Help with electrical work with builder vs post handover

Hello all,

I am currently in the tender stage of building a new house and looking for your help in deciding the electrical work. It’s a single storey house, so I am planning to do most of electrical lighting stuffs post the handover. However, I am not quite sure about few items if that would be possible to get done post the handover or if that has to be done by the builder.

I will have around 10 LEDs and 22 batten lights at the time of handover and I am planning to get all the 22 batten light replaced with another 52 LED downlights.
I also have plans to have additional External junction box - 9 Numbers, Double external weatherproof power point - 6 , Television point - 5
However, my facade is fully rendered and 2-3 of the planned external junction boxes would be in front of the house. So I am not sure if this can be done post the handover easily?
My builders charge high, so my intension is to do only the necessary things from them and get most of things done post the handover.

External junction box for future lighting - my builder charges $99.00 each
External weatherproof Double power point - $133.00 each
Television point with RG6 quad shield cabling - $155.00 each
Set Out to batten light point for future installation of downlight - $24.00 each (I think it’s for converting the existing batten light point of LED Downlight ready - no downlight mechanism included)
Ceiling Batten Light Point Including Set Out For Future Downlight - $83.00 each (this might be for a new point to get the LED downlight ready - so no downlight mechanism included)

My roof would be metallic / Colorbond. Considering that, can I get the External junction box, External weatherproof PowerPoint and Television point done after the handover. I have included my builders electrical plan. Based on your experience, what I should must be getting done from my builder ( kindly include anything that I missed here).

Thanks,

Im just going to say - I think 2 DL in master is sufficient and I wouldnt be doing 4 DL down entry hallway, Id reallocate these to other rooms

I'd do pendant/s over island and reallocate those ones too. Are you doing ceiling fans? If so you could do fan/lights in other bedrooms.

We do 2 gpos in each bedroom. Add more to kitchen, wip, consider where vaccum cleaner will reach.

We did 2 DL in media which works well too. You can think you'll save money but we found ours didnt have a huge mark up.

Also think about light switch position. If you park in gge, ensure a switch is close by gge door for lights inside.

And do you want the MH in wir? We put ours in gge

As a guide, heres what we did - plus an extra gpo in wip

Thank you alymei. Its indeed a great help for me. The plan I shared is a regular (not a custom) plan from my builder. They call it as delux electrical plan which has 3 batten light replaced with 10 downlights.But I would like to have downlights.I would be fitting fan in alfresco, but not in any of the bedrooms. Being from Melbourne, I'm more in to multi zoned heating ( 4 zones) and evapourative cooling through out the house. MH WIR is also their standard plan; I would check with them if it can be relocated or not.

Yes, plenty of gpos and similar stuffs have to be added. But my builders rates are very high compared to sparkies and hence was trying to see what I can do after handover. If you see the price below, my builder charges $176 for 90mm white recessed LED globe. What a rip off ! I could easily get philips hue and even keep some spare money, isn't it? They type of 90mm LED they are advertising can be achieved using ECOGEM S9041TC - 10W (SAL - Sunny Australia Lighting), which is available for $14-$15 bucks.

Additional Classic 2 white recessed dimmable downlight including LED globe : $151.00
Classic 2 white recessed dimable LED downlight 10 pack : $1395.00
Additional Classic 2 brushed chrome white recessed dimmable downlight including LED globe : $159.00
Additional HPM Colour Selector 90mm white recessed dimmable downlight including LED globe : $176.00
Single internal power point : $53.00
Double internal power point : $60.00
Quad (four gang) internal power point : $100.00
Double internal power point to Kitchen island bench : $100.00
Double internal power point to Kitchen island bench including conduit allowance under slab (no electrical connection included as standard) : $205.00
Double internal power point to Kitchen island bench adjacent to a bank of drawers : $475.00
Double internal power point to Kitchen island bench adjacent to a bank of drawers : $368.00
Double internal power point to Kitchen/Butler's Pantry glass splashback : $206.00
Two way light switch : $54.00
Three way light switch : $99.00
External junction box for future lighting : $99.00
Double external weatherproof power point : $133.00
Single external weatherproof power point : $112.00
Set Out to batten light point for future installation of downlight : $24.00
Ceiling Batten Light Point Including Set Out For Future Downlight : $83.00
Television point with RG6 quad shield cabling : $155.00
Double USB Charger Mechs (AA) to double power point : $135.00
Double USB Charger Mechs (AC) to double power point : $135.00
Excel Life double power point with surge protection in lieu of double power point : $131.00

Thanks,
Shi

You could consider attending site during build and ask sparkie to upgrade to DL, you supply DL and you could save money there. We added a gpo and a couple of lights and paid sparkie cash

Why don't you just get your builder to build what you want?
If you do work you will become a second builder on the job and will split responsibility.
If something goes wrong who do you think will be blamed?

Thanks for the reply building-expert. I am talking about elecrtical fitings through licenced electrician post the handover, which is not violating any contract or warranty. See one of the item builder charges - 90mm white recessed dimmable downlight including LED globe : $176 each . I am in need of 62 downlights and it would cost me $10912. Same branded downlights can be installed post the handover for $2500-$3000 or spend a little over $5000 and I can get philips hue automated downlights. This is just the example of downlights. Everything the builder charges is the rip off, 50%-50% profit share between builder and their subcontracting electrical firm. Why do I pay my hard earned money so stupidly ?

Shi - I think 62 downlights is a tad excessive - we have less than half that for the same sized house.

You are right alymei . In my current home, I have Philips Master LED MR16 (GU5.3) 7W DIMMABLE 400 Lumens. I have done the calculations and spacing based on that. I think the newer downlights are of 90mm with 10W / 700 Lumens. So yes, ideally 2 should have been enough to get same light of my current 4 downlights. My roof height is 2740mm and size of the house is 29 squares. I will not be having any fan in the room and all I am planning to have downlights alone.
I will try to reduce the number of Downlights and try to rearrange the electrical plan and see how it goes.

Thanks,
Shi

You may want to consider the lighting provided by multiple wide angle flat faced (or semi recessed) residential led downlights is often quite glarey, even with dimming. In some rooms a good quality central, diffused ceiling light may be more effective at delivering light, more aesthetically pleasing and likely cheaper. If you look at commercial specification downlights these are often designed to minimise glare however most cheap 800lumen with 90 to 120 degree beams downlights have no optical finesse and don’t do this.

Hey Shi.
The best and cost effective method to make allowances for after handover electrical work is to run conduits to and from the switch to the lights in restricted locations and from the switch to the roof space in less restrictive locations.
If you require some assistance with lighting design I’d be happy to help. There’s lots of good info in reply’s here but you need to discuss your intent with an expert otherwise your best guess is still just that,a guess. An expert can offer tried and tested suggestions and then you get To feel more assured of your decision.
Don’t trust a mechanic to perform heart surgery. 😉