You should hire an experienced Outdoor Lighting contractor for several reasons:
- Design and Product Knowledge
- Access to Commercial Grade products not sold at retail stores
- Selects cost effective, energy efficient products for the project
- Find creative ways to meet the desires of each client
- It’s our profession.
You should choose LED for several reasons:
- Energy efficient
- Smaller transformer needed
- Less wire needed to control voltage drop
- Longevity – LED Lamps and LED integrated fixtures are rated to last up to 40,000 hours. At 8 hours per night, that’s over 13 years!
- No need to change bulbs as often.
The actual cost depends on various factors, including difficulty of installation, length of wire runs, amount of lights, brand of lights, placement of transformer, or size of tree.
To give you an example, Up Lighting a 2,000 sq. ft. home will be less expensive than Up Lighting an 5,000 sq. ft. home.
They are more expensive because of product materials, warranties, and overall quality of the product. Most of the lights sold at Big Box stores are made from heavy duty plastics, but even these plastics won’t stand the test time of time against outdoor elements, especially the sun and water.
Most big box stores carry lights with a 1-2 year warranty. Our lights have a minimum 10 year warranty and all the way up to a Lifetime warranty.
Short answer, overall safety and ease of installation relative to Line Voltage.
In addition to landscape lighting systems, low voltage also runs irrigation, alarm, and security systems. It’s industry standard for many outdoor applications, not just lighting.
Line Voltage (120V) carries more energy, and incidentally more precaution must taken when installing it. The National Electrical Code requires Line Voltage to be buried a minimum of 18” beneath the surface. Burying wire at this depth requires much more labor along with the disruption of your landscaping.
The National Electrical Code requires Low Voltage wiring to be buried at a minimum of 6”. At a depth of only 6”, there is obviously less labor and less disruption of your landscaping. This benefits the Client and the Lighting Contractor.
Photocell, timer, or both. We prefer an automated system using both a photocell and a timer. This allows the home or business owner’s lighting system to turn on at Dusk and off at set time every night.
While some product lines offer control from your Smartphone, these lines of products increase the project’s budget. Please ask us for more details.
While some Lighting Contractors say their average project will only take a day, this is normal for small to medium sized jobs. When we have Down Lighting from large trees, the labor can extend for quite some time.
Larger and more intricate jobs require an extensive amount of time.
No. We use a spade, or sharp shooter, to run most of the cable. Only when we feel it necessary will we introduce a trench style pick in order to dig further down. Our goal at every project is to minimize the discruption of your landscaping as if we were never there.