Frequently asked questions

• We are Contractors and work in Industry every week, so our experience is current. Combined, our Trainers experience in Renewable Energy is 80 years – no other RTO in Australia could boast that.
• We focus on providing a course that increases your employment and business opportunities; you will not be doing meaningless theory just to pad out the course.
• We run courses in Regional areas, over weekends and at our eight Centres across Australia
• When you ring us you talk to the Trainers, not layers of Admin staff.
• We commit to supporting our participants after the course. We give technical advice and assist with designs and industry documentation.

• Some courses are ‘face to face’ – Split Systems,  Electrical Contractors and Stand Alone Power Systems. That is because they need to be.
• The others have a Zoom ‘on line’ component. You are in a virtual classroom so can have discussions and complete theory. We then travel to places all over Australia to deliver one day ‘Practicals’. Note that some places have more Practical days than others.
• You can be anywhere in the country to participate in these courses, but if you can’t do a practical day you have to do a case study. If you can’t find an accredited person to do a case study with it would mean travelling to one of our Centres to do the practical day.

• Ask them if they have a trade qualification (an RTO in SA emailed students that they needed ASNZS 3000:2017 – we all know that the latest version is 2018. They are not electricians). Ask them about the last time they worked in industry; if they can’t answer this assume they have no recent experience. Ask them if they have had any Worksafe defects; a person running an RTO in Darwin had 25 defects for solar installs but they are still delivering training in this area. We are Contractors as well as an RTO, and understand this industry. No defects and no non compliance issues for Skillbuild.

• We like to start early so usually 7.30 am – 4.00 pm, whether on line or ‘face to face’. This is NSW time.

• You can do a case study but this involves a lot of work. If you can’t find an accredited person to do a case study with it would mean travelling to one of our Centres to do the practical day. The CEC also want you to do one so this helps you prepare for what they want.

• Possibly but you can confirm this:
  ACT – www.trainingfund.com.au
  WA – www.ctf.wa.gov.au
  Tasmania – www.keystone.com.au

• We have had 13 years of visiting mine sites, workplaces and small communities running these courses.
• Go to this link to see where we have been Training Locations

• We pay for all our resources and have never accepted ‘freebies’ from manufacturers.
• We tell it like it is, but without fear or favour.
• We have spent close to a million dollars on equipment for our Centres over 13 years, and continually update.
• Tesla 2 is the latest addition in some of our Centres.

• Are you kidding? They are too busy and would never finish it. Hitting the books after a busy day just doesn’t work.
• We do require a pre-course assignment to be done though, but this take up to 3 hours and is an introduction to the course.
• All work is completed in class time.

We ran Australia’ first EV charging course in Sydney in April 2019. We are contractors and have been installing chargers for 6 years. We also own two EVs and convert ICE vehicles to EVs. Neil Beveridge is our Trainer in this area and he is a heavy diesel mechanic as well as an electrician. Neil has done four years of training in EVs, overseas and in Australia, and runs our Auto Technicians courses. Skillbuild hope to have one of the first bi directional chargers in our Albury Centre 2023; just need the DNSPs to approve them. Then our Nissan Leaf becomes our battery storage system. Exciting times in this space and if you are interested just contact Neil – [email protected] .

We ran Australia’s first EV installation course in 2019. We funded this course. It cost us $20k and people came from Darwin, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth, Sydney and Adelaide. What we worked out is Electricians do not need to do a 2 day course. There is another RTO that has never installed an EV charger offering a course for $500. Electricians can work this out without doing a $500 course and if you are interested just enrol in our 2 hour EV charging seminar. We do this with Zoom, start at 7.30 am and you will learn how to buy the cheapest EV charger in Australia. Delivered by someone who is actually installing chargers. We own three EVs, are converting vehicles to EVs and the trainer is an Electrician as well as a heavy diesel mechanic.

The contractors courses for SA,TAS,VIC are all on line as the content is mainly about operating a business. Students can ring Bill on 1800059170 during business hours, or email him – [email protected]. He responds very quickly and we pride ourselves on giving a lot of support to our students.

You must do this under supervision of an accredited Installer.

Grid Connect - You have to take photos, three short videos, fill out documentation, provide evidence of edge protection/fall arrest systems. You have to do two case studies and details will be provided during the course.

Battery Storage – You take photos, videos, fill out documentation show commissioning and testing and procedures. Correct PPE must be used. One case study only.

• Call 1800 059 170
• Email [email protected]