For clarity, I'm mainly concerned with the green highlighted markings for downlight (started off blue). The large black 'X's are the ones builder is suggesting we cull if we want to stick to budget.

I'm having trouble attaching the floorplan with dimensions so a rough idea:

Whole house under faintly visible roofline is 16730 x 11400. Living and dining areas of concern are: 4050 x 3520 (longest living room walls), 3500 x 2800 (dining wall x kitchen island), hallways are both 1000 (some of hall already accounted for in kitchen island bench). The longer hallway is 6,710 long, entry hall is just less than 3760 before opening up to the dining, but there would be no lights until around the corner and well into half of the room.

Yes Jacqueline, we are in Qld, and at the moment, the humidity is stifling. Not much breeze til late afternoon for months and we're not going to have air con in for at least the first Summer. I get those fans don't work for you but builder hasn't batted an eyelid, ha ha! I must admit, I don't love obstructing the kitchen pendants but I have small kids and our dining table is a homework space, crafting bay, meeting point with friends for morning teas, etc, not just a dinner table, so it's imperative we have a fan somewhere in this space. We currently have the same layout of dining, living, kitchen and there is just one fan between the dining and living and it does absolutely nothing for anyone in either of those rooms (I currently have two pedestals blaring, ha ha!), so it was high on my list to amend...somehow!

As for the lights, I'm glad you have confidence in Beacon. I wasn't sure how much of their advice centres on design vs functional layout of lighting. I think your idea of many dimmers is great! I had requested it already for master and MPR (front lounge area) but wondered if I would be being pedantic seeing them elsewhere. But I think it would be great to be able to dim the lights in the living area as you're winding down for the evening, maybe reading a book or just creating some atmosphere.

Thanks for your input.

Half a dozen lights is say around $600 labour + the light itself.

Defiantly seek some advice from a professional or some one who has a better knowledge of lighting. It looks like a fairly standard lighting plan too.... look good on paper but maybe not ideal once furniture is placed.

Thanks for the cost tip. I'll bear that in mind.