I’m about to move into a new build and have my switches installed already (already purchased but haven't installed a C-8). My plan is start including them from the hub and move outwards with a periodic z-wave refresh, but is there a limit to how many you can do at once? should I only do a certain amount per day? Or can I add them all in the same day as long as I do z-wave refreshes?
Thanks!
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In general, your plan seems OK aside from the fact that there shouldn't be a reason to do a "refresh" (I assume you mean repair?) at all unless you have a lot of "classic" Z-Wave devices (i.e., not Z-Wave Plus, 300-series or older). In particular, avoid doing a lot of full-network Z-Wave repairs, as that can be an intensive process.
There are no theoretical limits to how many devices you can add per day. In the past, some recommended adding no more than 20 devices per day, waiting a few days for things to "settle," then continuing to add more in the same manner. I'd say that's overly cautious nowadays.
I've added 100 in one day before on full rebuilds. I don't subscribe to the do some, let settle, do more method.
I do them en masse (hub outward as much as possible). Then after a day or two I'll usually do a repair (largely unneeded).
But all of my equipment is zwave 500 or newer. I echo the above comment that if you have any <500 series devices that changes everything (in the negative direction, of course).
Opinions vary and I suspect they vary depending how strong the mesh is during the build. I've done 20+ in a day. I migrated from 2 C-4's to 2 C-8's and had to do manual migration. Both were done in a day, each has 20+ ZWave devices.
I worked outward from the hub, AC/Mains powered devices before battery devices. Two Devices gave me trouble, never the hub/join process. I always do an exclude before include to protect myself from ghosts and two of my devices wouldn't exclude despite being a foot or two from devices that joined fine minutes before. By doing excludes first, these two devices were telling me they couldn't communicate with the hub via mesh include. I waited an hour and tried again, both joined in less than two tries.
Good points, and that reminded me of something. I typically add until I get errors/can't add more.
Sometimes that never happens and I add everything in one go, but sometimes it does happen.
When/if it does happen and I can't seem to add anything new, then I'll:
Both Power down (gracefully) to reset the Z-Radios, and check for ghosts, are great advice too. I missed those points.
How best to check for ghosts? And, thanks!
Probably a guide out there somewhere... And I'm sure someone will post something better than this guidance any minute... 
That said, in general you look in the zwave details and look for devices that have a DISCOVER button on them. Or ones that have status PENDING. That means the hub knows of them, but pairing was not completed/successful.
It is important to not continue pairing new devices if that happens, as it just gets the radio more and more confused / your device map messed up.
The best way is to avoid creating any. If a device is giving you hard-time when you try to include it, never move on to the next device planning on coming back to the troublesome device. Stay with that device by excluding/including until it's added correctly. If you cannot get it to work, it's a good sign that is time to replace it with a better device.
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