Greetings!
So things are getting exciting for us here. We bought a piece of land about two years ago, had a MUCH longer home design process then we expected and have been working on bids and permitting for the last couple months.
In the next few weeks we will be meeting with some electricians to decide on who we will be going with. So I wanted to come here and ask some questions of what I should be communicating in those meetings. I hope the community here can help frame some of those questions for us.
We have been mapping out all of our "special" lighting ( chandeliers, sconces, etc. ) locations on the blueprint but we also have recessed zone lighting in most rooms that we're just marking up generally ( ie. 3x recessed lights in bathroom ). We are currently planning to use HS-WD* / HS-WS* switches on the light sets that we want to have immediate HS control over but due to cost we will be using standard switches on a number of lights and replace those switches over time if we think it's worth the cost.
So what do I need to communicate to the electricians in terms of requirements for this? Do I just let him know that all switches need to be three-wire runs to account for future changes (and keep things less confusing than questioning 2 vs 3 wire sets)? Or is there something else they need to be aware of?
I will be running some flex conduit and pulling wire for network and A/V. I will also likely being the one running the wires for the DSC security components. We have been talking about this with our builder since Day One discussions and he's perfectly fine with us getting in there and doing this before the sheet rock goes up.
Is there anything else other than special light-switch requirements that we should talk to the electrician about? I'll be honest that I don't want to mention HA, whole-house audio, home theater or gig network runs to them unless absolutely needed because we've found some people bump their quotes thinking these are "luxury items" so we must be loaded. Meanwhile we're working on shaving a thousand here, fifteen hundred there, etc. We are the ones that will be living with the mortgage for decades to come.
advTHANKSance!
-L
So things are getting exciting for us here. We bought a piece of land about two years ago, had a MUCH longer home design process then we expected and have been working on bids and permitting for the last couple months.
In the next few weeks we will be meeting with some electricians to decide on who we will be going with. So I wanted to come here and ask some questions of what I should be communicating in those meetings. I hope the community here can help frame some of those questions for us.
We have been mapping out all of our "special" lighting ( chandeliers, sconces, etc. ) locations on the blueprint but we also have recessed zone lighting in most rooms that we're just marking up generally ( ie. 3x recessed lights in bathroom ). We are currently planning to use HS-WD* / HS-WS* switches on the light sets that we want to have immediate HS control over but due to cost we will be using standard switches on a number of lights and replace those switches over time if we think it's worth the cost.
So what do I need to communicate to the electricians in terms of requirements for this? Do I just let him know that all switches need to be three-wire runs to account for future changes (and keep things less confusing than questioning 2 vs 3 wire sets)? Or is there something else they need to be aware of?
I will be running some flex conduit and pulling wire for network and A/V. I will also likely being the one running the wires for the DSC security components. We have been talking about this with our builder since Day One discussions and he's perfectly fine with us getting in there and doing this before the sheet rock goes up.
Is there anything else other than special light-switch requirements that we should talk to the electrician about? I'll be honest that I don't want to mention HA, whole-house audio, home theater or gig network runs to them unless absolutely needed because we've found some people bump their quotes thinking these are "luxury items" so we must be loaded. Meanwhile we're working on shaving a thousand here, fifteen hundred there, etc. We are the ones that will be living with the mortgage for decades to come.
advTHANKSance!
-L
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