Landscape Lighting Questions
Our most asked landscape lighting questions are answered here.
1. Do you give free estimates?
We give a free one hour consultation where we discuss your outdoor lighting wants and needs. During this time we can walk your property and talk about how you plan to use your outdoor spaces. We will identify focal points and specific areas for enhancement or safety issues. If you decide that you would like us to move forward into the design phase, there is a charge for that. Just like a home builder cannot tell you how much it will cost to build your home without a plan, neither can we tell you how much a well-designed outdoor lighting system will cost without the design. A thoughtful design takes some time to create. Because we are a lighting design company, we do have a minimal charge to help cover the expense of the time and labor needed in the design creation. All of that said, if it is a small project that does not require design time, we can provide a quote without charge.
2. How much does a professional outdoor lighting system cost?
We have a great blog post about this subject, click here . The short answer is probably more than you may think. Our systems usually start at about $2700, with our largest project to date being in excess of $100,000 – which was a commercial project. As you can see, there is a very wide gap, and your project will most likely fall in between. Be sure to read the blog post to get a better understanding of the cost variables involved in pricing a NightScenes lighting system.
3. How long have you been in this business?
NightScenes will celebrate 17 years of serving central Texas March 1, 2021. In that time we have installed several hundred projects and have maintained over 99% customer satisfaction rating. We still take care of almost every system we have installed over the years, and our clients tend to refer us to their friends and family.
4. Do you service/repair existing landscape lighting systems?
Yes we do. We are proud to say that NightScenes has three AOLP (Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals) certified technicians on staff to troubleshoot and repair any professional grade low voltage lighting system. We do not however work on DIY lighting products which can be purchased at home improvement stores. The reason for this is simply because we feel that those products can not last, even with good maintenance practices in place and we feel it would be a disservice to our clients to act like we can work on or save them.
5. Do you recommend halogen or LED lighting?
This is a great question! NightScenes was one of the first outdoor lighting companies in the US to implement 100% LED systems into our projects. Since we did this in 2008, we have seen the good, the bad and the ugly of LED lighting and know which products will perform well over time and which ones will not. We have also found that LED lighting is by far, the best value for the money for our clients. A great LED project only costs about 20% more than a halogen system initially, but only costs about 50% as much over the life of the system in electrical and maintenance expenses. NightScenes no longer even offers halogen lighting since we do not believe it is in the best interest of our clients.
6. Will you be trenching our yard?
No, we will not, if we are installing low voltage lighting. If line (high) voltage lighting is desired then the answer would be yes. We have not installed a high voltage system on a residence in many years however. We go into depth on this subject in this blog, just click here.
7. How hard is it to maintain a professional landscape lighting system?
It’s very easy if it’s a well installed LED system by NightScenes. We provide 2 full years of maintenance on all of our new systems, so there will be nothing for you to do at all. This service includes cleaning debris from fixtures, trimming vegetation around the fixtures which might be blocking the light, replacing any burned out lamps that we may find (mostly on older halogen systems, but there are occasions when an LED lamp fails as well), check the transformer voltage and amperage readings, replace batteries in timers, etc.
8. Can my old professional system be converted to LED?
Absolutely YES. We have been converting systems all around central Texas since 2008 with tremendous success. There are now many LED products available for the outdoor lighting industry specifically designed to be used in the harsh landscape environment. If you plan to do this yourself, make sure you use LED products that are rated for outdoor use, in enclosed fixtures. You can read more about why you might want to convert your system to LED by clicking here
9. What about solar lights?
At this time there is not a decent solar light fixture on the market that we are comfortable installing for our clients. That being said, it is now very possible to create a beautiful LED outdoor lighting system which can operate on a solar collection system. You can read more about our solar options right here
10. How will my system be controlled?
There are many control options for your outdoor lighting system. Most of our smaller systems use an astronomic timer with a battery back-up. This is a very efficient method which allows us to use your geographical location to insure that your system only operates when it is meant to. With a battery back-up, power outages do not affect these timers. Another option is a photo cell control which operates your system from dusk to dawn. We also offer an automation system that will integrate your home’s exterior lights into the outdoor lighting system. This option also allows you to operate your system from your smart phone with the downloaded app. You can read more about our control offerings by clicking here
If you have other landscape lighting questions, please click here and we’ll be happy to answer them.