How can we help you?

Temporary and permanent power pole hire is delivered across Brisbane, Logan, Redlands, Ipswich, Moreton Bay, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast — distance surcharges apply beyond the standard 40 km zone. Portaloo and security camera hire is delivered across Brisbane, Logan, Redlands, Ipswich and Moreton Bay. Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast portaloo and camera hire is available by enquiry only — call (07) 3367 2237 to check availability.

Yes, fully — Poles and Holes carries $20 million Public Liability Insurance and Workers Compensation cover for every staff member, and every electrical install we perform is done by a licensed Queensland electrician under our Electrical Contractor Licence.

The site work is covered by WorkCover Queensland, our equipment is built and maintained to AS/NZS 3000 and AS/NZS 3012 standards, and our portable toilet servicing operates under standard Queensland health regulations for sanitary waste handling.

Insurance certificates of currency are available on request before installation — most builders, contractors and event organisers ask for these as part of their site induction packs, and we can email a current copy to you the same day. We’ve been a family-owned, southeast-Queensland business since 1960, so the accreditations you see today reflect more than six decades of continuous operation, not a recent compliance refresh.

Billing depends on the type of order. Short-term hires and sales are paid in full upfront at checkout. Long-term hires require no upfront payment — your first invoice is generated after the minimum hire period ends, followed by monthly invoices in arrears. See our dedicated billing section for full details.

It depends on the type of order. For short-term hires and product sales, the full amount is charged upfront at checkout. For long-term hires, there is no payment at checkout — your first invoice is generated after the minimum hire period ends, and monthly invoices follow on the 1st of each month for the previous month’s hire.

Poles and Holes accepts four payment methods across short-term and long-term hires in southeast Queensland: credit or debit card via Stripe (used for upfront payments at order time), credit or debit card via Xero (used for monthly invoices), GoCardless Direct Debit (for automatic monthly payments on long-term hires), and standard bank transfer / EFT to our nominated account (details on every invoice).

All prices include 10% GST, itemised on every invoice for your records, and invoices are emailed to you as a PDF with a secure online payment link. Payment terms are 14 days from issue.

Short-term hires (event portaloos, trailer-mounted toilets) are paid in full upfront; long-term hires (builders poles, builder portaloos, permanent poles, security cameras) require no upfront payment — your first invoice is generated after the minimum hire period ends, then monthly invoices follow on the 1st for the previous month’s hire.

For short-term hires and sales, your invoice is issued immediately at checkout. For long-term hires, your first invoice is generated on the 1st of the month after your minimum hire period ends. After that, monthly invoices are generated on the 1st of each month for the previous month’s hire. Your final invoice is issued on the 1st of the month after your off-hire date, covering the exact days used.

All invoices are due within 14 days of issue. Invoices are emailed to you as a PDF with a secure payment link so you can pay online instantly.

It depends on the product. Short-term hire prices (event portaloos, trailer-mounted toilets, security cameras, event power poles) are shown including 10% GST — the price you see is the price you pay. Long-term hire and product sale prices (builders portaloos on monthly billing, temporary builders power poles, permanent power poles, and other B2B products) are shown ex GST, with GST added on the invoice. Either way, GST is always itemised on every invoice for your records.

No. We don’t charge deposits. Short-term hires and sales are paid in full at checkout. Long-term hires require no upfront payment at all — your first invoice is generated after the minimum hire period ends.

Every hire product has a minimum hire period which is always charged in full, regardless of when you return the equipment. Your hire starts on the day of delivery (Day 1). If you return before the minimum period ends, you’ll still be billed for the full minimum. Daily billing begins the day after the minimum period ends. Check the product page for specific minimum periods.

We send friendly payment reminders starting 3 days after the due date. We don’t automatically apply late fees, but we do ask that you keep payments up to date to avoid any disruption to your hire. If you’re having trouble paying, please get in touch and we’ll work something out.

Your first and final invoices are locked to the pricing agreed when you placed your order. Ongoing monthly invoices use current pricing at the time each invoice is generated, so if our rates change during your hire, those invoices will reflect the updated pricing. Past invoices are never retrospectively adjusted.

You can access your customer portal at any time. Simply enter your email address and we’ll send you a one-time login code. From the portal you can view your active orders, download invoices, and request an off-hire when you’re done.

Poles and Holes delivers temporary builders power poles right across Brisbane, Logan, Redlands, Ipswich and Moreton Bay as standard, within a 40 km radius of our Capalaba depot in southeast Queensland.

Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast jobs are covered too, with a $10/km distance surcharge applied beyond the 40 km zone — that rate covers the four trips every pole hire involves: delivery to site, our return to depot, pickup at end of hire, and our return to depot again. Most central Brisbane builds sit around 15 minutes from Capalaba, while outer Logan and northern Moreton Bay jobs are closer to the 40 km edge.

Sites further afield in regional southeast Queensland may still be possible through our partner network for long-term installations — call (07) 3367 2237 and we’ll check coverage for your address. Poles and Holes has been delivering across SEQ since 1960.

We do our best to meet your requested date. However, delivery can sometimes be impacted by workload, weather, or site readiness. If your site isn’t ready when we arrive, or the wrong pole type was ordered for your site’s actual power supply, a call-out fee may apply.

We recommend at least 3 to 5 business days’ notice to lock in your preferred delivery date for a temporary builders pole — that window lets us check site requirements (single-phase vs 3-phase, location of the meter, access for the crane truck), schedule a licensed electrician, and have the pole ready at our Capalaba depot.

For urgent jobs, give us a call on (07) 3367 2237 and we’ll do our best to accommodate; same-day delivery is occasionally possible if a pole is in stock and a crew is free.

The Electrical Work Request (EWR) we lodge with Energex is filed the same day the pole is installed, so booking earlier doesn’t speed up the network connection — it only locks in your delivery slot. Once your pole is on site, contact your electricity retailer immediately with the EWR number to keep the connection on the fastest track.

Clear access is needed for our trucks and safe installation. Ensure the area is free of obstructions and underground services are marked before we arrive. In practice that means a clear run for a truck and a crane, no parked vehicles or stacked materials in the way, and Dial Before You Dig marked if there is any doubt about what is underground. The pole itself needs a footprint of roughly a metre square, but the truck needs considerably more than that to get alongside it and lift safely. If access is genuinely tight, tell us at quote time and send a photo of the intended spot, because it is far cheaper to work that out on the phone than to have a truck arrive and not be able to place the pole where you wanted it.

We’ll always try to position the pole where requested. If site conditions prevent it (for example, underground services or limited access), our installers will choose the safest and most practical alternative location. They will not simply leave without installing, and they will not put a pole somewhere unsafe to satisfy a preference. Where the position moves it is usually because of underground services, insufficient clearance from a structure or boundary, or ground the truck cannot safely work on. The distributor also has requirements about point of attachment height and clearances that constrain where a pole can legally sit, so the final position combines what is safe, what is compliant and what is reachable. If the spot matters for a specific reason, such as a future driveway or slab edge, mark it and tell us before the day.

Getting power flowing is a two-step process handled by two different organisations. Once your pole is installed, we lodge an Electrical Work Request (EWR) with Energex. You’ll then need to contact a retailer (like Origin or AGL) using that EWR number to open an account. Energex typically connects the pole to the grid within 5–10 business days, then your retailer’s meter provider attends a few days later to fit the meter. Power only starts flowing once that meter is installed.

Power flows only after two separate events are complete. First, Energex connects the pole to the grid (typically 5–10 business days after install). Second, your electricity retailer’s meter provider attends a few days later to install the meter. Energex connecting the pole is not the same as power being live — it’s only live once the retailer’s meter is in. Both steps are outside Poles & Holes’ control, and you’re responsible for opening an account with your retailer so they can schedule the meter install.

Yes. Underground connections link into the green Energex pillar on site. The process is slightly different to overhead poles, but we’ll guide you through it. The practical difference is where the supply comes from. An overhead pole takes a span from the network, whereas an underground pole connects into the green Energex pillar already on site, so the work sits below ground rather than above it and the paperwork follows a different path. Underground connections are common on newer estates where the whole street is fed underground and there is no overhead line to attach to. The hire rate is the same as an equivalent overhead pole. What changes is the connection process, the lead time, and on some blocks how far the pillar sits from where you want the pole. Tell us at quote time which one you have so we can plan the right process.

A retailer is the company that manages your electricity account and billing (e.g., Origin, AGL, EnergyAustralia). You can choose any electricity retailer, but we recommend Origin or AGL as they tend to process temporary supply connections more smoothly.

Yes. The retailer will send you bills for electricity usage and may also apply account or connection fees, depending on their terms. Those charges are entirely separate from our hire, and they are billed by the retailer directly to you rather than passed through us. Typically you will see a connection or establishment fee at the start, then usage billed on their normal cycle for the life of the site. Retailers differ on what they charge for a temporary builder’s supply, so it is worth asking before you pick one rather than after the first bill arrives. Energex also has its own connection charges in some circumstances. None of that changes the pole hire figure, which stays what we quoted. If you are comparing retailers, ask each one what they charge to establish a temporary builder's supply rather than just comparing usage rates, because the establishment fee is where they differ most.

To open a temporary supply account, contact your chosen electricity retailer — Origin, AGL or EnergyAustralia all process temporary builders pole connections smoothly in southeast Queensland — and quote the EWR (Electrical Work Request) number that Poles and Holes lodged with Energex on your behalf.

The EWR is a mandatory compliance document under Queensland electrical standards, so your retailer cannot open the account without it; we email the EWR to you the same day your pole is installed from our Capalaba depot. Tell the retailer you want a temporary supply account and provide the EWR number, the site address and your name as the account holder.

They’ll arrange for a meter provider to attend within a few days of Energex physically connecting the pole. Power only starts flowing once that meter is fitted, so don’t delay calling your retailer — late account opening is the most common cause of build power delays.

In some cases, yes. We can lodge paperwork with Energex before the pole is physically installed to speed up the process. That is worth doing whenever your dates are known, because the paperwork stage is usually what sets the connection date rather than the digging. Energex generally connects a temporary pole within five to ten business days of installation, so lodging early can effectively remove that wait from the critical path. What we need from you to start is the site address, the connection date you are working towards, and your electrician’s details. The one thing that cannot be brought forward is the retailer meter, because your electricity retailer will not schedule that until an account exists in your name. Opening the account is a ten minute job and it is the single easiest way to avoid losing a week at the end of the process.

Yes — while the standard Energex connection fee covers most temporary builders poles in southeast Queensland, a 3-phase connection can occasionally attract additional charges that Energex levies and we pass through at cost.

The two most common triggers are extra network infrastructure (for example, where the closest mains transformer can’t carry your 3-phase load and an upgrade is required) and traffic-control crews where the connection point sits on a busy road and Energex needs lane closures for safe overhead work.

These costs are quoted by Energex directly to the property owner once the EWR is assessed, not by Poles and Holes — they typically range from a few hundred dollars for traffic control to several thousand for transformer work. We always flag the risk at quote stage if your site profile suggests a possible upgrade, and you can request an Energex Network Connection Estimate before installation to confirm.

It depends on your project. Standard home builds usually need a 63 amp single-phase pole. Larger builds or on-site living may require 80 amp or 3-phase. Commercial or heavy equipment sites should use a 3-phase pole. If unsure, check with your builder or electrician and we’ll guide you.

We supply the meter box — not the meter itself. All temporary power poles come with a compliant meter box, RCD (safety switch), outlets, and earthing. Your electricity retailer provides and installs the actual meter after connection.

Energex generally connects temporary power poles within 5–10 business days of installation. If your job requires traffic control (for example, on a busy road), the connection may take longer. Five to ten business days is the working figure to plan around for a straightforward residential connection, measured from the day the pole is installed rather than from the day you book it. Traffic control is the most common thing that extends it, because it has to be arranged and scheduled around Energex crew availability rather than around yours. After Energex connects the pole, your electricity retailer’s meter provider still has to attend to fit the meter, usually a few days later. Power is not live until that second visit happens, so build both steps into your programme rather than just the first. Ask us for the connection date rather than the delivery date, because those are not the same thing.

If your site sits on or near a high-traffic road, Energex may require a traffic-management plan and lane closures to safely connect your temporary power pole — particularly where overhead service mains cross the road.

Traffic control can extend the connection timeframe by up to several weeks beyond the standard 5–10 business day window, because Energex needs to schedule a TMP-approved crew alongside their connection crew. The good news on cost: Energex typically covers the traffic-control fee when it’s required for connection, so the charge doesn’t pass through to the property owner.

Within Poles and Holes scope, the pole installation itself stays compliant with AS/NZS 3000 and the Queensland Electricity Connection Manual, with the standard 3-metre exclusion zone enforced around the pole during installation. We’ll flag busy-road risk at quote stage so the project programme accounts for the longer connection window.

Yes — for most demolition, knockdown-rebuild and renovation projects in southeast Queensland, hiring a temporary builders power pole is significantly cheaper than the alternative of supply abolishment and reconnection.

Abolishment (where Energex permanently removes the existing service before demolition) plus reconnection at the end of the build typically runs $1,200 to $3,500 in network fees alone, plus a 4 to 8 week wait for Energex to schedule the reconnection — which often becomes the critical path on lockup.

A temporary pole keeps the existing supply live throughout the build at $600 ex GST for the standard 12-week minimum hire, with delivery charged separately. It lets the meter stay where it is, and lets the new permanent connection happen on your schedule rather than Energex's. The saving is even larger on 3-phase sites where abolishment of three-phase mains attracts higher fees. Call (07) 3367 2237 and we'll model the comparison for your specific job.

The standard temporary builders power pole hire from Poles and Holes covers 12 weeks (84 days) from the day of installation — that matches the typical Energex network connection window plus the residential build timeline through to permanent power being connected.

The 12 weeks is included in the upfront quote and isn't pro-rated downward if your build finishes early, so most builders treat it as the minimum cost regardless of actual on-site duration. Extensions beyond 12 weeks are arranged on a weekly or monthly basis at the standard daily rate; there's no fixed end date and no price increases as the hire stretches — the pole stays installed until you call us to off-hire it.

When permanent power connects on your block, your retailer's meter provider fits the meter, and we collect the temporary pole within a few business days of your off-hire call.

Yes, and how you do it depends on the product. For short-term hires where you’ve locked in a pick-up date (event portaloos, trailer-mounted toilets), just call us and we’ll push the pick-up back — you pay the daily rate for any days beyond the minimum hire period. For long-term hires (temporary power poles, builder’s portaloos, permanent poles, security cameras), there’s no pre-set pick-up date — the product stays on hire until you call us to off-hire it, so if you need it longer you simply call when you’re ready to return it.

Yes — every temporary builders power pole that leaves our Capalaba depot is built and tested to Australian Standards AS/NZS 3000 (Wiring Rules) and AS/NZS 3012 (Construction and Demolition Sites), and complies with the Queensland Electricity Connection Manual.

Each pole comes fitted with a compliant meter box, an RCD safety switch, weatherproof outlets and full earthing as standard, and is test-and-tagged by a licensed electrician before it goes out — the test tag stays attached to the pole as your evidence of compliance. The initial test is valid for six months; after that, retesting becomes the hirer’s responsibility under the same standards.

If you ever suspect a fault, isolate power immediately and call (07) 3367 2237 — we’ll send a licensed electrician to inspect within the same business day where possible. Sixty-plus years of installations across southeast Queensland sit behind that process.

If scaffolding or other structures are planned within the exclusion zone (3 metres around the pole), Energex Safety Advice must be sought 2–3 weeks beforehand. That lead time is not negotiable and it catches people out, because scaffold usually gets booked at short notice while the safety advice does not. If you know scaffold is coming, start the request as soon as the pole is in rather than the week before the scaffolders arrive. The exclusion zone exists because working close to a live supply is genuinely dangerous, and the advice sets out what has to happen to work safely inside it. The same applies to cranes, elevated work platforms, and any structure putting people or equipment within that three metre envelope. If you are unsure whether your scaffold falls inside the zone, measure it and ask us before booking the scaffolders rather than after.

Once the initial test period (usually 6 months) has expired, it’s the hirer’s responsibility to have the safety switch tested and tagged again in line with electrical regulations. The initial test is done before the pole leaves us and is valid for six months, which covers a good part of a typical residential build but not all of a longer one. Once that date passes, retesting sits with the hirer, because the equipment is in your possession and under your control. A licensed electrician does the test and tags the switch with a new valid-to date. It is a small job and an easy one to forget, but an out-of-date tag is exactly the sort of thing picked up in a site inspection, so diarise it against the date on the existing tag. The tag is on the pole itself, so the date is easy to check next time you are on site.

If you suspect a fault on a Poles and Holes temporary builders power pole — RCD constantly tripping, visible damage to the cable or outlets, sparking, burning smell, or any inconsistent power supply — isolate power at the main switch immediately and call (07) 3367 2237.

We dispatch a licensed Queensland electrician to inspect the same business day where possible, typically within a few hours for sites in our standard 40 km Capalaba delivery zone. Most faults turn out to be downstream of the pole itself (extension leads, faulty tools, water ingress in temporary leads) rather than the pole hardware, but we treat every report seriously and won't restore power until the electrician has confirmed the cause.

If the fault is on our hardware, repair or replacement is included in your hire at no extra cost. If it's downstream of the pole, we'll show you the source and let you address it. Don't try to diagnose or open the meter box yourself — that's a licensed-electrician-only task.

When your project wraps up, just let us know and we’ll arrange collection. If you don’t require permanent power and simply want the pole removed, we can handle that too. There is no automatic collection date, because we have no way of knowing when your build finishes, so nothing moves until you tell us. Ring or email when the permanent supply is connected or the site is done, and we will schedule pickup on our next run to that area. Billing runs until the pole comes off hire, so telling us promptly is worth money rather than just being courteous. If the pole needs to stay longer than planned that is fine, there is no maximum hire period. The thing to avoid is off-hiring early and then needing it back. That is two mobilisations instead of one and it costs more than leaving the pole standing would have.

That’s no problem—once your project is complete, let us know and we’ll arrange for the pole to be disconnected and removed. Plenty of jobs never need a permanent connection at all: demolition, civil and roadworks, a site shed on a long-running project, or a build where the permanent supply comes in somewhere else entirely. The temporary pole does its job and then leaves. Disconnection is licensed electrical work, so it happens before we can remove the pole rather than at the same time, and the paperwork goes back to the distributor to close the connection out. Tell us the date you want it gone and we will coordinate the two visits so the pole is not standing idle on a finished site accruing hire. Give us a week's notice where you can, so the disconnection and the pickup land close together.

Poles and Holes installs permanent power poles across the greater Brisbane area, extending north to Caboolture, west to Ipswich, south to Beaudesert and east through to the Gold Coast — which puts most of southeast Queensland’s residential, rural-residential and small-commercial blocks inside the standard zone.

Sites outside this range may incur an additional fee, and we’ll quote freight transparently at site-assessment stage rather than burying it in the install price. The same RPEQ-engineered foundation specification, hot-dip galvanised reinforcement cage and Energex-approved 50+ year steel pole apply across the whole zone — the only thing that changes with distance is the travel and crew time component.

For genuinely remote southeast Queensland blocks (acreage west of Beaudesert, for example, or northern Sunshine Coast hinterland) call (07) 3367 2237 and we’ll work out whether the job is feasible in a single trip or whether a partner installer is the better fit.

To book a permanent power pole installation with Poles and Holes, call (07) 3367 2237 or submit an enquiry through the contact form at polesandholes.com.au with your site address, the connection type you need (single-phase or 3-phase), and any existing Energex correspondence (defect notice, NMI, or prior EWR).

We arrange a free site assessment within a few business days, confirm the pole rating, mounting method and foundation specification (full RPEQ-certified bore depths, PCDs, and concrete grade are published on our foundation specification page), and provide a fixed quote that includes Energex network costs.

Once you approve the quote, we lock in an installation date — typically within 2 to 4 weeks depending on Energex approval timeframes for your address. The team handles all coordination with Energex and any required council notifications; you only need to coordinate concreter access if a fresh foundation is required and to open a retailer account once we lodge the EWR.

Getting power flowing involves two separate steps handled by two different organisations, and confusing them is the most common reason people think a job has stalled when it has not. We install the power pole, handle the associated electrical work, and lodge the paperwork with Energex. Energex then connects the pole to the street mains, which typically takes one to three weeks for a permanent installation.

That is not the end of it. You then contact your chosen electricity retailer to open an account, so their meter provider can attend, usually a few days later, and fit the meter. Power only starts flowing once that meter is in.

So there are three parties involved and only one of them is us. Energex connecting the pole is not the same as the pole being live, and both the Energex step and the retailer step sit outside our control. The part you own is opening the retailer account, and doing that early is what keeps the sequence moving.

Power flows only after two separate events are complete, in order. First, Energex connects the pole to the street mains, typically one to three weeks after install for a permanent pole. Second, your electricity retailer’s meter provider attends, usually a few days after that, and installs the meter.

Energex connecting the pole is not the same as power being live. That distinction catches almost everyone out, because the visible work looks finished: the pole is standing, the connection has been made, and nothing appears to be missing. It is only live once the retailer’s meter is in.

Both of those steps sit outside our control and neither can be hurried by us. What you control is the retailer account. Open it as soon as the pole is booked rather than waiting until the pole is up, because the meter cannot be scheduled until an account exists, and that wait is the one that most often adds a week nobody planned for.

Usually yes, provided the existing arrangement complies and the lead-in pole is sound. This is a common situation on acreage and long-driveway blocks, where the supply is stepped across the property on more than one private pole rather than run from the street in a single span. Replacing one pole in that chain does not necessarily mean replacing the others.

What has to be checked first is the condition of the pole you are connecting to and whether the point of attachment height and clearances are met for your block. There is no point hanging a new span off a pole that is itself close to failing, and a licensed electrician is the person who makes that call rather than us.

Send us the address and a photo showing both poles and the run between them. That answers most of what we would otherwise have to ask, and it tells us whether this is a one-pole job or something larger.

For a standard single-pole installation in Brisbane or wider southeast Queensland, Poles and Holes typically completes the physical pole erection in a single day once we’re on site.

The full end-to-end process — site assessment, council or Energex approvals where required, foundation pour, pole installation, and Energex network connection — usually takes 2 to 4 weeks from initial enquiry, with the bulk of that window waiting on Energex network connection (typically 1–3 weeks for permanent poles). Where the foundation needs to be poured fresh, the concrete must cure for a minimum 48 hours at 32 MPa before we can stand the pole, so the timeline factors that in.

We give you a firm installation date at quote stage and keep you updated on the connection timeline; metering follows a few days after Energex connects, fitted by your retailer’s meter provider. Power flows once that meter goes in.

Poles and Holes supplies a hot-dip galvanised reinforcement cage with every permanent pole order — the cast-in bolts come pre-set on the certified PCD (4 × M20 for 1 kN poles, 4 × M24 for 3.5 kN poles) with a position template to hold them square during the pour.

Your concreter drills a Ø 450 mm bore to the certified depth for the pole rating, places our cage with 75 mm cover, then pours minimum 32 MPa reinforced concrete around it. Minimum 48-hour cure before we install the pole.

Full RPEQ-certified bore depths, PCDs and concrete grade, with downloadable certification packs, are on our foundation specification page. Give the spec to your concreter before the pour, because depths and bolt patterns differ between the 1 kN and 3.5 kN ratings.

The split is deliberate: we are pole installers, not concreters. What we remove is the sourcing problem, because the cage arrives fabricated with the bolts already set.

Three main factors affect a permanent power pole installation timeline in SE Queensland. First, Energex network approvals typically add 1 to 3 weeks and are the single biggest variable — larger 3-phase connections take longer than single-phase upgrades. Second, site access and ground conditions matter: rocky, sloping, or tight-access blocks take longer to prepare than clear, level sites. Third, weather delays (particularly heavy rain in the Brisbane wet season) can push back both excavation and Energex crew availability. We factor all three into the quote and flag any risks upfront rather than discovering them on the day, and rock is the one that most often turns a morning into a half day because it is rarely known until someone starts boring. A fourth factor sits outside the install entirely and is usually the longest: the footing has to cure before the pole can be bolted down, so the sequence is bore, pour, wait, then install. Book earlier than you think you need to.

We exclusively install Energex approved galvanised steel power poles, and the reason is what happens over the life of the asset rather than what happens on install day. A timber pole fails at ground level, where moisture and rot attack the section nobody can see, which is why a pole that looks sound at eye height can still be condemned. Steel does not rot, termites do not touch it, and it does not burn. It is also lighter to handle, which matters on tight residential blocks where access is the constraint. The trade is a higher price at purchase against a longer service life and far less chance of an unplanned replacement. Here is how the two compare:

Yes, when installed correctly and maintained. A galvanised steel private pole bolted to an engineered footing is a considerably more predictable asset than the timber pole it usually replaces, because the failure mode people worry about with timber is rot at ground level, in the section you cannot see. Steel does not rot, is not attractive to termites and does not burn.

The safety of the installation comes from the footing as much as the pole. Ours go onto a bored footing filled with reinforced concrete around a cage we supply, to depths certified by an RPEQ engineer for the pole height and rating. That is what stops a pole moving in reactive clay or after a wet season.

What keeps it safe afterwards is inspection. The pole is your asset once it is up, so have a licensed electrician look at it periodically rather than waiting for the distributor to issue a defect notice.

You are. As the property owner you own the private pole, the consumer mains running from it to your switchboard, and the fittings on it, so maintenance, repair and eventual replacement all sit with you rather than with Energex or Ergon Energy. The distributor owns and maintains the network only as far as the point of attachment, which is the physical point where its service line meets your property's own wiring.

That boundary is the whole thing worth understanding about your connection. If the line from your pole to the house sags, frays or comes down in a storm, arranging and paying for that repair is yours, and it has to be done by a licensed electrician.

The distributor does inspect the network, and if your pole is unsafe it can issue a defect notice requiring you to fix or replace it within a set timeframe. That is not the distributor taking responsibility for the pole. It is telling you to meet yours.

Periodic inspection by a licensed electrician is the main thing, and every five years is a sensible interval on a pole in reasonable condition. We do not assess pole condition ourselves, so the inspection needs to come from a licensed electrician rather than from us or from a look over the fence.

What they are checking for depends on the material. On a timber pole the failure point is almost always at ground level, where moisture and rot attack the part you cannot see, so a pole that looks sound at eye height can be badly compromised below it. On steel the equivalent is rust at the base.

Between inspections, the things worth acting on yourself are a lean that has visibly changed, splitting or cracking, a hollow sound when the pole is tapped near the base, soft timber at ground level, and any movement when it is pushed. Age alone is not the test. Condition is.

Do not panic, but do not sit on it either. A defect notice means the distributor has inspected your pole and found it unsafe, and it carries a timeframe, usually somewhere in the range of 21 to 30 days, after which the supply can be disconnected. The clock is yours to manage, and the distributor will not fix the pole for you.

The practical sequence is short. Read the timeframe on the notice. Get a licensed electrician to inspect the pole and confirm whether it needs replacing or rectifying. Get a quote in writing that separates what the pole installer does from what the electrician and the concreter each bill. Check your title for easements before anyone commits to a pole position, because an easement can dictate where a replacement is legally allowed to sit.

Send us the notice and a photo of the pole and we will tell you what is involved.

It depends entirely on the cause, and the distinction insurers draw is between a sudden event and gradual deterioration. If the pole came down because of a defined event such as a storm, a flood or a vehicle impact, it may well be covered. If it failed through wear and tear, meaning rot, rust or simple age, that is typically excluded, and age-related failure is how most private poles actually go.

This is worth checking before you need it rather than after. Read your product disclosure statement, and if the wording is ambiguous, ring your insurer and ask specifically about private power poles and consumer mains rather than about the house.

It is also the practical argument for inspecting a pole periodically. A pole replaced because an electrician flagged it is a planned cost you control. A pole replaced after it falls is an emergency, and it may not be covered.

Our standard portaloo delivery area covers a 40 km radius around our Capalaba depot, which takes in Brisbane, Logan, Redlands, Ipswich and Moreton Bay — roughly Caboolture in the north to Beenleigh in the south and west to Ipswich. Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast portaloo deliveries are available by enquiry only — call (07) 3367 2237 to confirm we can cover your address.

Outside the 40 km standard zone, a $10/km surcharge applies on top of the standard rate; that rate covers the four trips every portaloo hire involves (delivery, return to depot, pickup, return to depot). The Builders Portaloo minimum hire is $210 ex GST for the 28-day minimum, plus $140 ex GST standard-zone delivery.

Long-term builds, multi-toilet installs, and recurring servicing past the 40 km mark are usually still possible — give us a call and we’ll work out a freight figure for the job.

We aim to deliver portaloos as quickly as possible after receiving your order. Delivery may occasionally take longer due to stock availability or workload.

For builder's portaloos, we recommend at least 1 to 2 business days' notice to lock in your preferred delivery date — that lets us schedule the crane truck and check site access for the 3-metre clear pathway we need to place the unit.

For event portaloo hire, 1 week's notice is ideal, particularly during peak wedding and festival season (October through April in southeast Queensland); same-week delivery is often possible but stock and crew availability sometimes constrain shorter windows. For trailer-mounted portaloo hire (customer pickup from our Capalaba depot), as little as 24 hours' notice usually works since we're not scheduling a delivery slot.

Urgent same-day deliveries are sometimes possible depending on what's in stock and where our trucks are routed — call (07) 3367 2237 and we'll do our best to accommodate. Note that temporary power pole hire needs more lead time (3 to 5 business days minimum) because of the Energex Electrical Work Request paperwork.

We deliver builder portaloos using a HIAB crane truck with a 4–5 metre lift reach from the hardstand the truck can park on. The driver positions the toilet as close as possible to your preferred spot, but crane reach, overhead obstructions (trees, eaves, power lines) and ground conditions can sometimes restrict exact placement.

Each portaloo needs a 1200 mm × 1200 mm level footprint plus a clear lift path from the hardstand — the crane can lift over a standard 2-metre fence as long as there’s safe clearance from electrical wires. Mark the proposed location and any underground services before delivery day to keep the install quick and safe.

If access is genuinely tight, our team will choose the nearest practical spot and walk you through the trade-off. Standard delivery slots run weekdays during business hours, and the truck typically completes a placement in under 15 minutes.

Yes—delivery over a 2m fence is possible, provided there is sufficient clearance from electrical wires and other obstacles.

Builder's portaloos at Poles and Holes are serviced fortnightly as standard — the frequency suits the typical 5-to-15-worker construction site and includes a full vacuum-out of the holding tank, fresh-water tank refill, restock of toilet paper and soap, and a wipe-down of all high-touch surfaces (door handles, seat, latch, basin tap).

Each service is logged with the date, technician, and any issues flagged on the unit, so you have a paper trail for site compliance audits and head-contractor inductions. Weekly servicing is available at an additional cost for high-volume sites (over 20 workers), hot-weather periods or projects with strict client compliance requirements — call (07) 3367 2237 and we'll quote it as a line item against your hire.

Mid-cycle emergency call-outs (an unexpected pump-out or extra restock) are also charged separately when needed. For event hires, the unit is delivered freshly serviced and we can add daily refills for multi-day events.

The minimum hire period for a builders portaloo is 4 weeks. Pricing is $210 ex GST for the 28-day minimum, plus $140 ex GST standard-zone delivery — $350 ex GST all up. That minimum applies whether you keep the toilet on site for one week or four, so most customers run the full 4 weeks before off-hiring.

Fortnightly servicing is included in the standard rate (one service every two weeks for the duration of hire); weekly servicing is available at an additional cost on request. Hires longer than 4 weeks roll into a weekly extension rate that’s quoted up-front, with monthly invoicing on the 1st of each month.

Event portaloos, by contrast, run on short-term hire with a different minimum — see the event-portaloo FAQ for that pricing. Call (07) 3367 2237 for site-specific quotes.

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) requires one portable toilet for every 15 people on site. Separate facilities are needed for men and women. Additional amenities such as urinals, hand sanitiser stations, or site showers are recommended for larger projects.

Each portaloo requires a footprint of 1200mm x 1200mm of level ground.

Our standard event-portaloo delivery zone runs 40 km out from our Capalaba depot, which covers Brisbane, Logan, Redlands, Ipswich and Moreton Bay — the heart of southeast Queensland’s wedding and event circuit.

Inside that zone, event portaloo delivery is a flat $154 inc GST ($140 ex GST), no matter where in the zone your venue sits, so a Brisbane CBD rooftop and an Ipswich farm wedding pay the same delivery fee. Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast event hires are available by enquiry only — call (07) 3367 2237 with your venue address and event date and we’ll quote freight on top of the standard hire rate.

For genuinely remote venues outside southeast Queensland, we can usually still deliver for long-lead-time bookings via our partner network, but we recommend reaching out at least 4 weeks before the event date so freight and crew can be locked in.

We deliver using a crane truck with a 4–5 metre reach from the hardstand. We’ll always try to place the toilet where you’d like, but crane reach can sometimes limit exact placement. The truck needs a hardstand to set up on, and the 4 to 5 metre reach is measured from there rather than from the road, so the further the intended spot sits from where the truck can safely stand, the harder it becomes. On a level driveway or carpark this is rarely an issue. On a paddock, a sloping block or a venue with garden beds between the access point and the spot you have in mind, it can be. Send a photo of the intended location at booking and we will tell you straight away whether the crane will reach it.

For a Saturday event in southeast Queensland, the standard schedule is Friday delivery and Monday collection — that gives the venue setup crew the Friday afternoon to confirm placement and the Monday window to clear the site without a rushed pickup on event day. Most weddings, parties and festivals run on this rhythm and it’s included in the flat $154 inc GST delivery fee inside our 40 km zone.

For Sunday events, delivery is usually Friday or Saturday depending on venue access and collection is Monday. Mid-week functions (weddings on a Tuesday or corporate events on a Wednesday) are no problem either — we deliver Monday to Friday across the standard zone and can usually collect within 24 hours of the event ending.

If your venue requires an earlier delivery (say Thursday for a Saturday event), call (07) 3367 2237 and we’ll arrange the slot.

Yes. We deliver Monday to Friday to suit your event schedule. For a Saturday event the standard schedule is a Friday delivery and a Monday collection, which gives you the unit in place and checked before guests arrive and avoids anyone waiting on a truck during the event itself. Mid-week functions work the same way, with delivery the business day before. Weekend and after-hours delivery can be arranged where an event genuinely needs it, and it is quoted separately rather than assumed, because it costs us differently. Tell us the event date, the site address and the time guests arrive, and we will schedule around it rather than around our own run.

Yes — Poles and Holes offers 20% off each additional event portaloo delivered to the same venue. The first toilet pays the standard $88 inc GST for the 4-day minimum, plus $154 inc GST delivery; every extra unit on the same delivery to the same address gets 20% off the base, with the delivery fee charged once across the booking.

The discount applies whether you’re hiring two toilets for an outer-Brisbane wedding or a dozen for a music festival across Logan or Moreton Bay. As a sizing rule of thumb, plan for one event portaloo per 50 guests; large multi-day events or venues with limited existing facilities usually need more, and venues with high alcohol consumption typically push that ratio tighter.

Call (07) 3367 2237 with your guest count and venue address for a multi-unit quote — discounts are applied automatically at quote stage.

A working rule of thumb for short, mostly-stationary events is one portaloo per 50 guests for events under 4 hours, scaling to one portaloo per 25 guests for events over 6 hours where guests are drinking heavily. Australian Standards (AS 1668.2) and council temporary-event guidelines set the formal minimums based on attendance, gender ratio and event duration — your venue or council permit may require a specific number.

When you call (07) 3367 2237 we factor in food and bar service, the number of women in attendance (which roughly halves the per-unit throughput), whether disability-accessible units are required (one accessible unit per 100 guests is a common council requirement), and whether the event runs across multiple sessions or days.

Multi-unit hires attract a 20% discount on each additional toilet delivered to the same venue, so the per-unit cost drops sharply for larger events. Our blog post on portaloo calculators walks through the maths in detail.

Each event portaloo is fresh, clean, and ready to use. It comes with a light, hand soap, and a mirror as standard. The event fleet is a separate set of units from the construction fleet and the two never get mixed, which is the whole point of running two fleets. An event unit goes out presentation-ready: deep cleaned before every hire, fresh water flush, and finished to a standard that suits a wedding or a function rather than a working site. Scheduled servicing and licensed waste disposal are part of the hire rather than extras. What is not included is anything you would want to personalise, so hand towels, flowers or signage are yours to add if you want them. If you are hiring several units for the same venue, ask about the multiple-unit rate when you book rather than after.

Some clients choose to add hand towels, but everything else you need is included. Each unit arrives stocked with toilet paper, hand soap and water for the flush and the basin, so it is ready to use the moment it is set down. There is no power or plumbing connection to organise, which is why a portaloo works on a paddock or a driveway just as well as at a venue. The things worth thinking about are lighting if the event runs after dark and the unit sits away from other light, and a clear, level spot for it to stand on. Tell us the guest count and the running time and we will confirm how many units suits.

We don’t recommend moving it. Once in use, the toilet becomes much heavier and difficult to reposition safely. A unit that has been in service carries its waste tank with it, and that weight is both awkward and easy to underestimate. Attempting to drag or tilt one risks spilling the tank, damaging the unit and injuring whoever is doing the lifting, which is why our crew places it with a crane truck rather than by hand. If the position turns out to be wrong, ring us rather than moving it yourselves. The way to avoid the problem entirely is to settle the spot before delivery: think about where guests will approach from, how visible you want it, and whether the ground is level. A firm, level spot within crane reach of where the truck can stand is all it needs, and getting that right at booking saves the conversation entirely.

Each portaloo requires a footprint of 1200mm x 1200mm, plus clearance for safe crane delivery. The footprint is the easy part. The clearance is what usually decides where a unit can actually go, because the crane truck needs to set up on a hardstand within about 4 to 5 metres of the spot and needs clear airspace above it, so overhanging branches, verandah roofs, powerlines and carport beams all rule positions out. On level ground with vehicle access this is rarely a constraint. If you are planning multiple units, allow a little space between them so people are not queueing into each other, and keep them off soft ground that a heavy unit will sink into.

For just $198 inc GST ($180 ex GST), the hire covers 4 days and includes pickup and return by you from our Capalaba depot. Each trailer toilet is equipped with GECA-approved toilet paper, internal lighting, soap dispensers, and foot pumps for flushing and hand-washing.

Absolutely. Contact us for extended hire pricing.

Trailer-mounted toilets are pickup-and-return only — you collect from and return to our Capalaba depot in southeast Queensland, which keeps the price down to $198 inc GST ($180 ex GST) for the standard 4-day hire.

Your tow vehicle needs a standard 50 mm tow ball, a 7-pin flat trailer plug, and any conventional sedan, SUV or ute will handle the load; our team will hitch the trailer, connect the lights, and run you through the checks before you leave. Each trailer comes ready-to-go with GECA-approved toilet paper, internal lighting, soap dispensers, and foot pumps for flushing and hand-washing — all you supply is the tow vehicle.

Pickup hours are weekdays 7am–4pm; return on or before your 4-day end date avoids late fees. If you need it for longer, call (07) 3367 2237 for extended-hire pricing before you collect.

Yes — Poles and Holes will beat any genuine Brisbane event portaloo quote by 10%. Send us the written quote (PDF or email screenshot from a competitor servicing the same event date and venue) and we’ll match the toilet specification, then take 10% off the bottom-line inc-GST price for like-for-like delivery and collection.

The promise covers single-toilet hires for weddings, festivals and private functions across Brisbane, Logan, Redlands, Ipswich and Moreton Bay; Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast hires sit outside the standard zone but we’ll still review competing quotes case-by-case. Our event portaloo rate sits at $88 inc GST for the 4-day minimum, plus $154 inc GST delivery, and multi-unit hires already attract a 20% discount on each additional toilet delivered to the same venue.

For everything else — temporary power poles and security cameras — we will beat any genuine written competitor quote by 5% on like-for-like hire. Same rules apply: send us the quote (PDF or screenshot) for the same spec and dates before you confirm with the other supplier.

Beat-quote requests need to land before you confirm with the competitor — call (07) 3367 2237, text 0483 985 358, or email through the contact form.

We deliver security cameras across Brisbane, Logan, Redlands, Ipswich and Moreton Bay — the same 40 km radius around our Capalaba depot we cover for builders poles and portaloos.

Cameras can ship two ways: as an add-on bolted to a temporary or permanent power pole you’ve already hired (cleanest option, draws power from the pole), or as a standalone solar-powered pole running off a 90W panel and large-capacity battery for sites with no power yet. Both setups are 4G-enabled, so they don’t rely on onsite Wi-Fi or cabling. The cameras are IP66-rated for full weatherproofing in southeast Queensland conditions including summer storms.

On the Gold Coast, cameras are available as an add-on to a temporary power pole hire, with a travel surcharge of $10/km beyond our standard 40 km zone. Standalone camera hire on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast is by enquiry. The minimum hire period is 84 days; book at the same time as your pole for combined delivery.

It depends on whether you already have a pole. If you are hiring a temporary power pole from us, we mount a pan-tilt camera on it during the pole install and run the power up a secured cable inside the pole, so there is no extra ground preparation and no second visit. If you need cover before any power exists, the camera arrives on its own standalone pole carrying a 90W solar panel and battery, which goes into the ground on its own and works on a bare block from day one.

The standalone pole carries two cameras rather than one: a fixed 4MP unit trained on the gate or entry, plus a 4MP pan-tilt that patrols the wider site. One timing point worth knowing: a pole-mounted camera runs on power from the pole, so it works once the supply is energised rather than on the day the pole lands. If you need the site watched before that, the standalone solar unit is the one that works from day one.

Security cameras at Poles and Holes are available for long-term hire only, with a minimum rental period of 84 days (12 weeks) — that aligns with the typical residential build timeline from slab pour through to lockup, and matches how site insurance and head-contractor compliance cycles run in southeast Queensland.

The 84-day minimum lets our crew amortise the install and pickup labour over a meaningful hire period; shorter rentals would push the per-day rate well above what most builders are willing to pay for surveillance. After the initial 84 days, hires automatically extend on a weekly basis at the standard daily rate until you call us for off-hire — there's no end date you need to commit to upfront, and no price step-ups during the extension period.

For one-off short-term events that need surveillance, we generally recommend hiring a security guard instead, or bundling the camera onto a power pole hire that's already scheduled. Call (07) 3367 2237 to confirm pricing for your project length.

Book the camera at the same time as your builders pole. Both then go out on one truck and go up in one visit, which is cheaper than two mobilisations and means the site is covered from the day the pole lands rather than a fortnight later. If you are ordering a pole anyway, say so when you ask for the camera quote.

For a standalone solar pole, allow a few days notice so we can secure stock and check mobile coverage at the exact address rather than at suburb level. Inside our standard 40km zone around the Capalaba depot, jobs are usually scheduled within one to two business days of the quote being accepted. Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba sit outside that zone and are slotted against our existing runs, so allow a little more notice there.

No — every site camera Poles and Holes supplies is fully 4G-enabled with an embedded SIM that connects directly to the Telstra mobile network, so there's no onsite Wi-Fi, ethernet cabling, or internet service required at any point. The 4G data plan is included in the hire fee with no separate charges or usage caps for normal site use (live viewing, motion alerts, footage download).

Power comes from either a temporary builders power pole (when bundled) or a dedicated solar panel with battery backup on standalone units, so the camera works completely off-grid from day one — useful for greenfield sites where the network connection hasn't happened yet, road and civil works without mains supply, and remote acreage builds.

The only mobile-coverage caveat: on rural sites with marginal Telstra reception, signal strength may affect live-stream quality. We test 4G signal as part of the pre-install site check.

Yes. Every hire includes a secure login to your own viewing portal, so you can check the live feed or pull back recorded footage from a phone or a desktop, from anywhere. There is no separate subscription and no per-user charge for the people you grant access to, so a site manager, a foreman and an owner can all be looking at the same site without anyone paying extra.

The cameras record around the clock rather than only when something moves, and everything they capture is yours to control. Poles and Holes does not hold or save any of it. Motion alerts still arrive with a snapshot attached, so you are told when something happens rather than going looking for it. The cameras classify humans and vehicles rather than alerting on every moving shadow, see 30 metres in the dark in full colour, and answer movement with light and sound rather than only recording it.

You have complete control over the footage your camera captures while it is on hire. Poles and Holes does not hold it, does not save a copy, and does not monitor your feed. We are a hire company, not a monitoring service, so what your camera records stays between you and the people you have given a login to.

Through your viewing portal you can watch live and pull back recordings at any time during the hire, from a phone or a desktop. When the camera comes off hire, the unit is cleared before it goes back out to another site, so download anything you want to keep before collection day. The practical habit is to save anything tied to an incident, a delivery dispute or an insurance claim on the day it happens rather than at the end of the job.

The standalone solar pole is built for continuous operation rather than for topping up between sunny days. A 90W solar panel and a 31.2Ah lithium battery, managed by an MPPT charge controller, keep both cameras powered day and night, with around a week of running even through cloudy weather. That is sized for an overcast Brisbane wet season rather than for ideal summer sun.

The variable that actually catches people out is shade, not rain. A panel that never sees direct sun, because a building has gone up beside it or a tree overhangs it, will not recharge properly no matter how good the weather is. That is why choosing where the panel points is part of the install visit, and why we will reposition it as the build changes shape around it. If a site is going to lose sun entirely as the structure rises, the cleaner answer is switching the camera to mains power from your temporary power pole.

Cameras are set in fixed positions because placement is what makes them useful. A unit mounted at the right height and aimed at the gate and the material stack will give you usable identification where one pointed vaguely across the block will not, so the position is chosen deliberately at install rather than left to be adjusted later.

If the site changes and the camera is watching the wrong thing, ring us and we will arrange a reposition. That is a genuine site visit rather than something you should attempt yourself: the mount is secured, the cable run on a pole-mounted unit sits inside the pole, and a solar unit needs its panel re-aimed as well as the camera. If your build runs in stages across more than one address, ask about relocating the unit to another of your sites instead of pulling it down and redelivering, which is two mobilisations instead of one.

The hirer is responsible for the care and security of the cameras and poles for the duration of the hire, which is standard across equipment hire rather than unusual to us. Fair wear and tear during normal use is our problem to fix, and if a unit fails we swap it out. Damage caused by misuse, a unit destroyed by machinery, or a camera stolen from site sits with the hirer under the hire terms.

Those terms are set out in the agreement before anything goes out, so there is nothing to discover later. The practical steps that reduce both risks are the same ones that make the camera work better: mount it high, mount it on a pole rather than a loose fence panel, and keep the site signposted so it reads as monitored from the footpath. If something does happen, tell us straight away and we will get a replacement unit on site.

Yes. Only you, and anyone you choose to grant access to, can view your camera portal. Poles and Holes does not monitor your feed and does not store your recordings, so what happens on your site stays between you and the people you have given a login to. We are a hire company, not a monitoring service, and we do not offer a control room watching feeds on your behalf.

On the site itself, the expectation runs the other way: cameras are signposted at the entry points rather than hidden. That is standard practice for site security in Queensland, it satisfies the notification expectations that apply to recording in a workplace, and it does most of the deterrence work, because someone reading the sign at the gate usually keeps walking. Covert recording is a different exercise with different legal exposure and is not what we hire out.

Yes — every Poles and Holes site camera is IP66-rated, which means full protection against dust ingress and against powerful jets of water from any direction. In practical southeast Queensland terms, that covers everything sites throw at them: summer thunderstorms with heavy directional rain, prolonged wet-season exposure, dust storms, salt-laden coastal air, and the constant temperature swings between cool overnight and 35°C+ summer afternoons. Both the cameras and the solar supply are rated from -30°C to 60°C, well outside anything this state produces.

The housing is reinforced UV-stabilised polycarbonate so it doesn't yellow or crack over multi-year deployments. The cameras have been deployed across Brisbane, Logan, Redlands, Ipswich and Moreton Bay sites for years with no weather-related failures on record — the few we've replaced have been due to physical impact (tool fall-down or crane swing) rather than environmental damage.

Solar-powered standalone units are rated the same and use sealed lithium-iron-phosphate batteries that handle Queensland heat well.