Rental safety checks — smoke alarms everywhere, and electrical and gas in some states — create a steady stream of recurring, scheduled work for licensed tradies. For sparkies, plumbers, and gasfitters, understanding this work is understanding a source of repeat jobs.
Why this work is different from one-off jobs
Most trade work is reactive — something breaks, someone calls. Rental safety checks are the opposite: they’re scheduled and recurring, and in some states the law sets the cycle. That makes them predictable income. A property manager or landlord with a portfolio wants these done on a regular basis, every property, every cycle — and they need a licensed tradie to do it.
What the law requires depends on the state. In Victoria, the Residential Tenancies Regulations 2021 require gas and electrical safety checks every two years for most rental agreements. In Tasmania, the Residential Tenancy (Smoke Alarms) Regulations 2022 require smoke alarms to be tested at the start of each tenancy, but there’s no periodic electrical or gas check, so the recurring work there comes from landlords and property managers who choose to schedule it. Confirm the current rules with your state’s regulator (TechSafe or CBOS in Tasmania).
The opportunity for tradies
Because the checks recur on a schedule, they’re the kind of work that compounds. Land a property manager with twenty properties and you’ve got a recurring book of scheduled jobs, not twenty one-off calls. It’s some of the most valuable work a licensed trade business can build, precisely because it’s repeatable and reminder-driven.
The catch: staying on top of the schedule
The challenge isn’t the work — it’s the coordination. Knowing which property is due when, reminding the client, booking it in, doing it, and certifying it. Miss the schedule and you lose the job to whoever’s more organised. This is an admin problem, and admin is exactly where trade businesses lose time.
How to run it without drowning in scheduling
The businesses that win this work are the ones whose system tracks every property’s next check and sets up the next job automatically. TradieO’s service schedules do this — put a customer on a schedule after the job and, two weeks before each service, the next job is created and booked onto your board by itself, unless you pause the schedule or skip that visit. It can email the customer first to ask whether anything else needs doing, so recurring safety-check work runs on rails instead of relying on your memory.
Frequently asked questions
What checks do rental properties typically need?
It depends on the state. Tasmania requires smoke alarms to be tested at the start of each tenancy, with no periodic electrical or gas check. Victoria requires gas and electrical safety checks every two years for most rental agreements. Check your state’s rental rules for the exact requirements.
Is this work worth chasing?
Yes — it’s recurring, scheduled, and predictable, which is rare and valuable in trade work.
How do I keep track of when each property is due?
Use a system with automatic service reminders so the schedule tracks itself rather than living in your head.
