Electrical

Electrical appointment is the last appointment at MJH office. MJH advised to allow 2 hours for electrical appointment. However, if you are prepared, 1 hour is more than enough.

We received the appointment right after we signed the building contract back in July and the appointment was booked for early September (earliest appointment we can get.) We tried to re-schedule one month later, but we were told the next available appointment will be on 30th September...em.....We kept what we had.

We worked based on the up-to-date house plan we had drew out on pieces of paper at the beginning - lots of arguments between us.. duh``` Below are the final decisions we agreed on.

We did the entire electrical plan with MJH, well, except the pendant lights ($55 for pre wiring). We did it out of convenience and assurance.

Many people complained how expensive it is to get downlights through MJH. We did our calculations, too. To be honest, if you cannot get 'mate's rate', it may only save you $10 appx per light. Because there will be call-out fees, material costs,etc to be paid on top of the charge per light.
So, if you are not doing lots of them, I don't think it will save you much $, considering all the hassles you are going to meet. (purely personal opinion)

* There is one batten light in each room, including WIR, WIP, laundry, alfresco, garage and patio.
* The power points for microwave (in the island bench), dishwasher, range hood and fridge are included in our package.
* If you will like to change the batten lights ($55) to down lights ($95), you will only be paying the difference.  Dimming downlights are available. Downlights come in in many colours - for the colour of the light and cover.
* There is no free fan in the bathroom/toilet which has windows. You can add a fan ($145) on as a separate unit, or pay additional $15 to combine the light and fan into one unit. (If you are not adding heat lamps, no expensive 'rings' needs to be added)
* The alarm system is Bosch, 3 motion detectors and a battery box is included in the price.This is installed by a security company later on rather than MJH.
* If you have NBN access, you may not need TV antenna ($645), as people are saying you can watch TV with NBN access.
* NBN unit is installed in the garage, in other words, your internet point and phone point will be in the garage. So if you don't want to re-set your wifi router or make phone calls in the garage. It is worth spending $130 for a phone point and $130 for a data point in the living area. (Remember to check if there is power point for the phone!)
* Fluorescent light (double) can be very handy in the garage.
* No power point in the laundry! Must add 1 or 2!
* Cooker switch is available.
* You can decide the height and distance from the wall for the lights, switches and powerpoints
* Switches are  quite standard (white), but there are different colour options for extra $. We upgrade 2 switches (on the splashback) to grey colour, in order to match the splash back.
* It is a good idea to add 1 or 2 power points on the kitchen island. We added 1 on the side of the island. It can be done for waterfall bench top, but more expensive. Anyway, we paid $70 for the backing unit - safer.
* How many downlights you need? You need to consider the colour of your walls, how bright you want the place to be, if you'd like spot lights for your artworks. Google 'LED downlight calculator' for more ideas and tips.
* In our package, there is a double power point per room, excluding WIP, WIR, alfresco, hallway and laundry. We added one extra power point in the guest bedrooms as shown in the picture, so the bedhead doesn't have to be against the window side always.
* We added 2 outdoor powerpoint in the Alfresco, 1 at the joint of the glass doors at about 1 meter high (for plugging a fan in summer) and 1 just under the roof of the alfresco (for plugging fairy lights for Xmas or parties).
* Ceiling fans are quite expensive. We skipped the fan with light in the alfresco, since it will only be used several times a year for parties...if it's really hot, we would be inside with the air-con on =] However, we did add a fan with light in the master bedroom which cost us $435!! Similar item in Bunnings only cost $200 at the max. Well, at least proper wiring and switches are included.
* There might be additional charge in the end for the fuse box, depending on the total 'watts' of everything you have in the house.
* Think logically, and picture what you usually do in order in your future new house for what you want to be installed at where. For example, you just came back from grocery shopping, and parked your car in the garage at night. You would firstly turn on the light in the garage, then pick up everything to get into the house from the side door. (Therefore, a switch for the garage light and a switch for the hallway light are both needed next the internal garage door.) Then you walk to the kitchen, turn the kitchen light on and turn the hallway light off. (So your hallway light switch would be a three-way switch if you want to add another one at the front door, and the majority of switches would stay at kitchen/living - according to our floor plan).

Final plan made at MJH with additional Phone and Data points