Which lighting contractor would you prefer working with?

Posted on April 15, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting

THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF CONTRACTORS IN THIS INDUSTRY

CONTRACTORS WHO BUY THEIR POORLY MADE PRODUCTS ONLINE FROM CHEAP SOURCES WITH NO LOCAL SUPPLIER BACKING AND TRY TO MAKE A CHEAP BUCK.

THEN THERE ARE LIGHTING DESIGNERS WHO UNDERSTAND THE ART OF LIGHTING AND TAKE A LOT OF PRIDE IN THEIR DESIGN AND INSTALLATION AND WORK AND ARE NOT ONLY USING THE BEST QUALITY LIGHTING SOURCES AVAILABLE TO THEM FROM A LOCAL SUPPLY HOUSE,BUT THEY ALSO STAND BEHIND THEIR WORK AND INSTALLATION.

Alot of homeowners do not understand,going to a big box store and buying a LED bulb not made for wet area use or in an enclosed fixture might not last 30 days to six months. I have personally heard another contractor asking a vendor for the cheapest lights he could make the most money on,because after they get the check they are done with the job and walk away from it. I could not believe my ears. No wonder so many people have complaints about different contractors these day.

We are NOT A OUTDOOR LIGHTING FRANCHISE that anyone can buy into,We have a long history in lighting design and lighting tech work with live concerts.

At Lite Visions,we design our systems to not only look great,but with longevity in mind,from using the highest quality outdoor lighting fixtures available to us. But also working with a family owned local supply house where they keep a good supply of the lighting supplies we use on a regular basis and where we can get warranty items taken care of locally.

We are a member of the Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals who helps our industry in many ways, there are only a small handful of outdoor lighting designers who are a member of this small group of outdoor lighting professionals.

We have 5 star reviews on google ,yelp,houzz and facebook.

Creating Magical Outdoor Lighting Effects With Water in Raleigh

Posted on April 14, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting

When outdoor lighting is added to homes, trees and plant materials near any type water feature, pond or pool, as a bonus to the feature itself looking stunning, the outdoor lighting will usually create a beautiful mirrored effect onto the surface of the water.

Give us a call today 919-518-9950 to see your home in a whole new light with outdoor lighting in the Raleigh NC area.

The Art of Outdoor Lighting in Raleigh NC

Posted on April 13, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting

Nothing beautifies your home more than outdoor LED lighting. Low voltage LED lighting’s purpose is to unify your home and the surrounding landscaping into the evening hours. There are few things that will impact your home’s value and curb appeal better than a correctly designed and professionally installed outdoor LED lighting system.

The many advancements in today’s LED out lighting fixtures have made your choices even more attractive and can add long term value to your property.

When designing your outdoor lighting,we take into account your personal style and adapt your exterior environment to evoke a particular mood or place that is soothing to you.

Even modest homes or those with limited yards can benefit from outdoor landscape lighting.

You have a substantial investment in your home and homeowners are looking more and more to outdoor landscape lighting to increase their outdoor living spaces well into the the evening hours.

Call us today to get started with your outdoor lighting project ,the summer evenings are already growing shorter in NC

919-518-9950

Working with an outdoor landscape lighting designer in Raleigh NC

Posted on April 12, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting

As a lighting designer , we 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.

Accent lighting,which is light gently grazing the surface of the stone, stucco, and brick will add depth and dimension your home’s architecture as well as showing the features. This home is a great example.

Accent outdoor lighting such things as an arbor, fence a statue or structure and trees will give you a dramatic and attention-getting visual lighting effect, creating a lighting scene with a backdrop as well as mimicking moonlights natural effects.

Water feature lighting.

Illuminating a water feature, pond or pool combines 2 effects, you might have some trees or plantings near the water that will look interesting with up lighting. You also get stunning mirrored images on the water’s surface, creating dreamlike effects rippling across the water’s surface.

Accent and illuminate a bridge over a water feature with outdoor lighting to highlight it’s features and create safety.

Path way outdoor lighting will create a sense of security along stone pathways and lawn walkways as well as adding a hint of intrigue to plant beds and boulders along the way.

Down lighting with lights placed up in trees shining thru the trees creates stunning shadows on the ground below mimicking moonlighting effects.

Patio and deck lighting will feature and accentuate all of the architecture, beauty and detail of your deck, patio, outdoor kitchen, hand railings, steps and more while creating safety.

Hardscape outdoor lighting brings out your stone features along with your outdoor kitchen, retaining walls, steps and more.

Call us Today 919-518-9950 Lite Visions Outdoor Lighting and Landscape Lighting Professionals Raleigh NC

Lite Visions Outdoor and Landscape Lighting of Raleigh’s Professional Memberships

Posted on April 11, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting

Raleigh,North Carolina

Is proud to be one of a small handful of members of

The Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals

whose mission is To Promote and Advance the Outdoor Lighting Industry

Mission of AOLP

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/

Do one thing and do it right

5 Ways to Determine the Cost of Your Landscape Lighting

Posted on April 10, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting

5 Ways to Determine the Cost of Your Landscape Lighting

AOLP June 7, 2018

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.

We Fix Outdoor Lighting Installed By Landscapers or Homeowners

Posted on April 9, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting

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

https://www.google.com/search?q=lite+visions+raleigh&oq=lite+visions+raleigh&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l3.7727j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#lrd=0x89ac596758afaaab:0xe909f0828895089b,1,,,

919-581-9950

Creating a private escape in your own backyard

Outdoor Lighting for safety and beauty in Raleigh NC

Posted on April 6, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting

A lot of us in the Raleigh NC area like to spend as much time as possible outside during the summer months. However, that fun can often be cut short when night falls and you can no longer see or enjoy your outdoor space. Instead of moving indoors or trying to stay outside while blind, consider outdoor lighting as an option. Designed to work with the layout of your outside space, outdoor landscape lighting can make your outside space a more usable and enjoyable living area. You get a larger living space and you get to stay outside as long as you want to–it’s the best of both worlds!

Safety and visibility are the most important practical points to consider when it comes to changing an exterior space like a garden or patio area for outdoor living. If people are moving around in the dark, they can hurt themselves, hurt someone else, or even trample your plants because they can’t see. Especially if you’re moving between the house and your outdoor living area with food and drinks, visibility is extremely important. Nobody wants to be the one who ruins the party by spilling dinner on the floor on the way to the table! An effective way to deal with this issue is to install a few path lights to illuminate paths, walkways, and obstacles. If people can see where a path is, or where the terrain of the garden changes, they can move around in the space with much more ease and confidence. With outdoor lighting in place, both you and your guests can move around your outdoor living area with added safety, no matter how late you stay outdoors.

Looking at the practicalities of lighting is a necessary step when you’re looking to make your yard or garden into a prime living location during the hot months, but there is also the artistic side of the situation to consider as well. Lighting a space is not all that difficult, but no one wants to have bright floodlights hurting their eyes on a summer evening or to have a garden eyesore lit up at night so it becomes the focus of attention.

When you’re in the process of making your outside space into a living space, you can use your lighting to help create a sense of background and space, and to highlight (or hide) specific features. In many ways, your outdoor lighting plan is a way of decorating your garden or yard, much as you’d decorate or furnish a room. Landscape lighting design professionals can advise you regarding where to use solar landscape lighting for a soft glow and where to use wired lights for illumination that you can control more discretely. They can help you decide on the placement of lights that will highlight special garden features and take attention away from spots on your property that still need work! With the right lighting design, you can create an artistic space that you and your friends and family will be able to enjoy all summer long.

Outdoor living spaces are a wonderful addition to any home. Outdoor Landscape Lighting can help to make these spaces both practically and artistically pleasing so that you can eat, drink, and relax outside to your heart’s content, no matter how late it gets.

LED lighting retrofit into older landscape lighting systems

Posted on April 5, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting

Sometimes I will get a phone call from a customer asking if it is possible to come and look at their 15 year old outdoor landscape lighting system 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 outdoor lighting system with professional lighting fixtures and not some of the big box store lighting that someone installed themselves. If the 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. Give me a call today to look at your old landscape lighting system.

Painting with Light to create an oasis

Posted on March 28, 2019March 27, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting

As an Outdoor Lighting Designer, I like to paint with light to create an inviting atmosphere for you and your guests to enjoy in the evening. Outdoor lighting should never be harsh or overpowering, Lite Visions specializes in outdoor lighting systems that are distinctive to your home, garden, and property. We design a lighting system that provides soft but inviting lighting. Lite Visions from our concert and theatrical lighting background use many theatrical techniques including soft filters and different lighting fixtures, shields and lamps and sometimes even color. We then combine all this with our experience to bring the exterior of your home to life in the evening. Remember, even if one of the outdoor lighting franchises was trying to sell you on the beauty of their copper or brass light. The true purpose of a lighting designer if to conceal the fixtures as much as possible so that you only see the effect, not the lights.