Newtown’s charm is in the details: 1880s terrace facades, painted laneways, shopfronts on King Street that have barely changed in a century. The problem is that the wiring and security behind them often haven’t changed either.
CGF brings both up to date without stripping out the character. We’re licensed electricians who specialise in security systems for Inner West shops, cafés, warehouses and homes. We secure the front, wire the back, and work around the heritage features that make Newtown what it is.
NSW Security Master #000104676 | Electrical Contractor #487799C
Businesses here aren’t cookie-cutter, and their security shouldn’t be either. You might open at 6am for the coffee crowd or close well after midnight when the restaurant and bar crowd thins out. We design around that rhythm.
Big heritage windows let in beautiful light, but they also throw glare and harsh shadows that wash out cheap cameras. Our CCTV systems use wide dynamic range to balance bright streets and dim interiors automatically, and low-light sensors to capture faces and plates under streetlights and neon at night.
Back lanes are a common trouble spot. We cover them with long-range infrared cameras and pair them with outdoor security lighting so there’s nowhere left to hide. Every camera is commercial-grade and built for sudden downpours and the western summer sun.
Commercial alarms are zoned to your space, so a busy footpath past your window display doesn’t trigger false alarms, and you get mobile alerts the moment something genuine happens. Monitoring is available 24/7.
Access control replaces the bunch of keys with cards, fobs or PIN codes. Early-shift baristas, late kitchen staff and after-hours deliveries each get access only when they need it, with a log of every entry.
Newtown’s older apartment blocks have character, but their intercoms were built for a different era. We upgrade them to video intercom systems with smartphone answering and video verification. We work with existing structures and heritage considerations, not by ripping out walls.
For terraces and semis, we fit cameras over front doors and rear lanes, app-controlled alarms, and video doorbells. All of it is tucked neatly into the building so it doesn’t spoil the facade.
Many Victorian and Federation terraces still run on original or decades-old wiring. Rubber-insulated cable crumbles with age, ceramic fuses offer little protection, and long, narrow layouts make old circuits easy to overload. If your safety switch trips when the heater and kettle run together, your lights dim, or you have no RCDs at all, it’s time for an inspection.
Our residential electricians upgrade switchboards with RCD safety switches and surge protection, rewire where needed, and route new cabling through existing cavities to protect ornate ceilings, cornices and fireplaces. For homes in heritage conservation areas, we keep external changes to a minimum.
No off-street parking is common in Newtown, but if you have a rear lane garage or a car space, we can install a dedicated EV charger with load assessment and RCD protection. Pair it with a solar battery to store daytime power for the evening, or cheap off-peak power if solar isn’t an option on your roof.
Rentals and share houses make up a big part of Newtown’s housing, and NSW requires working smoke alarms on every level. We install hardwired, interconnected photoelectric alarms to AS 3786 and provide compliance certificates for landlords and agents.
Espresso machines, commercial kitchens, cool rooms and feature lighting put serious load on old shopfront wiring. Our commercial electricians handle fit-outs, dedicated equipment circuits, three-phase upgrades, LED lighting, emergency and exit lighting, and fault finding. We schedule work outside trading hours so you don’t lose a service.
Power out, a burning smell, or a power point that sparks? Call us any time and we’ll make it safe first. For everyday fixes and fault finding, our maintenance and repairs team keeps small issues from becoming big ones.
We cover Newtown, Enmore, Erskineville, St Peters, Camperdown, Stanmore, Marrickville, Darlington, Alexandria, Annandale and the rest of our Sydney service areas.
Get a free assessment. We’ll walk your shop or home, talk through what you need and give you a fixed quote. Contact us or call now.
Yes, with the right setup. Streetlights, neon signs and deep shadows confuse cheap cameras. We use 4K cameras with wide dynamic range and enhanced low-light sensors, angled to catch faces at entries rather than the tops of heads.
Yes. We run cables through existing cavities, ceiling spaces and painted surface conduit, and mount equipment where it won’t affect original features. If the building is heritage-listed, check with Inner West Council before making any visible external changes. We’ll help you scope what’s needed.
Not if it’s set up properly. We use dual-technology motion sensors that need both movement and a heat signature to trigger, mount them on stable surfaces, and tune their sensitivity. That cuts out false alarms from passing trains.
Yes. Good access control systems store credentials on a local controller, so doors keep working offline. Entry logs sync once the connection is back. You just can’t make remote changes while the internet is down.
Yes. Long-range infrared cameras record clearly in complete darkness, but adding motion-activated security lighting gives you colour footage and puts off most people before they try anything. The two together work best.
We angle cameras to cover the play area and entries without capturing the footpath or neighbouring properties, and use privacy masking to black out any part of the frame that shouldn’t be recorded.
Often, yes. Many alarm panels integrate with modern cameras so an alarm event pulls up the matching footage. We check your current panel first, and only recommend replacing it if it’s too old to integrate or support.
The main factors are the number of units, how many entry points need panels, whether existing cabling can be reused, and whether residents want phone answering. A 15-unit block reusing its cabling costs far less than a full rewire. We’ll inspect and give your committee a fixed quote.
The recorder sits safely inside, so the footage of the tampering is already saved. We mount cameras high and use vandal-resistant domes in exposed spots, which also makes them harder to reach.
It can be. Old rubber-insulated wiring breaks down over time, which exposes live conductors and creates fire and shock risk. If you have ceramic fuses, no safety switches or brittle-looking cables, book an inspection. We’ll tell you honestly whether you need a full rewire or a targeted upgrade.
That circuit is overloaded. Heavy commercial equipment usually needs its own dedicated circuits, and sometimes a three-phase supply. We’ll assess your load and set up circuits so everything can run at peak service.