Electrical Selections

On Thursday we had our electrical and colour selection appointments at Hopetoun Interiors.  I should have updated sooner, but fortunately for anyone reading this probably means that I’ll be brief(er) without all the details fresh in my mind.  I will come back and add pictures once I’ve uploaded from the camera, and will add prices after we get our contract on Thursday.

Electrical

First up was electrical.  Unfortunately the computer system was down, so the consultant had to do the plans and calculations manually.  She was great though, and this was much less tedious than it sounds (for us, anyway).

Lighting

Lighting we replaced the batten lights in the entry, study and kitchen/living/meals area with LED downlights.  These were about $150 each, although we got $50 back for each batten light we took out.  However, in the end we only completely removed two or three battens, as we have placed 3 battens above the bench for feature pendants.  We also added 4 downlights under the overhead cupboards in the kitchen.  Lighting everywhere else inside is just standard battens.  Entry, kitchen, living and dining lights are all double switched, so they can be turned on and off from room entry and exit points.

Outside we have added one double floodlight to the backyard, in addition to the floodlight at the laundry door.  We also included pre-wiring to the front pillars so we can install our own lights after handover.  Doing just the pre-wiring (as opposed to having the lights installed) saves us about $400 due to not having to include sensors.

Power points

We added heaps of power points, usually doubling the amount in each room, as follows (unless specified, references are to standard doubles):

• Master bedroom we went from 1 to 3
• Ensuite, 1 to 2
• Entry 0 to 1
• Study 1 to 1 quad
• Theatre 1 to 1 + 1 quad
• Dining left at 1
• Living 1 to 1 quad
• WIP 1 to 2
• Kitchen 3 to 5
• Rumpus 1 to 1 + 1 quad
• Bathroom 1 to 2
• Remaining bedrooms 1 to 2
• Alfresco 0 to 1.

Hopefully it’s enough, but I’m sure there will be times we want more!

Pre-wiring

We added wall mounted TV pre-wiring in 3 rooms (theatre, living and rumpus) for $264 each.

Opticomm Fibre Pack

The estate four pack includes data, phone, TV, and Cable TV from one central location to 4 nominated locations, including Multi socket points to 4 rooms, slimline enclosure and a single power point for $2072.40.  We nominated the master bedroom, theatre, living room and rumpus room to have all four points, and added an additional data/phone point to the study for $88.44.

Security

We added a security system, the Hills Reliance 12, for $1292.00.

All up, our experience for the electrical selections was pretty good.  The conultant was friendly and knowledgable, handled the lack of computer system really well and wasn't at all pushy.  If we had one complaint, it would be that sometimes we weren't presented with options until we asked about them and could have missed out if we weren't as prepared as we had been.  But from a consultant's point of view, I suppose what is helpful to one person is pushy to another.  We were by and large really happy with how the appointment went.  When we got home and reviewed the plans we emailed a slight change that was no problem.

Today we have recieved the computerised plans, and will have to compare them to the hand-drawn ones when I get home from work because there seems to be a couple of little issues, hopefully they are flexible the 48 hours you usually have to make changes, seeing as though we are only just seeing the actual plans for the first time!

I think I'll do colours in a separate post to keep things simple!