Yes you can get a great outdoor lighting system on a budget. Being realistic about what you can spend is just as important as being realistic about what that budget can buy. It’s unfortunate that the suspicious American consumer has been lead to believe that most service companies attempt to increase their take by gouging the client or undercutting the quality if they are given a budget. Personally I find this to be unethical and dishonest.
As a designer, I’m a fan of budgets; I actually prefer to know what my limitations are going into a new project for a couple of reasons. If the designer knows what they have to spend on a system at the outset, they can make sure that they give the client as much as possible for that budget amount. They can decide which fixtures best fit, and where the fixture placements should be in order to get the maximum impact for each dollar spent. What I really don’t like is to spend hours designing the ultimate outdoor lighting system for a property, and then be told that the budget will only allow for half of the lighting — or less. It means that I spent a lot more time on that design than I needed to for this client. Working with a budget from the beginning saves everyone time — and for a service industry, time is money.
A budget also offers both the homeowner and the designer the freedom to work from the same page to create the visual art that both desire. When what is in the mind of the designer and what is in the mind of the homeowner wanting lighting are miles apart, then disappointment reigns and no one is happy with the outcome. A specific budget can help narrow the considerations, but also spark innovative solutions to some lighting challenges.
So what is a realistic budget for a starter lighting system?
Truthfully, you’re probably not going to get adequate lighting for anything less than $3000.00. That’s a bare minimum, small project with maybe 10 fixtures, depending on the type of fixtures and the placement. Can it be beautiful? Of course! But it will be limited to much smaller area(s) and fewer points of interest.
That may have been a bit of a shock, but at least it’s an honest basement price to set a budget for high quality, long-lasting outdoor lighting that enhances your home in a special way adding security and beauty every night.
Now let’s see the other side of that coin, shall we? The largest residential project we have ever done was in excess of $90,000.00. Did you just about faint?
That project was for a professional sports player, and his fantastic home was probably north of $3 million. We have also done projects for rock stars, sports legends and famous political folks that have been extremely large projects indeed. But you and I are probably not those people, and those projects don’t happen every day.
But if you really want outdoor lighting, where do you begin to budget for that?
We’ve been doing this for over 10 years now, and I thought there might be a kind of formula we could share for the average consumer. So I took all of our projects and did some averaging. It’s not magic, and selling homes is not my expertise; but I have a pretty good idea of the local real estate market in central Texas and what certain homes are worth. I think an appropriate budget amount for outdoor lighting would be somewhere between 1.5% and 3.5% of the property’s value. This seems to be true for almost all properties in this area. In California it might be a LOT different since a $400K home here is probably worth $1.2 million there.
If you have a nice Austin or Texas Hill Country home that’s worth $500K you should expect to pay somewhere between $7500 and $17,500 for an outdoor lighting system, depending on how much landscape you have and what you want your property to look like at night. I would say spending less than $7500 might look unfinished. Last year our average project was about $15,000 (because we do specialize in larger, estate size projects), but we have plenty less expensive, but equally as unique projects in our portfolio.
People who use NightScenes are smart. They know how to make a good living, and they know how to be wise with their money. We understand that and we respect it. We are also masters of our craft, and recognize that too little lighting is almost as bad as too much lighting. We are well-trained, honest professionals committed to giving our clients the best possible night time experience through our lighting designs. If you give us a fair budget, we promise that’s exactly what you’ll get for your money.
During the initial consultation we can help you set a reasonable budget if you really don’t know where to begin. Please contact us here to set up an appointment for your outdoor lighting consultation.
