Browse Forums Lighting + Lighting Design 1 Jan 16, 2018 2:02 pm Hi everyone , Our builder appears to have some astronomical costs for downlight's at $115 per light and when we will be installing between 50 and 80 lights depending on the type it is becoming obvious that I should do it myself or have a friend who an electrician do the job after handover. What I am hoping to happen here is that I can lay down my plan and your experienced heads can advise of anything you can see wrong or anything that you would do differently. So basically.... I will ask my builder to install double light switches at every light switch and I will replace the lower switch with the following..https://www.schnap.com.au/clipsal-switc ... xqEALw_wcB I will have the builder place a power point in the ceiling above each light switch so that I can run cable to these surface sockets... https://www.sparkydirect.com.au/p/93262 ... nnect.html and finally to each surface socket attach a similar downlight to the following..https://www.discountlighting.com.au/int ... white-trim To me it appears to be quite simple and straightforward, I am no electrician but I replaced my ceiling fans and Oyster lights in the current house myself aswell as all the light switches so I believe myself to be competent in doing this. Has anybody installed their own downlights? We have not had my electrical meeting yet and short of negotiating a significant discount this will save me somewhere between $2500 and $4000. As a single income family of four this is a significant amount of money for us! Re: DIY Downlights 2Jan 16, 2018 9:42 pm I think you are just best off getting the standard batten light fitting to each room & get the sparky in after to install downlight/surface socket/switch/dimmer. I see you're building in WA so if you have a second story you will have to pay the builders prices for electrical to be built into suspended slab. It will be very likely your builder will charge more to have a surface socket in the roof space than to install the batten, so what I have suggested above would be the cheapest means to get what you want. Re: DIY Downlights 3Jan 16, 2018 11:58 pm I'm going to copy a comment I made elsewhere.. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gosh the builders charge for downlights are ridiculous aren't they! I originally thought we'd save the hassle and get the builder to do them, but they wanted to charge a $138 variation each! No thanks! We saw a lighting consultant before prestart (who sadly seemed to go out of business by the time we were ready to order ![]() So thats $30 per LED downlight, plus install, at $80ish each. $50 saving per light! Not a small amount when you're looking at 50+ lights!!! Assuming the structure of your cabinetry is good then I would DIY everything as follows: - replace your counter tops entirely, - replace all drawer runners with soft close… 1 5581 Re my second point – yes exactly. And often it may take additional time if the manufacturer recommends no more than X meters… 3 6561 |