€65 per downlighter?

At the end of the day, you're paying for the convenience. You simply indicate the no. required in each room and it's all done and dusted by the time you eventually get your keys and move in. No chasing electricians, no sourcing downlighters, no painter, no plasterer, no mess and the cost on your site is €65ea - not excessive IMO - we paid €30ea 4 yrs ago and we knew the electrician.
 
Re: €65 per downlighter?

but fit the lights yourself
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I would strongly advise any reader not to go down this route unless they know and understand what they are doing.

Just because you flick the switch and the lights work, does not mean that you have a low resistance, adequate connection which will not heat up and pose a fire risk (without tripping fuseboard).

One would also need be aware of increased cable diameters required for low voltage lighting.

That said, I still think €65 is on the heavy side.
 
Re: €65 per downlighter?

Just in response to SineWave: I'm not suggesting one should carry out all the work involved in fitting recessed lights, what I was suggesting was that the process of actually fitting the recessed light unit itself is a relatively simple matter which does not, as you suggest, require an understanding of how many lights can be placed on a single circuit. If one does as I suggested, all the wiring, and subsequently calculations on circuit breaker capacity will have been taken care of by the electrician. Generally recessed lights will come with a connection housing and therefore connecting the wires of to the light would be compariable to wiring a plug.

The problem I have found with many jobs of this nature is that people are afraid to carry them out themselves as they percieve them to be to difficult. While for some people this may be the case, for the vast majority of people it is simply a matter of 'giving it a go', while having a basic understanding of the proces involved - consult a friend who has done the job before, read a manual, consult the internet, there are plenty of sources of information.

I am not advocating taking on a job that is completely beyond you, or you consider hazardous, but you will never learn by paying other people excessive amounts of money to carry the job out for you.
 
Re: €65 per downlighter?

its one thing to tell someone to 'give it a go' doing a bit a tiling or paint or shelving but a whole different ball game working with electrics. it irresponsible and dangerous, get the experts in.
 
Re: €65 per downlighter?

As I said before it's about understanding. Interesting that you mention plugtops, because from my own experience a large proportion of DIY ones are actually incorrectly wired.

1. Overrated fusing (cable breakdown fire risk in event of appliance fault)
2. Loose terminations (high resistance fire risk)
3. Incorrect wire lengths leading to forcing of lid and hence pinching of conductor (high resistance fire risk).
4. Full amount of copper core not in terminal (high resistance fire risk).
5. Incorrectly clamped cable (electric shock risk).
6. Cable clamped but internal wires exposed, hence no mechanical strain protection (electric shock risk).
7. Cable sheath stripped, but tooling has cut into electrical inner insulation (electric shock risk).

And that's a 3 pin plug that you can access, see and isolate.
 
Re: €65 per downlighter?

Hi, please note any sub contractor is on a very tight budget on any large site now. There are far too many electricians here now. They must get people to take extras to make any real profit.
 
Are you really sure you want that many downlighters? The bulbs eat electricity (each one uses about the same amount of electricity as a normal TV set!)
Unless they are very well fitted (which they might be at this price, I admit) they are prone to overheating and blowing- bulbs are pricey to replace.
Bring back the old wire from the ceiling and save yourself a lot.....
 
Surely the time to negotiate all the "extras" is when you are negotiating on buying the house? Stuff like lighting, extra sockets, outdoor tap, fitted kitchen etc.
 
Re: €65 per downlighter?

Jister said:
Surely the time to negotiate all the "extras" is when you are negotiating on buying the house? Stuff like lighting, extra sockets, outdoor tap, fitted kitchen etc.
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Hi,
I'm getting good ideas here on 'extras' but was wondering what other people feel were the essential extras to ask for. I know the obvious ones - loads of extra sockets, extra telephone points, wiring for alarm, light in attic, outdoor tap - any get any extra that saved them in the long run - or regret something that they didn't think of at the time?
 
Re: €65 per downlighter?

Make sure that there is a power socket beside any extra phone points (cordless or answerphone).
Make sure any heavy load items such as immersions have switches in a highly visible position with LED lights on switch. Nothing worse than a weekend away with immersion on.
 
Maybe consider getting electricity wire run to the garden for outdoor lighting or future shed!
 
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