Just finished helping a mate scope the electrical work for his new 6m x 4m backyard workshop in Brisbane. The electrical setup for a workshop shed is the part of the project where the homeowner usually under-budgets and the licensed electrician usually has to deliver bad news after the rough-in starts. Here is the realistic picture for a workshop shed electrical build in May 2026.

The basics: this work must be done by a licensed electrician.

The disclaimer up front. The electrical work in a workshop shed — the supply from the main switchboard, the sub-board in the shed, the circuit installation, the GPOs, the lighting, the connections — all of it must be done by a licensed electrician. The DIY electrical work in Australia is illegal and dangerous and the consequences of getting caught or causing a fault are severe. The homeowner’s role is to specify what they want clearly and to choose an electrician they trust. The rest is the electrician’s job.

The specification questions to think through.

Power requirements. What equipment will the workshop run? A few power tools, a workbench saw, a compressor, a welder, a dust extractor, a vehicle hoist? The total power demand drives the supply cable size, the sub-board size, and the circuit count. The honest answer is usually higher than the homeowner’s first estimate — the cordless tool charging stations alone draw meaningfully more than people realise.

For a workshop with a couple of bench-mounted tools, a compressor, a dust extractor, and a few cordless charging stations, a 32-amp supply from the house to a 6-circuit sub-board in the shed is a reasonable starting specification. The serious workshop with welding equipment, a vehicle hoist, or three-phase tools needs more.

Three-phase or single-phase. The vast majority of backyard workshops are single-phase. The three-phase requirement comes from specific equipment — large welders, certain industrial-grade tools, larger vehicle hoists. If you have three-phase requirements, mention this to the electrician at the planning stage — the supply requirements and the council coordination are different.

Power points. The realistic count for a serious workshop is more GPOs than the homeowner first imagines. The pattern I usually recommend: a double GPO every 1.5 metres along the workbench wall, double GPOs at 1.2 metre intervals along the other walls, a couple of high-position GPOs above the workbench for charging stations and timer-controlled equipment, dedicated single-phase 15-amp GPOs for the compressor and the dust extractor.

The 10A GPOs are fine for most general workshop use. The 15A GPOs are needed for any equipment with a 15A plug — many compressors, some welders, some bench saws. The 20A and 32A single-phase outlets are required for specific high-draw equipment.

Lighting. The workshop lighting specification has changed dramatically with the maturation of LED technology. A modern workshop benefits from very high lighting levels — typically 400-600 lux at workbench height, much higher than older workshops were lit. The LED panel lights mounted to the ceiling at appropriate spacing deliver this without the heat or the bulb-replacement issues of the older fluorescent fittings.

The lighting should include:

• General workshop lighting via ceiling-mounted LED panels or battens.
• Task lighting at the workbench — either fixed LED strip lighting under upper cabinets or articulated task lights.
• Optional exterior lighting on a motion sensor for evening access.
• Optional emergency lighting if you ever plan to work in the workshop with the main lights off for any reason.

Circuit design. The sub-board in the shed should have circuits arranged for the actual use pattern. A typical 6-circuit sub-board allocation:

• General GPO circuit 1 (one wall)
• General GPO circuit 2 (the other wall)
• Workshop lighting circuit
• Dedicated compressor circuit
• Dedicated dust extractor circuit
• Spare circuit for future equipment

The serious workshops add separate circuits for welding, vehicle hoist, and three-phase equipment.

Safety devices.

RCDs (residual current devices) are required on all circuits in workshop applications. The modern RCBOs that combine the RCD and the circuit breaker function are the cleaner installation.

Surge protection at the sub-board is a small additional cost that protects the workshop equipment from voltage surges. Worth specifying.

The earthing should be designed and tested properly. The workshop shed is a metal building with conductive surfaces and the earthing arrangement matters more than in a typical room build.

Compliance and certification.

The electrical work must be certified through the relevant state-level certification process. The electrician will handle this but the homeowner should make sure the certification is provided and filed correctly.

The Electrical Safety Certificate (or state equivalent) should be issued and kept with the house records. The Certificate is required at any subsequent sale of the property and at any major insurance event.

Inspection by the relevant state authority may be required depending on the scope and the location. The electrician will know whether this applies.

Realistic budget.

The realistic budget for the electrical work on a 6m x 4m workshop shed in 2026 — assuming a 32-amp single-phase supply from the house, a 6-circuit sub-board, the GPOs and lighting at workshop standard, and standard surge and earthing — sits in the mid four-figure range for most installations. The supply cable run distance from the house switchboard to the shed is the biggest single variable — a shed close to the house with a short cable run will cost less than a shed at the back fence with a 30-metre cable run.

The three-phase upgrade adds materially to the cost. The three-phase supply from the house may not be straightforward if the house is currently single-phase only.

A few practical observations.

Plan for more capacity than you think you need. The future-you who is buying additional workshop equipment will appreciate the spare circuit and the higher-rated supply. The cost difference between a 25-amp and a 32-amp supply is small at the installation stage and significant if you need to upgrade later.

Document everything. The sub-board labelling, the GPO mapping, and the circuit documentation should be clear and complete. The electrician should provide this as part of the handover. The workshop owner who has clear documentation will be glad of it the first time they need to troubleshoot a fault.

Talk to the electrician early. The conversation about the workshop electrical setup should happen before the shed kit is ordered, not after. The electrical specification may influence the shed structural design, the door placement, the windows, and the layout. The integrated approach produces a much better outcome than the bolt-on approach.

The workshop electrical setup is one of the few areas where doing it properly the first time is meaningfully better than doing it cheaply and upgrading later. The well-built workshop electrical environment is the foundation of a workshop that gets used. The cheap electrical environment is the foundation of a workshop that becomes a frustration.