Hello everyone,
During my research on home construction, specifically regarding "how much and what kind of electrical work is needed in a house," I came across Ewl-Instakit.
Their business concept is that the homeowner carries out the electrical installation themselves, with only certain parts performed by professionals or, afterwards, having the system inspected and approved by a certified electrician. The inspection of the electrical system is a mandatory requirement for subsequent insurance coverage.
One possible wall construction design we are considering includes an installation level between the exterior wall insulation and drywall, as well as interior walls built with timber stud framing.
Especially with this installation level, it should be relatively easy to route the necessary cables into the future rooms and distribute them within the drywall partitions. Therefore, we are currently thinking about whether the option to pull the cables ourselves and then have them connected and inspected by professionals could represent a potential cost-saving measure. Besides EWL, there are certainly other electrical contractors who might be open to supporting a partial installation, especially when the components are purchased from them.
a) Are there any recent experiences with EWL?
b) Has anyone here done more electrical work themselves with a local electrical company than just chasing cable ducts?
c) What is the general opinion in this forum regarding this approach? Are there any insights on how much effort cable pulling involves for a 160 sqm (1,722 sq ft) house?
I look forward to the discussion.
During my research on home construction, specifically regarding "how much and what kind of electrical work is needed in a house," I came across Ewl-Instakit.
Their business concept is that the homeowner carries out the electrical installation themselves, with only certain parts performed by professionals or, afterwards, having the system inspected and approved by a certified electrician. The inspection of the electrical system is a mandatory requirement for subsequent insurance coverage.
One possible wall construction design we are considering includes an installation level between the exterior wall insulation and drywall, as well as interior walls built with timber stud framing.
Especially with this installation level, it should be relatively easy to route the necessary cables into the future rooms and distribute them within the drywall partitions. Therefore, we are currently thinking about whether the option to pull the cables ourselves and then have them connected and inspected by professionals could represent a potential cost-saving measure. Besides EWL, there are certainly other electrical contractors who might be open to supporting a partial installation, especially when the components are purchased from them.
a) Are there any recent experiences with EWL?
b) Has anyone here done more electrical work themselves with a local electrical company than just chasing cable ducts?
c) What is the general opinion in this forum regarding this approach? Are there any insights on how much effort cable pulling involves for a 160 sqm (1,722 sq ft) house?
I look forward to the discussion.
T
T_im_Norden23 Oct 2020 13:32The first question is whether you can do this and feel confident working with electrical systems.
The second question is how long it will take you compared to a professional electrician, and what will happen if you don’t meet the deadline and other trades have to wait?
Also, I would recommend using 5-core cable instead of 3-core.
The second question is how long it will take you compared to a professional electrician, and what will happen if you don’t meet the deadline and other trades have to wait?
Also, I would recommend using 5-core cable instead of 3-core.
a+b) You can’t make such a general statement. This is a very common and easy mistake in electrical installation. The length of the cable also has an impact. As a rough guideline, if you exceed 18m (59 feet) in length, you either need to use a 2.5mm² (about 14 AWG) conductor or protect the circuit with a 13A breaker, and then you cannot design for 12 outlets anymore.
c) Here, too, pay attention to length and conductor cross-section.
f) This topic can be debated for weeks.
You must observe installation guidelines, such as minimum distances between power and data cables, current carrying capacity, cable lengths, cable types, and so on.
c) Here, too, pay attention to length and conductor cross-section.
f) This topic can be debated for weeks.
You must observe installation guidelines, such as minimum distances between power and data cables, current carrying capacity, cable lengths, cable types, and so on.
For example, in the kitchen, I had each double socket individually protected.
I would first look for an electrician who is willing to do that. Then clearly discuss what exactly you will do yourself and what they will handle. Then ask how much you can save by doing this.
After that, decide how to proceed.
I would first look for an electrician who is willing to do that. Then clearly discuss what exactly you will do yourself and what they will handle. Then ask how much you can save by doing this.
After that, decide how to proceed.
C
Christian14425 Oct 2020 08:09T_im_Norden schrieb:
The first question is: can you do this yourself and do you feel confident working with electrical installations?
The second question is: how long will it take you compared to a professional electrician, and what happens if you don’t meet the schedule and other trades have to wait?
Also, I would recommend using 5-core cable instead of 3-core. Good morning, I definitely feel confident, but I want and need someone experienced to advise me. There's a reason this profession requires three years of training.
And the second point I’m still thinking about is the concern that I might underestimate the time required (too optimistically). Especially with electrical work, as you said, everything else depends on it.
Mycraft schrieb:
a+b) You can’t really say that in general terms. A very common and easy mistake in electrical installation is overlooking cable length. Roughly speaking, once you exceed 18 meters (59 feet), you have to either use 2.5 mm² (square millimeters) cable or protect the circuit with a 13A fuse, and then you can’t calculate 12 sockets on the same circuit anymore. That’s true; I had always thought the cable length impact started at 20 meters (66 feet). This was meant as a rough guideline. Apart from maybe the living room and kitchen, I don’t see the need for that many sockets. But you’re right, it requires careful consideration and calculation, and I’m realistic enough to know my knowledge as a trained automotive mechanic is certainly not enough.
It also seems that no one in the forum has experience with the internet provider company, so that option is off the table anyway.
T
T_im_Norden25 Oct 2020 08:41We once inquired about potential savings by doing some tasks ourselves, such as preparing the electrical outlets.
For me, the savings did not justify the effort involved.
So we decided to have everything done by the professionals, and that worked out very well for us.
The technicians on site did a good job and offered useful advice regarding the installation and positioning.
When testing the system, it turned out that another trade had probably damaged a cable. Even in this case, a good and quick solution was found.
If we had done the work ourselves, we would have been responsible for fixing it.
However, this also depends on the quality of the tradespeople.
For me, the savings did not justify the effort involved.
So we decided to have everything done by the professionals, and that worked out very well for us.
The technicians on site did a good job and offered useful advice regarding the installation and positioning.
When testing the system, it turned out that another trade had probably damaged a cable. Even in this case, a good and quick solution was found.
If we had done the work ourselves, we would have been responsible for fixing it.
However, this also depends on the quality of the tradespeople.
Christian144 schrieb:
It seems no one in the forum has experience with that internet company, so you can rule them out anyway. Why insist on that internet company? The materials you need are quite limited as long as you don’t want anything extravagant. For simple switches/buttons, possibly motion detectors, sockets, and LAN cables, you don’t need anything special, and online you will find the best prices.
The most important thing is to have a reliable company ready to support your project.
If you have technical shortcomings, you will get help here.
At the moment... I have a background in electrical engineering, but my work is completely different from house electrical installation. It took me about 1.5 weeks with a colleague at our place. I borrowed tools from a friend. Additionally, I spent another 7-10 days after work doing small tasks.
I can’t say I saved much. Actually, I didn’t save anything at all, because the money left over was spent on extra sockets, LAN outlets, etc. There is a huge difference between paying €20-30 net for a socket or just €5 plus a few meters of cable.
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