smaller categories scoped alongside.
The same engineering approach across all four
The four categories aren't four separate businesses. They share the engineering discipline that distinguishes the work from volume sparkies, dealer-managed smart-home installers, and dockside marine specialists.
One licensed contractor delivering all four
The same Queensland Electrical Contractor licence covers general electrical, integration, marine DC, and solar work. Same engineer, same standards, same documentation. Where the work crosses scopes (a switchboard upgrade as part of a smart home retrofit, a vessel install that ties into the home's network), there's no contractor handover. One project manager, one written scope, one combined deliverable.
Audit-led where complexity warrants it
Integration projects start with a paid System Audit because the scope can't be quoted reliably without measurement. The audit fee is the deliverable: you keep the report regardless of whether you proceed. General electrical jobs don't need an audit; the service fee covers a brief site visit and produces a written quote. The model fits the work, not the other way around.
Open-source and locally-controlled where it matters
Smart home installs run on Home Assistant on local controllers. Marine installs run on Victron managed systems with VRM as an optional cloud overlay. Solar monitoring integrates inverter and battery data into Home Assistant rather than locking clients to manufacturer apps. The infrastructure works through internet outages and survives vendor failures.
Documented handover at every install
Every project ends with a documentation pack: credentials, configuration, equipment inventory, automation logic in plain language. Clients own the system, not the contractor. Any other competent installer can pick up the work later if needed.
Scheduling and capacity
Most install and audit work is scheduled weekday evenings or weekends, when the property owner is home and proper time can be spent on the job rather than rushing between bookings during business hours. The integration project calendar is capped at two projects per month to keep work quality high.
Response to enquiries is typically within four business hours. General electrical site visits scheduled within five to seven business days for the standard service area. Larger integration and marine projects scheduled four to six weeks out from quote acceptance. Audits scheduled within two weeks for most situations, faster where settlement deadlines apply.
Where to start
If you know which category fits, click through to the category page above for detail on the specific sub-services and how they're priced. If you're not sure, the System Audit page covers the four audit types and which one fits which situation. For general electrical work that doesn't need an audit, the contact page is the right starting point.