What Should You Expect in an Outdoor Lighting Proposal

What should you be able to learn from the landscape lighting proposal as it’s presented to you?

Those who are shopping for a landscape lighting installation are likely to see the common proposal or “bid” sheet. It will have the name of the contractor and their contact information, along with a list of materials, the price, and a place to sign on the dotted line. It may be only one or two pages and is generally very slim on content. If you’re looking for a very simple installation project, this may be all that is needed. But if you have a more in-depth or broader scope project in mind, what you really need is a much more descriptive design/proposal.

An informative proposal of design will actually break out what is to be done so you can better visualize what the final project is going to look like. To properly serve the home or property owner, a design has to be created first, THEN a list of materials, and a cost along with a dotted line.

At NIGHTSCENES, our design/proposal is usually between 5 and 10 pages long containing a comprehensive explanation with photographs, making it very visual and easy to understand. It describes the proposed design elements: light intensities, beam spreads, color of light and type of fixture for each lighting location. It also touches on the lighting technique that is being used at that location and its purpose. Is it moon lighting, silhouetting, path lighting, back lighting, front lighting, or another strategic placement? Is the fixture above ground or in-ground? What will the visible fixtures look like? With all of this information, the client will truly get a clearer idea of what is being proposed in their outdoor lighting plan.

Naturally, such a well-defined proposal takes a lot of work. It requires a consultation with the client on site. In some instances, it requires a set of landscape plans from a landscape architect or landscape designer if the plantings are either not in place or being changed. A lighting proposal of this caliber takes knowledge of plants and how they grow. A lot of photos need to be taken of each area to be accented. The professional lighting designer also needs to look at the outdoor property from INSIDE the home to understand what the view is going to be, looking out from inside the living, dining and master suite. (See our blog on this topic: ) Excellent designs also take a lot of time, experience and education to know how to get the best effects from each and every lighting fixture and placement. In most cases, our company does charge for this service because what our clients ultimately receive is an expressive, visual and informative design reflective of our artistic and technical training. We believe this helps them to feel more comfortable with our expertise and helps them to assess the value of their investment. Included in every proposal, of course, is our dedication to providing them our very best effort to meet their lighting needs by creating a unique custom design/proposal in order to deliver a truly beautiful outdoor lighting system.  Contact us at info@night-scenes for more information