18th January 2013

Today was our electrical appointment which I had to do alone as Pete had a work meeting on that he couldn't get out of. I felt a little anxious about the appointment as the pressure was on me to make all the decisions. The appointment was over in about an hour as Pete and I had sat down for hours the night before discussing everything thankfully. It really pays to spend the time going through it all prior to your appointment as I reckon it would have taken 3 times as long otherwise.

There were a few little surprises along the way such as finding out that MJH provided a few extra batten holders free of charge, with one being outside the laundry, one outside the master bedroom and two extra internally where I didn't expect them to be, which was great. Because of the amount of power points I added, an extra circuit also had to be added, which was a downer, but hey...didn't really have a choice with that one.

I decided to go ahead with MJH's alarm system on offer as it was just easier than having to worry about it after handover and we probably wouldn't get insurance without an alarm. This was $925 plus $190 for a pair of alarm keyring remotes. I did get a quote for $1,000 if we decided to do it ourselves so I thought the price was pretty reasonable.

The total cost came to $3,120 which included:

2 x dimmers
1 x 2-way switch
1 x extra single power point
20 x extra double power points
1 x outdoor power point
1 x extra TV and Data point
2 x remote alarm keyrings
1 x Alarm Package
1 x extra power circuit

MJH's standard inclusions included:

27 x batten holders
All light switches
8 x single power points
15 x double power points
4 x Data/TV/Phone/Digital TV points
1 x Fibre optic conduit for Telstra Velocity
2x smoke detectors

In the beginning, we had a budget of $5,000 for electrical, so by having bought all of our own lights and only including a few extras we have managed to save thousands. If we had had MJH supply and install everything, the cost would have easily been around $10,000 or more. The only extra cost we will have now is the installation of all the lights. So far the cheapest quote I have had is about $20 per downlight and the other items slightly higher. I think it may work out cheaper to pay an Electrician an hourly rate. I am still getting quotes for this.

After the electrical appointment was over, I met with Rae from MJH for an update on how everything else was progressing. She informed me that CDC approval was expected back Monday or Tuesday next week and all that was needed now was a letter to commence construction.

After hearing the good news, I could hardly contain my excitement for the rest of the day.

Fingers crossed next week will be an exciting one.