ᐅ Recessed ceiling lights in a concrete ceiling – very expensive from the developer – your tips?

I always get construction anxiety when ceilings are full of holes just to install recessed spotlights later. I keep asking myself: what if I don’t like the spotlights anymore in the future? That’s why we decided to go with surface-mounted (high-voltage) spotlights. If we ever decide to change them, we’re left with just a hole in the ceiling with a cable sticking out. That can be easily covered without much effort.

However, since I actually don’t like those bulky surface-mounted spotlights either, we chose different ones.

They are also adjustable and, if desired, feature dim-to-warm technology, where the light color stays warm when dimmed (this was important to us in the living area). Available in white, chrome, and matte chrome. Not exactly cheap, but you don’t need holes in the ceiling, and it also offers more flexibility for the future.

Climbee schrieb:

I always get headaches when ceilings are full of holes just for installing recessed spotlights later. I always wonder: what if I don’t like the spotlights anymore someday? That’s why we chose (high-voltage) surface-mounted spotlights. If we don’t like them anymore, all that’s left is a hole in the ceiling with a cable sticking out. That can be easily sealed without much effort.

Then you can still install a suspended ceiling or have it skim-coated again.

guckuck2 schrieb:

We’ve seen costs of around 100€ for a spotlight housing. Some concrete suppliers charge a lot for this. In part, understandably, because exact positioning is required and the waste factor is not negligible.
Anyone planning to use a lot of spotlights should consider cast-in-place concrete slabs or plan with a suspended ceiling.

We have over 80 spotlights and paid 35€ per housing. Suspending the ceiling isn't cheaper once you add the extra materials and labor.

35€ is quite a bargain, of course.
The housing alone already costs around 20€ of materials, depending on the model (size, tunnel, with mineral wool board, etc.). Then there’s detailed planning for positioning and installation. Also, consider waste, the risk of positioning errors, and so on.
Pipes, cables, the actual spotlight, and electrical connection are additional.
For a turnkey solution per spotlight, I would estimate about 100€ with the general contractor, all included. Naturally, with a premium spotlight, it would cost more.

guckuck2 schrieb:

Pipe, cable, etc., etc.

Cable and pipe are, of course, not included. This price is only directly from the concrete plant. I think that when you add everything up, each one costs us about €60 including the light bulb and frame.

That is an absolutely good price.