Welcome to NDJ Electrical

Taking a custom-built house, or part of one, built to your own specifications, we check out the national electrical code to see where outlets would be required. Then we go over the floor plan to see if it would prove adequate to accomodate what is required. There were a few places where I specified more outlets than the NEC actually required. You may want indirect lighting with the luminaries plugged in instead of being hard wired. This is done so that if a luminaire failed it would be easy to unplug it, take it down, and make repairs. We also specify the outdoor security lights, what kind of lights, where the photo switch should be, and where manual switches should be. Also specifying where the door bells and intercom should be. We also specify an elevator shaft so that if desired, a domestic elevator could be installed at a later date. That also required 240 volt and 120 volt wiring. After all that is marked on the floor plan, the plan is turned over to the general contractor and clearly stated that the electrical system be properly designed to support your requirements.

Generally homes use more power than they can generate. You can design a home to use less power, by using more insulation and passive solar heating, which is part of the design process. You can often install grid-tie solar, either as panels or now as solar shingles. Optimizing the roof pitch and orientation would also be part of the design, though frankly as long as your panels aren't shaded from direct sun too much of the day it's good enough. If you have exceptional loads like a welder or hot tub you can run higher current circuits when you build the house, cheaper than retrofitting afterwards.

Here in the UK, this is pretty much mandatory, otherwise you will struggle to meet the requirements of Building Regulations. Regardless, it’s a sensible thing to do if your location is suitable.

There is a consensus of opinion among scientists that climate change is real. It has stopped being a theory now.

At risk of sounding preachy, implementing environmental measures on new buildings is the responsible thing to do. Let’s assume for a moment that climate change isn’t real and that the predictions for global warming are not accurate. Doesn’t it make sense that given the rate of population expansion, and the consumption of the planet’s resources, that eventually there will be a problem?

If we accept this, why delay in doing something to reduce the burden on future generations?

The design process begins with you, the owner, developing a want and needs list. Collecting and prioritising these items will be helpful when and if you need to scale back your construction budget.

We will ensure you are surrounded with a talented design team, of which our engineers are just a part. This should consist of a home designer/architect, a general contractor, a structural engineer and an electrical engineer. If this is a large project you may also consider placing an interior decorator and a landscape architect on your team.

This trusted team will help you get organised and guide you through the design and building process. This includes designing the home to a realistic budget that represents the type of home you are desiring and building to the design documents your team has created.