Where homeowners go wrong
Outdoor lighting gets quoted fast and understood slowly. A template plan and a custom design often quote close together, and look nothing alike at night.
Ask whether the design is yours
Ask to see the design before you talk price. If somebody can point at the gables and tell you why, you are talking to the right people. A company that cannot is selling you the same job they sold the last house.
What happens later?
Lighting lives outside, so ask what happens when something needs attention. For seasonal work, ask who takes it down and where it lives until next year. For permanent systems, ask how the app works and who supports it.
Ask what they actually install
Some companies only do seasonal work. Some only do low voltage yard lighting. Some cover the whole property. Ask the range before you take the recommendation seriously.
Ask about residential versus commercial
A house and a storefront are different problems. A home wants curb appeal and usable light after dark. A commercial building has to be legible from the road, and the install has to work around business hours. Ask which one they do more of, then decide whether that matches your job.
Signs to walk away from
Pressure to sign the same day is the first flag. If nobody will write down what gets lit, the scope will be argued about later. Vagueness about what happens after
https://augustacrl900.trexgame.net/architectural-led-lighting-lighting-the-building-not-just-the-outline-what-does-architectural-lighting-actually-mean-here-is-the-difference-understanding-architectural-lighting the install is the third flag.Plenty of honest companies are just disorganized. But lighting sits on your house for years, and the written scope is what you fall back on later.Get two or three quotes, but compare the scope and not the number. If one company drew a plan and the other quoted a package, the two numbers are not comparable. Ask each one what they would leave out if the budget were tighter, since the answer shows what they think the design is doing.
Local matters here
Local is not just a nice sentiment here: somebody who works your area knows what holds up. EverCrest Lighting is an outdoor lighting company working out of Greenville, South Carolina, covering Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina. Their work covers permanent LED lighting, holiday and Christmas lighting, landscape and patio lighting, accent lighting and security lighting, residential and commercial. The consultation is free, and the design gets drawn before anybody quotes. Call (864) 252-1732 or email
[email protected].