How much does a body-protected area cost?

There is no set price, and this site does not quote. What moves the cost is the number of rooms and outlets (each 10 mA RCD protects at most 12 points, and a double outlet is two), whether the room is new or an existing one being converted, the switchboard capacity for the dedicated chair and imaging circuits, and the sign-off your state requires. Building the protection in while the walls are open is the cheap way; opening finished walls later is the expensive one.

Published figures are scarce and dated. A Melbourne fit-out firm’s 2004 article put it at about $1,500 per treatment room when built in, and $2,500 or more per room to retrofit; prices have moved since. The parts give a sense of scale: a single 10 mA medical RCD plate retails for several hundred dollars, and a room needs one for every 12 points. For the 12-month test, an Adelaide contractor describes four to eight protected rooms as half a day’s work, and a New Zealand inspection company charges by the hour with a one-hour minimum.

Two questions save money. Ask the builder whether body protection is in the electrical quote, because it is often left out and added later at a worse price. And classify the rooms before the quote, so the electrician protects the rooms that need it and not the ones that don’t.