Lite Visions- Landscape Lighting Experts in Raleigh & Eastern NC
Concert & Stage Lighting Background
Raleigh,North Carolina
Is proud to be one of a small handful of members of
To promote and advance the landscape and architectural lighting industry for lighting designers and installers.
Here is a link to AOLP’s consumer webite with some great outdoor lighting information
http://www.youroutdoorlighting.com/consumersite/
By: Brandon Kuehler, CLVLT, COLD
http://blog.lightitright.com/blog/5-ways-to-determine-the-cost-of-your-landscape-lighting
When it comes to landscape lighting there is no standard cost structure – it is not a One Size Fits All world. Pricing of lighting can and does vary from State to State, City to City, and Provider to Provider – everyone uses something different and designs very differently than another. So when looking at landscape lighting and what you think the system of your dreams is going to cost take these 5 tips into consideration.
1) Quality of Materials
First and foremost – Quality of the materials being used by a certified lighting designer over a landscaper or handyman are going to be substantially higher and of higher and the warranties will meet the demands of these designers. Lighting designers have taken the time to increase their education in lighting and the differences in fixtures and their proper uses, LED options, quality installation methods, and have mastered the fine art of tricky installs. All of this training has taught designers how to spot a quality fixture over a cheap one and they prefer to use the best quality they can get to give their customers the experience they expect, and demand. Remember fixtures are NOT all the same – many are made of plastic or powder coated aluminum, and depending on the climate where you live those materials will crumble in a few years. For example, if you are in Houston, we have salt in the air from the Bay and that salt will eat away aluminum before you know it. You should be looking for fixtures made of SOLID brass or copper – those will withstand any climate and…..yardcrew!
2) Design
Are you looking for something straight forward or something with more detail? Depending on the difficulty of the design and installation your cost will vary. If you are looking just to up light the front of your house and there are only flower beds in front, well for most certified lighting designers that would be considered a straightforward installation. Now on the other hand, if you are looking to up light the front of your house, driveway with concrete, backyard with waterfall lighting in your pool and fence lights around the whole perimeter, and then add some lights into your fire pit that would be trickier and take a true expert to install so expect the cost of that to be substantially more than the straightforward up lights.
3) Special Features
Do you have a Fire Pit? Waterfall? Fountain? Putting Green? If you do and you want to highlight them to be able to enjoy them at night that takes extra time, special lighting, and special installation techniques. The end result is beautiful, but does cost more than just placing a light in the ground as a fair amount of labor goes into making these lights look like they have been there all along.
4) Concrete?
Do you have concrete in the way of where lights need to go to up light your house, along your pathway, do you want lights on your garage? Many think that because there is concrete present a light can’t go there….NOT TRUE! Now, is it easy – for a real professional lighting designer and their crew – YES! It does take a little more time but with the use of proper tools and experience, getting a light into already existing concrete is doable. Of course if you are in the process of pouring concrete and know you want lighting where it will be poured have your lighting expert get the prep work for your lights in before the pour happens, that will save you money and your lighting team time. NOTE: Not all lighting companies can do this – if you are quoted a “core” ask to see examples that company has done if they did not show you one at the time of your onsite meeting.
5) Scale
How large of an area are you looking to add lighting too? Do you just want the front of the house for security? Looking to have soft lighting in the front and back? Do you have a pool, putting green, dog run? Is your yard on a small plot or are you on acreage? The size of your home, property, and your end goals will really give you a better idea of what your lighting system cost will be. If you are acreage you should expect to spend more than someone in a master planned community. If you go into your onsite meeting thinking OK for my 5000 sq foot house on 1 acre with a pool I should expect a quote for $2500 you are going to be very surprised and sticker shocked when your quote comes in. Now if you go into your meeting thinking I will be looking at about $10,000 then you will be close to the ballpark. But, if you are only looking for certain areas to be done let your designer know this up front so that they do not provide you a quote for everything – you may want to see everything quoted, but don’t do this because you will just be hurting yourself in the long run and wasting the designers time as you will then decline their quote since it was more than you wanted to spend – even though they did exactly as you asked, showed you EVERYTHING when you really only wanted the front yard.
Landscape lighting can cost you $2500 or it can cost you $200,000, it is all up to you and what you want done and want to spend. Keep these 5 tips in mind when you start searching for your lighting designer. Remember hire a certified lighting designer and you will get the best product, design, and service for the right price – this is an investment, not something you should be redoing every few years (read this article to learn how to find the right expert). Nothing is apples to apples and professionals are not going to compete with your landscaper or handy man on price or materials, and there is a reason why, we know what we are doing and it is all we do.
One of the sad things in this industry is how many outdoor lighting manufacturers trying to push their products by giving a short class to landscape industry companies who stick lights in the ground and never come back to focus them properly and do not use good installation methods. Here are a few recent examples of what we fixed.
VOLTAGE PROBLEMS Outdoor lights getting 16 volts to a 12 volt light fixture and blowing bulbs on an old halogen system, we corrected the voltage and then installed all new LED lamps.
BAD WIRING Outdoor older halogen system browning out due to getting only 8 volts to some of the lights, there was corrosion in many wire splices and poorly done wire connections. We fixed the voltage and now they have an energy efficient LED system.
NO MAINTENANCE, system not working due to tree roots damaging cables and lights actually growing into tree roots. We ran some new wires replaced fixtures and re-lamped with new LED lamps.
DIFFERENT LAMP TEMPERATURES, lamps had been purchased at several different chains and were not all the same color temperature or beam spreads. We took out and reinstalled all new same color temperature LED lamps and the system looks brand new.
WHITE LIGHTS ON CREPE MYRTLES : There are several different color temperatures of LED lamps, some DO NOT look right on certain trees. We installed correct color temperature lamps along with a filter and now the Crepe Myrtles look natural lit up at night.
A Lighting Designer is someone who understands the science of working with light and shadow,using a pallate of many different outdoor lighting fixtures,lamp types,different color temperature lamps for different purposes as well as different lamp beams and shields, filters or louvers to shield light from peoples eyes so they can see only the effect, not the source. He might only use one fixture from a certain manufacturer that does one thing better for the specific outdoor lighting job.
A customer recently called and asked if I could look at updating their older lighting system and that they were getting a quote from their landscaper also after telling him about their lighting interest, I said No Problem I can guarantee my quote won’t be as low as his but feel free to call me to fix the landscapers work as I do it all the time.
A lighting designer installs the outdoor lighting system correctly the first time, with the bulletproof waterproof connections that will not be a problem down the road. He also checks to make sure all the light fixtures are getting the correct voltage and comes back the evening after the lighting install to properly focus the outdoor lighting system.
As a Lighting Designer who only installs outdoor lighting , we stand behind our outdoor lighting installs and use the best-LED lamps available to the professional outdoor lighting designer,I have overheard pond people and landscapers talking about once they pickup their check they simply do not care how long the lights last.
We are a member of the Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals, we are one of only a small handful of professional lighting designers in the NC area.
Please read our 5 star reviews on Google and give us a call about seeing your home in a new light
919-581-9950
We’re excited to have Light Visions Landscape Lighting joint us at the Fairgrounds Southern Ideal Home Show. Lite Visions is not a outdoor lighting franchise, but a locally owned outdoor lighting design and installation company. They pride themselves on delivering the best LED Outdoor Fixture, workmanship and customer service to our clients in Raleigh and the surrounding areas. They do custom outdoor lighting to both residential and commercial properties.
Before you see the Light Visions team at booth #2129 get a sneak peek at what they’ll be bringing to the show by reading our brief interview below.
Describe your products and services.
Outdoor Landscape and Architectural Lighting Design and Installation done right by someone who worked in the concert and live music industry for over 30 years as a lighting technician and lighting designer.
What are your best home or garden tips for this season?
As a lighting designer, I work with homeowners in and around the Raleigh NC area to determine how you enjoy your outdoor space, particular features or a structure that you would like to highlight with outdoor lighting. What you like most about your homes architecture, specific trees or plant you like. A walkway or path you would enjoy or use more if it was illuminated. A favorite pond or water feature. Features you love most in your outdoor kitchen or along your hardscaping that would look great with outdoor lighting.
What are your featured items this season?
I am installing a new series of lighting this season designed by an architectural company. The lights are groundbreaking in the fact that not only can you adjust the beam spread and angle, but you can also adjust the wattage output and color temperature of the lights to the right temperature no matter what type of surface you are lighting. These fixtures give off a very soft subtle lighting effect. Too many outdoor lighting companies tend to over light a home. As always I am offering a discount to anyone who signs up for a lighting quote at my booth during the show. My company is different I am different in the fact that I am the lighting designer and installer.
What are your home or garden pet peeves?
People who only light items one sided and have no design knowledge or thoughts of the customer seeing this flat lighting effect when they pull up to their home, but not being able to see it from the home itself. Example a beautiful Crepe Myrtle or Riverbirch tree light from the front with only one light. A tree should always be lit up 3 dimensional to bring out it’s structure and beauty.
What is the strangest client request you’ve ever received?
I get people who don’t understand what I do and sometimes I will get requests to install floodlights over a garage.
What is your favorite part about the home show?
I love meeting people and talking to new potential customers, it seems alot of people are building outdoor kitchens. I try to give alot of advice to people remodeling or building as I want to make sure they are prepared as they deal with the builders, electricians stone contractors etc. to make adding their outdoor lighting as easy as possible for them. I am working right now on a project at Hyco lake near Roxboro on a amazing outdoor kitchen for a customer I met at the last home show.
Any additional company info you’d like to include?
I feel I bring something different to outdoor lighting as I come from a concert lighting background, from working with local bands such as the Embers right out of school to local recording acts Glassmoon and Nantucket to working huge arena concerts such as Kool and The Gang, Joan Jett, Alan Jackson, Tim Mcgraw, Dan Fogelburg, 3 Doors Down, Whitney Houston to the Christmas sensation Trans Siberian Orchestra. I still do a few concerts now and then and also work at the Memorial Auditorium venues when I can.
I do maintenance on older existing systems as well as LED retrofits. I am a member of the Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals a small group of professionals who are some of the best in the business.
The Fairgrounds Southern Ideal Home Show will be taking over the North Carolina State Fairgrounds September 21-23, 2018. With hundred of home improvement experts to speak with, like the team at Light Visions Landscape Lighting, this is a must attend event. What are you waiting for? Get your tickets now!
Sometimes I will get a phone call from a customer in the Raleigh asking if it is possible to come and look at their 15 year old landscape lighting system in and around the Raleigh area and possibly retrofit it to the new LED bulbs. I am always glad to come look at an older existing system as long as it is a professionally installed system with professional landscape lighting fixtures and not some of the big box store lighting that someone installed themselves. If the light fixtures are high grade materials and there is an existing professional transformer in place and the wiring and connectors are still in good shape, it is possible to upgrade an older landscape lighting system to the new energy saving and green friendly LED bulbs. There are many options available ,from just retrofitting the existing fixtures with drop in LED lamps,to redoing the system’s connections,updating wiring and installing the new long lasting LED chip on board landscape lighting fixtures. Some of these nice fixtures even have a variable wattage and focus on the fixture.
Give me a call today to look at your old outdoor lighting system in the Raleigh NC area.
Light Visions Outdoor Lighting and Landscape Lighting
Raleigh NC
919-518-9950
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Thanks Pat for allowing me do your lighting,I enjoyed meeting and speaking with you and your wife at the home show and can’t wait to do the back water feature.
Thanks Kathy , I am looking forward to adding some lighting at your home soon.
Thanks Rick, I feel so fortunate to have been able to light your home’s beautiful architectural features that remind me of something that might have been seen in Greece or Italy.
Thanks Matt, for the kind words and for allowing me to light up your beautiful home. It is always a pleasure to work with customers who truly appreciate what I do. I try to treat people like I would want to be treated and the look on your face when we first looked at the patio lights made it all worthwhile.
Thanks Rama,it was very nice meeting you and your wife and getting the chance to light your beautiful home. I am looking forward to being a part of the new outdoor patio installation later this year.
Thanks Holly, I appreciate the fact that you and Matt saw my night demo and liked it so much you decided to have me do your backyard lighting. People like you guys who appreciate my creativity make it all worthwhile. Thanks
Make sure to stop by Lite Visions Landscape Lighting’s booth# 2129 at the Raleigh Fall Ideal Home Show
