Hi sparkies, I'm a novelist & in my current work in progress, someone is restoring an 1880s mansion in central west NSW.

It's a big house - 8 bedrooms, lots of living spaces. It's had some restoration done in the 1960s, and was lived in until 1999, but has been empty ever since. The new occupant has the wiring checked as it was a bit flaky (lots of flickering lights and dead powerpoints) even before the house was left to the rodents for 10 years.

Here's my questions:

• How long would such a check take a small team of sparkies to complete?
• In my hypothetical scenario the sparkies find mouse damage & I need them to undertake significant works (I was thinking rewiring part or most of the house). What's a realistic timeframe for a job like that - days? Weeks?
• Would it generally be feasable to rewire a house like that without damaging the structure? Does a tradie need particular certification to work on heritage listed homes?
• Would you need to replace the powerpoint coverplates and light switches, or would you be able to retain the originals?

Thank you!!