ᐅ Costs of LED Spotlights – Can It Really Be That Expensive?

Hello,

first of all – I was registered here before, but unfortunately, I can’t find the account anymore. That was a long time ago anyway... Now the construction is slowly progressing, and the first questions are coming up. So I had to create a new account.

I have already used the search function, but without much success...

We are building with a developer and had a rough initial plan. Now we have received the first offer, and one line really surprised me. One LED recessed spotlight (without bulb) is actually supposed to cost 260 euros.

Are these realistic prices? I had checked beforehand and heard about 50 euros (€), often also amounts like 100-150 euros (€), which I could accept, but 260 seems a bit excessive to me.
Doing it myself is also hardly possible...

At least it’s not unusual. With developers and general contractors, it’s usually a take-it-or-leave-it situation.

However, we also had a general contractor who quoted this price. With others, it sounded quite different.

It largely depends on where and how the LED spotlights are to be installed or executed.

Our structural builder wanted to charge 100€ net just for drilling into a solid ceiling. So, that was only for the drilling without any wiring. Because of this, we decided against recessed spotlights and instead opted for the Paulmann U-Rail system in our planning.

How are the recessed lights installed? We have suspended our ceilings with drywall. The recessed lights from Ikea are installed together with the wiring underneath. The lights cost about €10 (around $11) each, plus the electrician's cables. It is important that the light bulbs can be replaced. There are actually recessed lights where this is not possible. We have recessed lights everywhere in the hallways and bathrooms.

Mycraft schrieb:
It really depends a lot on where and how the LED spotlights are going to be installed or designed.

Originally, we planned to have some in the bathroom, kitchen, outside near the substructure, and in the wall by the staircase.
By now, we’ve definitely decided against the ones in the wall by the staircase because you can also use regular lights there that shine “up and down.” So we just wanted some kind of subtle lighting there. I hope you know what I mean.

Zaba12 schrieb:
Our shell builder wanted to charge us 100€ net just for drilling into a solid concrete ceiling. That’s for the drilling alone, without wiring. Because of that, we decided against the spots and instead focused on the Paulmann U-Rail system in our planning.

Sounds interesting! I’ll take a closer look at that.

Winniefred schrieb:
How are the spotlights being installed? We have suspended drywall ceilings. The spots from Ikea are installed underneath together with the wiring. The spots cost about 10€ each plus electrician’s cabling. It’s important that the light bulbs can be replaced. There are actually some spots where you can’t do that. We have spots throughout the hallways and bathrooms.

We’ve also thought about a suspended ceiling, but we figured that it probably doesn’t make much difference in price if you announce in advance that you want to install such lights in certain places. The spots will be taken into account already when the ceiling is poured, if we go that way.

By the way, the mounting housing doesn’t cost more than 5€. The cable cost is also well known...
I don’t have prices for switches, relays, or similar, but even if those are a bit more expensive, it doesn’t seem right to be charged 260€ for a single spot, especially when, for example, multiple spots in the kitchen run on just one switch/button or similar.

I’ll discuss this again with my contact person. If there’s no room for negotiation, I’ll probably have to take matters into my own hands or go with the suspended ceiling option… I really like the perimeter lighting if you plan it properly.

Thanks for the responses so far.