Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jul 01, 2017 8:23 am Hoping anyone could help me to decide whether go with builder or local electrician for installing downlights. I will have 35 downlights in my house. There are 21 batten lights included in building cost. I will remove batten light points from centre and move where it will be replaced by a downlight. So in total I will have 14 new downlights to install. 1. How much it will roughly cost to replace existing batten lights with downlight? 2. How much it will roughly cost to install new downlight with wiring? 3. Do I get builder to do pre-wiring for downlights? My builder is charging $140 for each new downlights. any help appreciated!! Re: Cost of installing downlights after handover 2Jul 01, 2017 9:24 am mishmu you have 2 options pay the builder what he wants or have an electrician charge about the same later The valuable lessons that others have learnt from previous posts..is to get quotes before you sign (pay a deposit) now the builder has the upper hand Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Cost of installing downlights after handover 3Jul 01, 2017 10:25 am I've just done the similar at my place. The downlights themselves (and 413 fittings) cost me just over $20 each from L&H. Got an electrician in to remove the batten lights, drill out the hole for the downlights, wire them up using the existing wiring. Its not complex work and you should be able to get a sparky for $40 an hour. 23 lights took about 6 hours. Total cost therefore around $700. I haven't yet costed up fitting any new lights but they would need to runs some extra wiring which obviously takes a bit more time. Keep in mind that running new wiring through the ceiling cavity is generally quite easy compared to running it through walls. Guessing it might take the electrician a couple of hours to install the additional wiring. Overall its much cheaper than getting the builder to do it @ $140 a pop. If you have cash reserves its far more cost effective to get this type of thing done post build. Downside is most people have put the majority of cash into their deposit so don't have as much available for this type of thing. Re: Cost of installing downlights after handover 4Jul 03, 2017 2:20 pm Thank you everyone for your replies. If I get downlight installed after build, do I need to get builder to put wiring in the ceiling for each downlight that will be installed or it can be performed with extra time after build? Re: Cost of installing downlights after handover 5Jul 04, 2017 9:06 am mishmu Thank you everyone for your replies. If I get downlight installed after build, do I need to get builder to put wiring in the ceiling for each downlight that will be installed or it can be performed with extra time after build? I'm saying this sight unseen but you shouldn't need to worry about the builder putting any extra wiring in. If you have an electrician putting the downlights in post build you may as well get them to do the extra wiring themselves. Re: Cost of installing downlights after handover 6Jul 05, 2017 4:13 pm You are better off removing the battens and replacing them with downlights or provisions by the builder as you will get a credit for the battens. We are doing a double storey so went with downlights provisions. It was around $60 cheaper to get the provisions put in place when we can buy the downlights for around $25 each. The downlights just plug in to the provisions so no electrician required. Building Monte Carlo 40- Wisdom homes Building Monte Carlo 40- Wisdom homes 2 2531 We were lucky in that our old house was so small (86 square metres) compared to the new house, they were able to take enough readings around the old backyard house before… 8 37160 multiple occ properties are always billed by trades at a premium, rarely per sqm for the lot. You either have trades you know whoe will do by sqm or youre going to get… 1 2252 |