10 Tips for Hiring a Landscape Lighting Designer
When you close your eyes, you can imagine your perfect landscape lighting — dramatic uplighting showcasing your home’s prettiest features; artistic moonlighting creating dappled shadows on your patio; washes of light that turn your trees into evening artwork.
But when you open your eyes, the most challenging task remains: choosing just the right designer to create your landscape lighting wonderland.
Installing a high-quality landscape lighting system takes skill, experience and artistry. You don’t want just anybody on the job. That’s why it’s important to know what to look for when hiring a landscape lighting contractor.
The right choice is crucial.
Let’s take a look at 10 tips to hiring a landscape lighting designer:
- Ask about the contractor’s experience and qualifications. Have they won awards? Attended seminars such as the nationally known The Lighting Summit or Nightscaping University? Are they affiliated with national organizations setting standards within the industry, such as the Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals? Have they been recognized on a national level or been awarded nationally for their design skills?
- Check references. A skilled designer/contractor should be able to confidently steer you to happy clients who can recommend their work.
- Be sure you’re looking at images of lighting jobs this company has done. Are those pretty photos on their web site really their work? A qualified contractor should have an impressive gallery that showcases their work.
4. Ask if lighting is their only focus. You don’t want a jack-of-all-trades. You want a skilled expert in landscape lighting who does this work every day.
If you’re having transmission trouble, you wouldn’t take your car to the tire shop.
5. Be sure your contractor is willing to work with you. This is a partnership. You shouldn’t get the sense that it’s “their way or the highway.” The designer should be asking you questions about your ideas, your lifestyle. That’s the only way you know you’ll get the lighting system you want.
6. Communication is key. Will there be frequent communication? Will your designer/contractor keep in touch? Let you know when they’ll arrive, and when they’ll complete the job? Will they follow up to make sure everything is just the way you want it?
7. Ask about the quality of materials the contractor uses. This is extremely important. Your landscape lighting system is only as good as the quality of its parts.You want your contractor to use quality components crafted of brass and copper — not low-quality plastic, composite or aluminum.The day your lighting system is installed, Mother Nature starts attacking it. Water seeps into low quality fixtures, rots the sockets and causes wire corrosion. Insects can wriggle into fixtures and nest there if they’re not properly sealed. How will your contractor connect your fixtures to the wiring that runs to the power source? Wire nuts and pierce connectors aren’t designed to go underground, yet lots of landscape lighting systems use them anyway. Pierce point connections to the main line tend to loosen and will have corrosion at the pierce point. Quality matters.
8. Ask about the warranty the contractor offers. Your lighting system should be guaranteed for more than a few years. Look for a lifetime warranty that covers fixtures and installation.
9. Only sign a detailed contract. Make sure your contract spells out exactly what will be done, including deadlines, the schedule for payments, the materials used. Any changes along the way in your landscape lighting plan should involve a written “change order” that includes the new work, materials and cost.
10. Make sure your contractor will be around to service your landscape lighting system later. You want your LED lighting system to look as great after one, two, or even eight years as it did when it was first installed.
Landscape Lighting Pro Of Utah Has The Right Qualifications
As you read through this list of 10 tips, you can be confident that Landscape Lighting Pro of Utah hits every single one.
We’ve attended The Lighting Summit and Nightscaping University and have won awards for our work from The Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals.
We’d love to refer you to some of our customers. We know they’ll rave about our work.
The stunning photos of outdoor lighting you see on our website and in our impressive brochure are all ours.
We don’t install irrigation or design gardens. We design and install landscape lighting. That’s it. That dedicated focus means we do it better than anybody else.
Create Outdoor Lighting that Reflects Your Lifestyle
One of our favorite parts of this work is our relationship with clients. We love hearing your thoughts,
exchanging ideas and keeping in close contact with you through the entire process.
I begin every potential client relationship with the question, “Why?” Why do you want landscape lighting? What do you hope to achieve? I ask about your lifestyle, how you use your outdoor spaces.
And I listen closely to your answers. When I understand the client’s needs, I can create exactly what you want.
Clients see this attention to detail right away as we walk their property together and I take detailed notes and make sketches.
We know this is all about you.
Never Compromise on Quality
We’re sticklers about quality materials. You’ll hear us talk about this a lot. At Landscape Lighting Pro of Utah, we sell our lighting systems with a lifetime warranty that covers fixtures and installation.
You’ll get high quality copper and brass. Hefty wiring. Weather-tight fixtures. And a warranty that bears repeating: lifetime.
Beyond that, you’ll get lighting artistry. A quality landscape lighting contractor doesn’t just bring wiring, bulbs and fixtures to the job. We bring artistry, skill and design experience.
There’s nothing mysterious about the contract you sign with us. Everything is clear, concise and detailed.
Hiring A Landscape Lighting Designer Means Getting a Commitment
We don’t install your landscape lighting system and walk away. We stay involved.
When it’s time for your yearly maintenance check, we’ll mail you a reminder.
When we visit your home for an annual maintenance check, we take a look at everything. We inspect the transformer and tighten any loose terminal blocks. We ensure all buried wires are still safely tucked underground. We clean all fixture lenses so the light shines nice and bright. We inspect bulbs for changes in color and temperature.
And the list goes on. We want your LED landscape lighting system to look as good as the day we installed it.
Give Us A Call
At Landscape Lighting Pro of Utah, we’re proud of every aspect of our business and happy to answer any questions you have about our work.
After some time spent with us, we’re confident you’ll decide we’re the experts to handle that landscape lighting job of your dreams.
We’d love to hear from you. Give us a call at (801) 440-7647 to schedule a free consultation, or fill out our simple contact form.
Located in Midvale, Landscape Lighting Pro of Utah serves customers throughout Utah’s residential areas, including Salt Lake City, Park City, Draper and Holladay. Our outdoor lighting portfolio includes projects from Salt Lake County and Utah County, to Davis County and Summit County — and beyond.
