Electrical Design and Documentation
East Arc Group designs, documents and installs the electrical and lighting for new builds and major renovations across Adelaide. The design is issued as drawings, schedules and specifications: a set we can build from, or any licensed contractor can.
East Arc Group Pty Ltd · ABN 20 694 108 328
Licensed Electrical Contractor · Lic. No. BLD 356143
Talk to us about a design
Send us the architectural drawings and the programme. Design is most useful before the frame goes up, so early is better than ready.
What you receive.
- A drawn electrical and lighting layout for every level, dimensioned where position matters.
- Circuit schedules and load calculations.
- A switchboard schedule.
- Switching and control layouts, showing what controls what from where.
- A fitting schedule by manufacturer and model, with beam angle, colour temperature, ingress rating and dimming method.
- Specification notes referencing the applicable standards.
- A revision if the architectural plans move, by agreement.
Issued as a coordinated set. You can build it with us or with anyone. The documentation remains our copyright and is licensed to you for the project it was commissioned for.
Two contractors quoting the same job are quoting two different jobs.
On most residential projects there is no electrical design. There is a floor plan with some symbols on it, and then a series of decisions made by whoever is holding the drill on the day, standing in a half-built room, guessing what the client wants.
That produces three predictable outcomes. Variations, because things get moved after they are installed. Inconsistency, because nobody was working from a single set of decisions. And an unpriceable scope, because the two prices in front of you are for two different jobs, which makes comparing them meaningless.
A drawn set removes the interpretation. A contractor pricing from it is pricing the same job as every other contractor pricing from it. A contractor building from it does not have to ring anybody to ask where something goes.
Design is the stage where decisions get made on paper instead of on site, and paper is the only place where changing your mind costs nothing.
The detail.
We install what we design, and the drawings work without us
Design and install together is how we normally work and it is the shape the business is built in. The people who drew the set are the people who build it, so you coordinate one party instead of two and nothing is lost handing a drawing to a contractor reading it cold.
Design only is also available, and taking the design does not commit you to the installation. If you already have an electrician, use them. We have issued a full lighting design for a residence in the Adelaide Hills as a design-only commission with a separate contractor installing it. That is the real test of a drawn set: it has to be buildable by somebody who was not in the room when it was drawn.
How this fits a builder's programme
Design needs to happen early, and specifically before the frame goes up. The useful sequence is that the architectural plans get far enough along to be stable, then electrical and lighting design happens against them, then the documentation goes out for pricing, then rough-in is built to the drawings. Coming in after the frame is up still works, but the design is then constrained by decisions already made in timber, and the value drops.
What gets caught at design stage
On the projects we design and install, the design stage is where the coordination problems get found. Fittings that cannot be dimmed by the specified control system. Downlights positioned where a joist or a duct actually is. Wet area fittings without the right ingress rating. Every one of those is a five minute fix on a drawing and a bad afternoon on site.
Intellectual property
Design documentation we produce remains our copyright and is licensed to you for the project it was commissioned for. That is standard for design work and it is set out in writing at the outset, so there is no question about it later, particularly on projects where somebody else does the installation.
How it runs.
A briefing
We work from architectural drawings and a conversation about how the building will be used. For a builder that conversation includes the programme and who else is documenting what.
A first issue
For review and comment.
Revision
Against your comments.
Final issue
As a coordinated set ready to price and build from.
Licensed, and on site ourselves.
Arie leads the electrical and lighting engineering. George runs the design and the client relationship from first call to handover. On most projects the same two people draw it and install it. On a design-only commission you are still dealing with the people who drew it, and they stay available to whoever builds from it.
East Arc Group Pty Ltd is a licensed electrical contractor in South Australia, licence number BLD 356143, ABN 20 694 108 328. George Pappas and Arie Minenko are the two directors and both of them are on site for the work. There is no crew sent in our place and no subcontractor you have not met.
Common questions.
Can I use your design and have my own electrician install it?
Yes. Most clients have us design and install, but the documentation is produced to be built by any licensed contractor and we take design-only commissions on that basis. The drawings remain our copyright and are licensed to you for that project.
Do I need electrical design for a renovation, or only a new build?
It depends on scale rather than on type. A major renovation that opens walls across several rooms benefits from it as much as a new build does. A single room does not usually warrant a full design set.
When in the programme should this happen?
Before the frame goes up, and after the architectural plans are stable enough not to move much. Too early and you document a building that then changes. Too late and the design is constrained by what has already been built.
Do you coordinate with the architect and the other consultants?
Yes. Most of the value of documenting properly is that it gets coordinated with everybody else's drawings before anyone is on site.
What happens if the plans change after you have issued the design?
Revisions are normal and we allow for them. Significant changes are handled as an agreed revision to the documentation rather than as an assumption in either direction.
Do you specify actual fittings or just positions?
Actual fittings, by manufacturer and model, with beam angle, colour temperature, ingress rating and dimming method recorded. A position without a specified fitting is not a finished design, because the fitting determines whether the position works.
Send us the drawings.
The best time to talk is when the architectural plans are stable and the frame has not gone up. Send us what you have and the programme you are working to, and we will tell you what is worth documenting and what is not. Most of our design work runs through to installation as well. See electrical installation and lighting design.