Looking forward to following your build. Did you make any modifications to your plan?
Cooling is a very personal decision - it depends on your preference, past experience, budget, and climate of your local region.
For me - I chose ducted air-con because:
- I have split AC in my current home which is always on in this hot QLD weather. AC is better suited for QLD weather over evaporative cooling where 35C is normal. For Melbourne, you need to evaluate whether evaporative cooling or AC makes sense for the Melbourne weather. I think Evaporative cooling requires humid weather to be more effective.
Evaporative cooling uses less electricity than AC but it doesn't cool the house as much as AC. So do you prefer lower electricity bill or cooler rooms?
Ducted AC is less clutter in the room as there is no indoor unit (only vents in ceiling) and one outdoor unit as opposed to one outdoor unit for each indoor unit (I have split AC in 4 rooms in my current home so 4 outdoor units). So I wanted Ducted AC over split AC in my new home.
Metricon was offering ducted AC as part of a promotion in QLD. As I wanted ducted AC, selecting the promotion was a no brainer. Normally Metricon charges $12K for ducted AC
If you chose split AC over evaporative cooling, my advise is to look at Ducted AC. Check with your SC on how much Metricon will charge to install ducting in ceiling during build (while you install the cooling unit post handover). Installation cost of split AC post handover will cost as much as getting the ducting done during build for Ducted AC. Some people on this forum had managed to get Metricon to agree to getting ducting done by their own contractor during build (which means you don't pay Metricon's 20% markup).
Let me know which way you decide.
NabeelC | Metricon Merricks 38 | Queensland
http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=86276