BIG is beautiful.

The moment Paul Orchard of AES Electrical Solutions in Abbotsbury, NSW saw the work site he’d been called to, the experienced, long-term Club Clipsal member realised this wasn’t going to be an ordinary job.

The home was huge; Daniel Briffa of Adan Creative Designs had been briefed to design an original, modern contemporary home of a minimum 80sq. It also had to feature lots of glass to take advantage of the surrounding views. The final result is stunning.

The scope of the project became apparent when two very special residents were mentioned: a McLaren MP4-12C car to be displayed in a central glass enclosure and a Casey Stoner Repsol Honda that would take pride of place beneath a stairway. Impressive house guests.

Paul had been recommended by other subcontractors on the project. The homeowner, an engineer, was project managing the build himself and engaging ‘subbies’ directly

Because of its enormous size, Paul quickly realised that C-Bus would be required for the owner to fully realise the potential of the home. In order to convince the owner of this, Paul organised a trip to the Clipsal Powerhouse in Sydney for a Clipspec consultation with David Niven. To say the customer was blown away is an understatement; “Because he could see and touch products and recognise their quality, up-selling was easy,” Paul says. “The customer also appreciated the amazing value of the Clipspec consultation. He didn’t have an existing electrical plan, so to receive detailed drawings, an itemised list and a quote for just a few hundred bucks; he knew it was a good deal.”

In fact, Paul’s customer became such a convert that he insisted everything electrical in the house that possibly could be, must be Clipsal.

Saturn switches and power outlets were chosen, along with Clipsal LED downlights. The C-Bus system is controlled by a colour touch screen for each floor and 12 DLTs throughout the home, aided by motion detectors in robes and bathrooms.

A dedicated comms room, also housing a StarServe system for AV and data, keeps everything neat, tidy and out of view. According to Paul it looks ‘beautiful’. We agree, it’s gorgeous (in a nerdy, teccy kind of way).

Although the Powerhouse trip had convinced the owner about the benefits of C-Bus, he was insistent that the system shouldn’t be overly complex or confusing to use. So, although the automation of the home is powerful and achieves fabulous results, Paul has kept the programming basic and scenes to a minimum.

C-Bus is also utilised to operate the pool filter and lighting, along with zone control for the air conditioning system. Just 12 basic scenes, including ‘Welcome’, ‘Leaving’, ‘General’ and ‘Home Theatre’, provide options that cover virtually any scenario and can be operated by any family member.

As for the McLaren and the Stoner Repsol Honda? They’re both living happily ever after and enjoying their retirement.