Extra electricals, insulation and air conditioning upgrades...
This last week has been pretty busy with some house decisions.
Last week I spoke to our SS and he was saying in the coming week/s we will be doing the electrical rough in. It was a bit like pulling teeth as I he mentioned 'rough in' and I had to qualitfy if that meant electrical rough in. Since it was, I asked about our electricals and whether or not we can add some extra power points etc and he was totally fine with it and suggested we get in touch with the electrician directly to get this organised. We also wanted to find out how we can organise our own security and data guy. He's OK with it but from a timing point of view it needs to be after the sparkie goes through.
I also discussed with our SS the non security of the site at the moment and how we had walked around and that two of the doors were swapped around as
they don't open the way we expected. Again he was cool with it and said we'd definitely go through it and match it/compare it with the plans. That's a relief!
Since then the doors have been swapped as indicated by this message on the floor!
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| Swapping the two stacking doors |
But the topic of this blog post is about our electricals and air conditioning.
Electricals
Towards the end of last week we managed to get in touch with the electrician and over the weekend we drew up some plans for extra electricals. We decided after checking out the house that we really needed to wire up the under eave lighting we wanted. There was going to be a heap of difficulty adding these post build due to the Colorbond roof and the timbers that would get in the way making getting to eaves very difficult. (With a tiled roof apparently you can just lift up a tile -- so I've been told!)
We also wanted to add a few more double power points as we were thinking of doing this after the build ourselves but then... we'd have to do it after the build and sometimes it's just easier to get it done first go. And of course there was a lot of .. what if we want to use x here and then want to plug it in. And me saying things like "I really don't like power packs *grrrr*")
So with some highlighters and a copy of the plans we marked it up and moved things around. We ended up with under eave downlights in the Alfresco/courtyard centred on the doors and over the BBQ area. We ended up with rear lights against the walls (rather than the doors) as we wanted to maximise the view rather than just being able to see the light if they were on. And we got some 'night' lights for the front of the house against walls.
In the corners of the house we added points for under eave flood lights.
So with some highlighters and a copy of the plans we marked it up and moved things around. We ended up with under eave downlights in the Alfresco/courtyard centred on the doors and over the BBQ area. We ended up with rear lights against the walls (rather than the doors) as we wanted to maximise the view rather than just being able to see the light if they were on. And we got some 'night' lights for the front of the house against walls.
In the corners of the house we added points for under eave flood lights.
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| Extra Electrical work |
With the power points we added some just where we thought we may need them. But it wasn't too many, just a few more that may be difficult to get to given we had some internal insulation. If you ever have tried to install things after insulation in you would know how painful fibreglass spinters can be! We did this installing an HDMI cable for a projector in another house and it was a good lesson on how not to install cables!
The quote for the electicals were very reasonable. Better priced than what we got via Sekisui House. Which makes sense. SH has to make their margin. I was going to happy if they charged the same as long as we doidn't get slugged the admin fee. But I'll take this as a win. I'm even thinking that we get them to install the pendants which we haven't confirmed yet. (Someone doesn't like my selection *grrrr* )
Here are some of the pricing by type we got from our electrician
INSTALL 1 X OWNERS SUPPLIED LIGHT FITTING TO A PRE WIRED LIGHT POINT $35
SUPPLY AND INSTALL 1 X WHITE HPM 10-WATT WARM WHITE LED DOWN LIGHT TO A PRE WIRED LIGHT POINT $65
SUPPLY WIRE AND INSTALL 10 AMP SUB CIRCUIT FOR THE FLOOR HEATING ELEMENT INCLUDING LABOUR AND MATERIALS TO SUPPLY THE CIRCUIT BREAKER, SUB CIRCUIT CABLE, CONNECTION OF THE THERMOSTAT AS SUPPLIED BY OTHERS ON ELECTRICAL FINISH OFF WITH THE INSTALLATION OF THE HEATING ELEMENTS BY OTHERS. $285
SUPPLY WIRE AND INSTALL HPM EXCEL LIFE DOUBLE POWER POINTS $38
PRE WIRE 1 X NEW LIGHT POINTS TO THE SIDE EAVES AREA FOR THE FUTURE DOWN LIGHT. TO BE SWITCHED ON FROM THE BUILDERS SWITCH LOCATION $35
PRE WIRE NEW LIGHT POINTS FOR FUTURE EAVES MOUNTED FLOOD LIGHTS. TO BE SWITCHED ON TOGETHER FROM THE BUILDERS SWITCH PLATE LOCATION $35
2 WAY SWITCHING $48
Our sparkies are Sekisui House's sparkies - Dallimont Electrical.
On the air conditioning front we contacted the air cond installation company and did a heap of research. With the package (it was part of the sales promo - Double up and Save) we get a SRA173 and it includes 9 ducts and 2 zones. So what to do? If we zone it more it will be less wasteful considering there are only two of us in the house most of the time. And W wanted a garage duct to get some cooling on those super hot days that make being in the garage or outside unbearable. But then that raised the question about insulation. And gaps around doors and windows. which meant more research! I hit up Homeone and you can read the thread here.
The quote for the electicals were very reasonable. Better priced than what we got via Sekisui House. Which makes sense. SH has to make their margin. I was going to happy if they charged the same as long as we doidn't get slugged the admin fee. But I'll take this as a win. I'm even thinking that we get them to install the pendants which we haven't confirmed yet. (Someone doesn't like my selection *grrrr* )
Here are some of the pricing by type we got from our electrician
INSTALL 1 X OWNERS SUPPLIED LIGHT FITTING TO A PRE WIRED LIGHT POINT $35
SUPPLY AND INSTALL 1 X WHITE HPM 10-WATT WARM WHITE LED DOWN LIGHT TO A PRE WIRED LIGHT POINT $65
SUPPLY WIRE AND INSTALL 10 AMP SUB CIRCUIT FOR THE FLOOR HEATING ELEMENT INCLUDING LABOUR AND MATERIALS TO SUPPLY THE CIRCUIT BREAKER, SUB CIRCUIT CABLE, CONNECTION OF THE THERMOSTAT AS SUPPLIED BY OTHERS ON ELECTRICAL FINISH OFF WITH THE INSTALLATION OF THE HEATING ELEMENTS BY OTHERS. $285
SUPPLY WIRE AND INSTALL HPM EXCEL LIFE DOUBLE POWER POINTS $38
PRE WIRE 1 X NEW LIGHT POINTS TO THE SIDE EAVES AREA FOR THE FUTURE DOWN LIGHT. TO BE SWITCHED ON FROM THE BUILDERS SWITCH LOCATION $35
PRE WIRE NEW LIGHT POINTS FOR FUTURE EAVES MOUNTED FLOOD LIGHTS. TO BE SWITCHED ON TOGETHER FROM THE BUILDERS SWITCH PLATE LOCATION $35
2 WAY SWITCHING $48
Our sparkies are Sekisui House's sparkies - Dallimont Electrical.
Air Conditioning
On the air conditioning front we contacted the air cond installation company and did a heap of research. With the package (it was part of the sales promo - Double up and Save) we get a SRA173 and it includes 9 ducts and 2 zones. So what to do? If we zone it more it will be less wasteful considering there are only two of us in the house most of the time. And W wanted a garage duct to get some cooling on those super hot days that make being in the garage or outside unbearable. But then that raised the question about insulation. And gaps around doors and windows. which meant more research! I hit up Homeone and you can read the thread here.
Some of the upgrade options we discussed and were offered pricing on by the air conditioning guys are as follows:
1) Upgrade unit to the ‘Classic’ range SRA233C/SRG201E (22.35kw) to allow for garage to be added - $2,360.00 plus G.S.T.
2) Upgrade unit to the ESP+ (energy efficient) model – SRD173C/SRV171E (16.88kw) – This will not allow for garage to be added - $1,850.00 plus G.S.T.
3) Upgrade unit to the ESP+ (energy efficient) model – SRD233C/SRV231E (23kw) – This will allow for garage to be added - $5,500.00 plus G.S.T.
4) Add additional 2 x outlets to garage area with standard round grilles - $500 plus G.S.T. ($250 plus G.S.T. each)
5) Add additional 2 x zones - $600 plus G.S.T. ($300 plus G.S.T. each)
6) Wi-fi addition: $770 plus G.S.T.
2) Upgrade unit to the ESP+ (energy efficient) model – SRD173C/SRV171E (16.88kw) – This will not allow for garage to be added - $1,850.00 plus G.S.T.
3) Upgrade unit to the ESP+ (energy efficient) model – SRD233C/SRV231E (23kw) – This will allow for garage to be added - $5,500.00 plus G.S.T.
4) Add additional 2 x outlets to garage area with standard round grilles - $500 plus G.S.T. ($250 plus G.S.T. each)
5) Add additional 2 x zones - $600 plus G.S.T. ($300 plus G.S.T. each)
6) Wi-fi addition: $770 plus G.S.T.
In the end we opted out of getting a duct in the garage due to potential getting the air from the garage inside the house (yuck!) so we'll get a split system in the garage down the track. W's employer wants to get it for him as a 'bonus' and it kinda fits with the job! But we still need to insulate so we're getting a quote to insulate the garage, esp the walls as the roof is easy to insulate with batts and we can easily climb up and throw some batts in.
The changes we did make to the air conditioning was an upgrade to the ESP+ and added an extra zone. We opted to connect the zone of home theatre with the guest room. The thinking there was chances are if we are air conditioning the home theatre maybe we have someone stay over? Ha! The living areas (all open plan area) are all going to be a separate zone. And then the office and bedroom is the third zone. We didn't get any extra ducts.
So what made us upgrade from Classic (included/base) to ESP+? Well definitely the sales material is totally useless in Actron's case. I couldn't see any perceived benefit of upgrading. It was pretty pathetic. Even looking at the power consumption numbers didn't make much sense as there was barely any benefit. There is this thing called variable fan speed which was the big selling point. And supposed up to 60% energy savings. I don't know how that would work. But after lots of googling the main reason we went with it was the 'blowyness'!! My biggest complaint about using a/c when it's cold (ie for warmth) is that it happens to swirl the cold air around too much so I actually feel colder than warm for a lot of the time! So I rather not even have it on. But if it was a gentle breeze it would be better. So is the ESP+ better? I have no idea. But it's one of those things that are hard to change afterwards (espensive!) so we bit the bullet and decided to upgrade to the middle range. It's that usual sales tactic, choose the middle one :)
We've never had a ducted system so no idea how this will work or how much we will like it (or not)
We also considered (and W did a heap of research) some sort of way to control the a/c via our phones (we are both on Android) but at a cost of $700 we gave that up. We found a couple of resources that indicate we can do something after market if we have the skill (W does) and the inclination (hmmm that's the question!)
Links here if you are interested in automating your air conditioning unit:
The company helping us out with the air conditioning installation is icoolm.
Insulation
I wasn't going to cover this in this post but since I started the post I've been in touch with our insulation folk. They are giving us a quote to add the insulation for the garage walls and the ceiling. Strangely enough they don't get details about the build and I had to send them the measurements for the space. I ended up sending them just the floor plan page so they had some idea of what they would be installing for. And doing the calculation of the required sq meterage coverage for the walls. I took out the space for the double garage door but not the french door or the window at front so that we had some 'extra'.
W wasn't that interested in this side of things which is confusing as we would need it if he wants the air cond to work. And if we are considering insulating the garage door it makes sense we have it for the walls too? We already have the comfort glass for all the doors and windows including the ones in the garage so this extra bit as long as it's a reasonable price should be fine.
But it's more money. The lady I spoke to seemed to think we should do it via our builder but then I told her about the contract variation! She was in shock that it would cost us $1000 so was much more willing to help out.
The quote is somewhere close to the $500, not confirmed but it was verbally quoted at $470 but unclear if that includes the installation.
Security
I won't go in detail about our security stuff as I don't really know that much as W was dealing with this. We had someone recommended to us but it was super expensive so we ended up going back to someone we have used in the past for our alarm systems. They are just doing the wire up rather than the installation of the system itself but that's what we need now at this stage. So all good.
Things we're getting wired up by the security company for are:
- data points (running cat6)
- video intercom wiring
- power for cameras
- some more speaker wire (rear speakers for home theatre) -- if it doesn't get done here it'll have to be ceiling mounted or floor I think. It's giving W a few headaches.
- patch panel (24 port)
I think that is about it. But again $$$s.
It's good as the company can actually have a guy we have used in the past out on site on Monday when we meet up with our Site Supervisor for the first time. He needs to be there that day to coordinate with the sparkie who will be doing the rough in.
We are using INTEGRITYR Locksmiths & Security for the security cabling install.
This has been a big spend week.
Electricals: $1415.70
Air Conditioning upgrades: $2365
Security cabling: $1380
Extra Cat 6e cabling: $185 (just the cable reels)
Insulation $480 (TBC)
Others have the foresight to incorporate this all into the contract. I tried to push most of this into the contract and we did add extra power points and light points etc but the thinking at the time was that we could do it after handover. And the air conditioning was done as a promotion so I'm relatively comfortable we have done the right thing. The insulation is a bonus but something I should have foreseen at the time. But we were busy trying to cut costs rather than add them! We briefly thought about upgrading the insulation but after adding in the anticon benefits and that we would get wall insulation we thought we'd be OK (if we compare to the house that was knocked down).
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