Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 24, 2012 9:54 pm We had our electrical appointment today. We were well prepared with our own "mock-up" plan which detailed the lights, their type (down light / LED / CFL), their locations and switches, all the power points and network points. And once done, we completely blew our expected budget by more than double , despite having a price list from the builder from which we made our initial estimates. We didn’t even get to network/data cabling due to cost (another matter). It turns out that – according to them – every additional light point is $75 . So even if a room has an existing light point to begin with, they charge $75 you for every additional light, despite those additional lights being connected to the same wiring as the existing light. Just to be clear, the wiring (one pair) runs from the wall switch, to the first light, then to the second, third and so on. Our understanding and one I thought reasonable, was that it would only be $75 for a light if you put it on a separate additional wire and thus separate switch on the wall, but no. I’m having a bit of a gripe about it because I find it hard to consider it reasonable to charge $75 for connecting up the second/third/fourth light from an existing light point (so that they turn on / off together), especially when those additional lights are ~2m away from each other in the ceiling? Is this common practise or am I being gouged? I would even be happy to pay $10-$20 for that short distance hooking up op of the additional lights. So here’s an opportunity for any electricians out there – what are you willing do it for? What about bulk discount when there are about 50 additional lights throughout the home, most of which connect up additional lights to existing light points. Perhaps you know a sparky that might be interested, so please let me know. The house is to be built in Moggill (western suburb of Brisbane). On a related point, for some rooms we intend on installing Bright Greens’ D900 / D1000 LED down lights. These are pricy, but brilliant, brighter than halogens without the heat risk, and even come with a 5 year guarantee! With these, they can be self-installed (DIY) as they (with driver) connect up using a standard power point plug. Here’s a link to their website (e.g. brochure and installation wiring): http://brightgreen.net.au/products/d900-curve/ So, what I’m wondering is whether we should ask our builder to instead install power points in the roof space, so that we can DIY the down lights after handover? That would mean that the roof initially has no lights for some areas. Has anyone done something like this before with a project builder? PS: Also, if you know of a data cable installer or company that can install 20 odd CAT6 cables to 7 different locations throughout the home, all terminating in the study, please let me know. Again, I’m being charged around $180 per point (instead of per location). But I’ll create a separate topic with a more appropriate title. Many thanks, Jaans Re: Electrician for post handover work (mostly lights) 2Jan 24, 2012 10:13 pm Hi Jaans, I went into the electrical with the same idea. As I did some homework and found out my builder did DL for $105 and LED for $150. As im building double storey I have arranged the builder to do all the lighting downstairs (too hard post build) and a single batten installed in each room upstairs, or where I want a set of LEDs to go.. I will purchase the LEDs and get a sparky to do this for me - will work out heaps cheaper. The other thing I did was think about PPoint locations - I targeted internal walls that were adjacent to another room so I could punch a hole through the wall and utilise the cabling to add another PPoint. In terms of the data cabling - I purchased 4 data points ($80 each) through the builder (just incase was not allowed to do myself) and actually bought 305m roll of cat6 cable through ebay (cost around $100). Spent the XMAS break running this to an additional 11 network points - this is not hard to do (takes sometime) but make sure you get clearance with your SS before buying the cable. Hope this helps Cheers, Alpal Building PD Heathmont 40 BLOG: http://alpal-pd-heathmont40.blogspot.com/ Deposit paid 19/08/2011 Contract signing 3/10/2011 Site Start 10/11/2011 Slab 23/11/2011 Re: Electrician for post handover work (mostly lights) 3Oct 27, 2012 8:29 am Sorry to dig up this old thread. Just need to know that what you end up with in the end. Batten lights from builders @ $75 each or let the electrician run the other light points after handover. I also cant justify $75 for each additional light point from the builder. Re: Electrician for post handover work (mostly lights) 4Oct 27, 2012 6:46 pm Most of our lighting is being done by our own sparky after handover. The builder is just putting in junction boxes with no holes in the ceiling and my guy will do the rest. lot of d900 brightgreens plus other stuff like xcels in bathrooms and wall lighting. Going to be busy after handover with lights and tiles and carpets going in and trying to paint while it happens. -------------------------------------- Pakman Building with Domain/Plunkett build: viewtopic.php?t=59158 There is evidence of water on the head reveals. That could have happened during the build, or may be happening currently. There are water stains above a couple of windows… 2 3826 0 1337 So I'm just reading up on this ecosystem of lights. I'm planning on putting deck lights along the outside edge of a large deck. Will need about 3 packs (18 lights) plus… 0 23016 |