Hi,
We are buiding a metri home and about to do the electrical. Can someone give us some ideas about installing downlights?
The metri's upgrade for downlights is seriously expensive to us. We planned to do it after hand over. So do I need to keep the standard lights the way they are? Will there be a hole on the ceiling if we remove the standard light fittings? We will most likely replace all the standard ones and install downlights all around the house. Is it better if we ask metri to do the wiring?

Hi ununkk,
We are installing the downlights after handover, but it is probably wise to get the wiring in before, especially if it's a two storey home.
At our electrical consultation we went over where we wanted the downlights (we have them practically everywhere) and then at handover, it's easier for the electrician to insert the downlights. At the consultation you can also discuss if you want different downlights on different switches, e.g in one room we have 10 lights but in most cases we wouldn't put them all on at once.
You shouldn't get a hole when removing the batons to insert the downlights, because depending on the size of your downlight they will usually have to make the hole bigger anyway as the downlight as you know needs to sit flush with the ceiling.

Hope this helps.
Goodluck

g'day

Metri will charge an extra 20% on downlights if you request them, but that may be a better option depending on how your chosen electrical contractor is going to charge you to install downies on a finished house.

if you are not replacing the current fittings with downlights you will be left with a small 20mm hole with 2 5mm holes either side, if the electrician is neat

any decent electrical contractor should be able to run the extra lighting wires you need without the need to cut holes..

in your situation you may encounter the following problems:

all downlight positions are dependant on where the roof trusses are located, plaster batton locations ( if you have them ) and physical ceiling space. It is possible that one may cut a downlight hole and have a nice big load bearing roof truss staring at them.. so i would budget for some patch and paint into your upgrades.

depending on how many downlights you want to install, the current wiring may not handle the extra load 40 downlights can place on a lighting system designed for 1 light per room.
so you may have to factor in an extra run of cables to your switchboard, an extra safety switch. etc etc. etc.

its a hard one... i would go direct to the electrician that is doing your house and ask them for a quote on downlight prewire off your existing lighting. that way he can install the wiring you need, and you dont need to cough up the extra 20% metri charges for extras.