After finishing Colours a little late, introduced to the Blinds Company downstairs, that we quickly exited from, we had 15mins for a food break and re-energise before the Electrical Appointment. Thank goodness for the coffee shop over the road from Hopetoun. Advice for anyone else attending these appointments - take some snacks and energy food to keep you going through the appointments.
We got stuck into the Electrical appointment and to start with they only had our generic plans. I confirmed that the Colours team had our actual plans and it would be best if we used our plans as their were considerable changes downstairs. Our Consultant did manage to find our plans and then re-loaded them into the system, this took about 15mins, however I would rather that then finding mistakes later on after they transcribed them. Their computer program is also new (1 month into it) so they are still learning and it was having problems. Luckily our consultant kept saving our changes as we went through so we didn't lose information. Someone next door apparently lost about 1 hours work and they had to start again!
The process was pretty easy though. We went in with our own plans all marked up where we wanted everything. Originally we thought we would just get batten lights put in where we wanted downlights as we thought that they cost around $200 a downlight. However the downlights were only $125 (8W, cover up to 1.5 metres). If we put in batten lights, it was around $48 a light plus $15 to offset the light position off the actual batten - therefore a total of $61 per light. We would then have to get an electrician in to replace all the battens with the downlights and purchase downlights, so we decided to just to the downlights through PD.
Note - the downlights can not be dimmed. I looked in a brochure the other day and if you want to buy downlights that dim, these alone cost around $100 each. Perhaps replace what we need down the track.....
Here is some pricing to help others out:
Downlight LED GU10 White - $125.84
Under cupboard Lt Triangle lights - $130.90
Recessed Step lights - $123.20
2-way switches - $55.44
1 socket pp - $40.04
2 socket pp - $43.12
4 socket pp - $80.08
Weatherproof socket pp - $107.80
Kitchen Island socket - $107.80
TV arial points - $55.44
Phone Socket - $77.00
Data Socket - $77.00
Ceiling Exhaust Fan - $200.20
Doorbell - $170.00
Light Batten & Nogg Future Ceiling Fan - $104.00
Light Batten & Nogg Future Feature Ceiling Light - $104.00
So by the end of the appointment, it all adds up very quickly, however at least you get to see the running tally as you go!
Loving your blog, it is really helpful. I also love your colour choices - the green kitchen splash back will look stunning! :) Looking forward to following your build!
ReplyDeleteThanks Fleur, its all fun isn't it. I was just reading through your blog and you have all the selections coming but some good time to research. Look into if it is worth getting your LED downlights installed by PD or do yourselves. I suggest you check the pricing of the actually downlight you would like to get if you installed yourself and then how much it is to install by electrician or friend. This will help make your decision. You also have a single storey so really only need PD to put in one batten light per room and your own electrician do the rest. We just worked out for us, that at $61 per batten light (as detailed above) plus an electrician charging $40/light and we still need to go and buy the actual downlight, that it wasn't worth it. As we are double storey, all the lights need to be in the right place on the bottom floor.
DeleteHave fun working it out, so much to research isn't it.
LED GU10 White means the socket type rite? Can you give me some more details about the LED lights provided by PD?
DeleteWhat's the make and how many lumens per watt dose it have? Are you happy with the lighting it generate?
Thanks for the lovely blog...I'v learn lot from it !
Hi Madz. I am no expert in electricals! I happened to pick up empty packaging though. They are Telbix brand 301 downlight. I guess the GU 10 is the fitting type as it is also written in globe box. Globe is 8watt, beam angle of 60 degrees. 490 lumen, 8 watt, 50000 hours. Energy rating of "A". We r happy with lighting. I put one in ensuite over bench, little weird to get used to for make up! In living areas we have 4 downlights but have 2 on a switch so we don't have to have all on. If you have 2 storey, we LOVE our stair lights, probably only needed 3,not 5.
Deletewe too are now following your blog... its pretty awesome. we are also planning to build a wembley 35 in geelong.
ReplyDeletewe saw the display house of which you have taken pics . like the way you have explained stuff to help others,
we have only made a 1000 deposit and waiting to get things moving.
Sarah, did you build the Wembley?
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