Why do you want landscape lighting?

There are as many reasons for landscape lighting as there are people who want it. The trick is, actually designing and installing the system that each person actually wants. Here are some of the main reasons for thinking about having professional landscape lighting installed:

1. Improve security

2. Add value to your home or business

3. Highlight the landscape, lawn and trees

4. Enhance architectural features of your home or business

5. Bring attention to changes in elevation like sudden drop-offs or steps

6. Develop atmosphere and ambience

7. Extend use of your outdoor living spaces

8. Increase safety around your home, boat dock or pool area

9. Create a full moon effect around your home every night

10. Bring house guests to your preferred entry

11. Bring attention to artwork and sculptures around your property

The most popular reason folks add outdoor lighting to their property is actually #3 - lighting really sets off the landscape in a way that nothing else can. The best landscape in the world will fade into the darkness, becoming invisible, once the sun sets if there is no lighting.

One of our clients said it best when they told us that arriving home after we installed their custom lighting was like arriving at a high end resort every night. Now, who doesn’t want to actually live at a high end resort?

We would be very happy to help create the perfect outdoor lighting system for you and your home.  We’re also happy to answer any outdoor lighting questions.  Drop us a line at info@night-scenes.com

Saving Money for Home Owners Associations

As a former HOA president, I know how important it is for property owner associations to spend money responsibly for the good of the neighborhood, and save money wherever they can. The common areas like parks, recreation areas, trails, boat docks or pools can be maintenance money pits, and potential hazards after dark. Basic expenses in any sub-division include cutting the grass, irrigation systems, landscapes and, of course, there should be lighting.

Lighting is extremely important in the parks and recreation areas to insure the residents and guests who use these areas are not injured as they move about after dusk. We all know that there are times when everyone is having fun and then - before you know it - it’s too dark to play safely. Additionally, there should be lighting at the entries into the sub division. Most people only think of lighting the signage, which is important, but the entry to the community is a part of the HOA identity as well, and should announce to the resident or guest the pride shown in the neighborhood. It is the first impression and last impression that someone gets when entering, leaving or even simply passing by. These areas may not need to be lit for safety as much as for impact and drama.

 

Unquestionably, lighting for your HOA is very important. Having no lighting or poorly maintained lighting with a few lights out at the entries can make the wrong statement to someone passing by, especially if those lights were supposed to be shining on the signage. Your invited guest might just miss it completely and end up lost or worse, may not see it until they are right on top of it, hit their brakes and… create a dangerous situation. In dock and park areas, burned out lamps could actually contribute to a serious injury.

Halogen lighting is the same kind of lighting that you probably have in your home. The typical halogen light bulb will last an average of 4000 hours, meaning that half of them may burn out before that, and half of them will last longer - it’s just an average. Operating from dusk to dawn, they would only last about 1 year. Mercury vapor lights, frequently seen with that weird greenish glow, are currently being phased out of use in the United States. Replacing those bulbs is becoming harder to do as supplies are depleted, and they do not make or sell the ballasts needed for them anymore. There are some places where we see metal halide lighting which does have its place, mostly in commercial settings like parking lots, tennis courts, etc. These lights are usually upwards of 250 watts per fixture – not generally dark-sky friendly, and the light bulbs are pretty pricy indeed. They do last a long time however, up to 20,000 hours.

All of the above lighting options end up costing a lot of money for the HOA. Electrical expenses for this type of lighting can really make your head spin, but that is not what makes these lighting products expensive to operate. It costs far more to maintain this lighting than it does to operate it. The halogen lamps have to be replaced every year, at least. The mercury vapor or metal halide have to be replaced about every 3-5 years, but cost a lot more per bulb and or ballast, when available. In addition to the expense of the light bulbs or ballasts, you also have the labor expenses for the technician involved. In most instances, it is unlikely that a member of the community can safely take on these maintenance duties.

By far, the best option for HOAs now is LED lighting. Although LED lighting does cost more up front, between the energy savings and the maintenance savings, it usually pays for itself very quickly. For new installations, it may actually cost less to install LED than the other lighting options. As a matter of fact, a couple of years ago we were handed a sub division project which had been designed to use low voltage halogen lighting. There were over 200 lights designed (by a landscape architect) to be installed throughout the area. We were able use all LED products for a lot less money than if we had gone with the original designated products. Of course, all these LED fixtures use about 80% less energy, and we have not had to replace any light bulbs since it was installed, saving big bucks on maintenance.

There will always be some necessary maintenance to do on any outdoor lighting system, however. Lenses have to be cleaned, which is MUCH easier for an LED fixture; as well as adjustments for plant growth, which is extremely hard and considerably more expensive for the mercury vapor, metal halide and line voltage halogen.

So, if you live in a community with a homeowners association or property management, suggest that a review of your lighting needs be done, and encourage your board to look into installing or converting your common area lighting to LED to stretch those dues dollars in a very positive way.

If you would like us to come out and take a look at your neighborhood, drop us a note at info@night-scenes.com .

Pool, Outdoor Kitchen and Outdoor Lighting

If you try to name three items that homeowners expect in a new custom home, these three definitely rank in the top five. Actually, outdoor lighting has been on the list of top outdoor living trends for almost a decade, and just keeps climbing higher, currently ranking as high as number three! With this in mind, you have to ask yourself why it is not considered in the building budget till the last minute. Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer. On the rare occasions the builder does include outdoor lighting in has budget, it’s usually well under the amount that it should be to do an adequate job of highlighting the home the builder is proud to have built.

Look up “2013 Outdoor Living Trends” on Google and you’ll find several articles and every single one of them lists outdoor lighting in the top five items describing what the home owner desires for their outdoor living space. This is an incredible boost to the outdoor lighting industry, and yet it’s still usually at the bottom of the builder’s list of things to do on the project.

Don’t get me wrong, there are builders (like Madigan Custom Homes) out there who do regard outdoor lighting highly and want great lighting for their projects. Our company has been around for almost a decade, and we do work with a few builders who actually take the initiative to introduce us to the home owner and recommend that we add lighting to their property. I’m happy to report that in every single case where we are able to provide a lighting project, it is met with downright delight! These home owners are not only happy with the lighting, they are thrilled! Great lighting just makes people enjoy those spaces far more than the scary darkness.

Well-designed and executed outdoor lighting also helps that home owner to appreciate the landscape they paid an arm and a leg for. Since the client is usually at work all day, they really don’t have the time to soak in the beauty of their landscape until after dark, at which time it simply fades away into the darkness. The untrained landscaper of course can put in some lighting, but it’s rarely adequate to properly enhance the landscape and truly bring out the beauty of the plants and trees.

So, builders, landscapers and home owners: we encourage you to add at least 15% (and preferably closer to 25%) to the landscape budget for lighting to enhance the beautiful work you are doing on a property. If the lighting is done right, you will probably find it to be among your top five favorite outdoor living space amenities!  Let us know if we can create a wonderful night time NightScene for you info@night-scenes.com

Top 5 Reasons to Covert to LED

Here are just five good reasons to convert your current outdoor lighting system to LED lighting:

5. There are now so many different LED fixtures and lamps available that the design options are simply incredible! We now have tiny fixtures that can be hidden away in all kinds of places, helping us to hide the light source which is always a big plus in professional design. We also have a wider variety of color options with LED that were hard to achieve with regular halogen lighting.

4. Lower energy use. I know, most of you probably thought that this would be at the top of the list as number one – surprise! Yes, LED lighting does use a lot less energy than any of the other lighting options, but the cost of energy in central Texas is fairly low, so it would take a lot of time to recoup the cost of LED if you were only counting on energy savings. Buy hey; reducing your global footprint in any way is a step in the right direction!

Here is a photo of a lens with baked on hard water deposits

3. Easier to clean! Halogen lighting burns VERY hot and it bakes our hard central Texas water onto the lenses of the fixtures. This is extremely hard to get off, and roasted on calcium really has a bad effect on the lighting design plan. It severely impedes the light output of the lamp, and also adversely affects the beam spread. The labor cost involved in cleaning this scorched calcium off of the fixtures is HUGE.

2. Frees up space on your transformer. Most systems installed before LED have transformers loaded to at least 80% -- and in those cases, according to the National Electrical Code, they are at maximum capacity. This means that you could not add anything to the system without overloading it. By converting even a few fixtures to LED, you can then have enough room to add a few more lights where your landscape has matured, where you added a special piece of art, or changed your outdoor living space in some way. Of course, if you converted your whole system to LED, you could install four times as many lights as you had originally!

1. Less maintenance expenses! The most expensive part of an outdoor lighting system is its annual maintenance expense. It’s the dirty little secret in the outdoor lighting industry. Once a professional outdoor lighting system is installed, it (just like anything else) must be maintained. Even when using the highest quality products, light bulbs burn out, plants grow, wire becomes exposed, lenses get dirty, and more. All of these things must be done at least twice a year on a halogen system. The cost of lamps and the labor involved can get pretty expensive, depending on the size of the system. With LED however, the fixture or lamp lasts about 10 times longer than a halogen product. It takes far less time to clean the lenses and therefore the technician may only need to visit once a year -- and even then, he’s usually in and out in less than half of the time.

On average, converting a system to LED can pay for itself in just a few years. Larger systems pay off sooner than smaller systems, but it all averages out making it a valuable investment in your property.

BONUS: Since most existing halogen systems are pretty much maxed out, converting it to LED will likely prolong the life of the wiring and connections since the load will be cut by close to 75%. This could extend the life of the infrastructure by several years.

If you have an older outdoor lighting system that you would like us to convert for you, please drop us a note at info@night-scenes.com Thank you.

How to choose the right fixture.

No single fixture on the market today can take on every outdoor lighting task effectively. Using a variety of techniques and intensities will create the inviting and interesting ambience that most homeowners desire in their landscape lighting system. Once the decision has been made to add outdoor lighting to your property, and you have a pretty good idea which areas need light, there are four very basic things that should be considered when choosing the fixtures needed to finish the project well:

1. Know what lighting technique that is being used. The lighting technique will help you achieve the result you want. You know that if you are up lighting, you must use a fixture designed specifically for that. If you are down lighting, you MUST use a down lighting fixture which will not allow water to enter the fixture from the back side. Are you grazing a wide wall or highlighting a column? This will determine if you are going to use a bullet type fixture or a wall wash fixture. Incorporating several lighting techniques keeps your light plan from becoming flat or monotonous.

2. You need to determine the location and placement of the fixture. If you are placing the fixture in a turf/grass area, you MUST either put it in the ground flush, like a well fixture for up lighting a large tree, or use a very sturdy path type fixture that can’t be damaged easily by lawn maintenance equipment (see our blog on this topic: http://nightscenes-landscapelighting.blogspot.com/2013/08/path-light-fixtures-do-not-belong-in.html ). If you are placing the fixture in a mulched flower bed, you don’t want to use that same in-grade fixture because it will eventually become covered by mulch, and will then be useless; and if it is a halogen fixture, the heat generated could cause a fire. Is the fixture very close to a sprinkler head? If so, it needs to be sealed, and have the lens cleaned more often. Are the plants around it going to affect the light output by growing over it? If so, maybe the fixture needs to be something that shines from above instead. If the fixture is in or near a water feature, it will have to be completely water tight. Believe it or not, I have actually seen regular bullet type fixtures used to illuminate water features from within the fountain itself. This is NEVER a good idea. Also when considering location, think about the environment: is the property in a coastal area that will subject fixtures to salty air and sea spray? If so, then the lighting fixture will need to be constructed of heavy brass ----- to tolerate these climate conditions.

3. Then you have to decide the intensity of the light output. Intensity or brightness is measured in lumens. How many lumens do you need to achieve the effect you are looking for? With integrated LED fixtures, this element is built into the fixture itself, so a lot of thought has to go into the selection process. If the fixture is a regular halogen fixture using a lamp, the lamp will provide the lumen output and the beam spread. Another thing that will control the intensity will be the color of the light itself. Whiter light with a higher color temperature (like 4000K for moonlighting) will appear to be more intense and brighter than a warmer color light (like 2700K which is more typical in halogen lighting). This comes into play a lot more now with LED lighting than it used to with halogen when filters were used to create different light colors.

4. Finally, you will need to consider the cost of the fixture. Certainly, there are a lot of things that go into the cost of a fixture. What is the material and finish, and how is it constructed? These are probably the two most apparent factors that influence fixture cost. The home improvement store fixture is going to be made from plastic, or some kind of very thin metal. A spec- grade product will be made from copper, brass, stainless steel or bronze. In between there will be many options. If the client wants the very best and has an unlimited budget, then by all means, give them the very best product you can get. We have found that most clients want a well-made product that works efficiently and consistently, with a very good warranty that the installer and the manufacturer will honor. I always go by the rule of giving my client the best bang for the buck – the greatest value for the dollar -- a quality fixture that is not over-priced and will stand up for many years.

Naturally, there are other sub-categories to think about, and selection can be subjective and personal when looking at décor or visibility of the lighting fixture. But I think that these four items are the biggies. Start off by thinking about these most important things in your decision making process; then your next steps will include installation, lamp types, lenses and color preferences. 

Do you need more information on choosing the right fixture?  Leave a comment or drop us a note at info@night-scenes.com

How do you bury the wires?

trench (noun): ditch with steep sides; long deep hole dug in the ground, usually with steep or vertical sides.

In our industry, we get this question all the time. Our primary clients are those who have estate properties with well-manicured lawns and landscapes. The thought of us coming in with a trencher and cutting ditches all over their yard is enough to cause some major anxiety.

Not a good idea for your lawn

Although running a trencher in the yard might be a lot faster, there are some major draw backs to it. First, most obviously, is the damage to the lawn itself. Not only does it leave a pretty large ditch, it’s also almost impossible to fill back in completely and will leave a pretty good indention in the yard after the grass does finally grow back in. Also, there is the nearly guaranteed damage to the irrigation system. Trying to repair all of the cut water lines would be a nightmare, and one would pray those repairs won’t leak afterward. Plus, there’s usually some kind of wiring that was not buried deep enough, and it gets cut and needs to be repaired. Finally, trenching can cut tree roots causing permanent or sometimes fatal injury to the trees.

Despite these potential traumas, sometimes a trencher is required, however. That is when the client, usually in a commercial situation, requires high voltage lighting. According to the National Electrical Code, the wiring necessary for this lighting must be installed at minimum 18” depth. When long ditches need to be that deep, then the time saved over digging the trench by hand more than makes up for the repairs that might need to be made. If it’s just a short distance, though, hand digging may still be best.

This edger is similar to the custom made edger that we use

But what is the best way to lay low voltage lighting wire in the ground? Well, I’m old enough to remember the days before the ever present string trimmers (weed eaters) that we are all used to seeing now, and are used to trim the grass along sidewalks, driveways and other hardscape items. Back in the day, we used a flat edge spade to do this work. It just so happens that this is also the perfect tool for laying low voltage wire to a depth of 6” - the depth required by the National Electrical Code. By stepping onto this spade and gently moving it back and forth, the installer can create a small cut in the ground which will be virtually undetectable when the job is finished. This is the way we install all of our underground wiring to avoid damage our client’s lawn.

How Much Does a Landscape Lighting System Cost?

This is the ultimate question in our industry! Although I’ve covered this in other ways on this blog, I don’t think I’ve ever come right out and talked about actual numbers. I’ll try to do that here.

WHY? The first thing that will help to determine the cost of your outdoor lighting system is the answer to the question, “Why do you want lighting?” This answer will help to establish the depth of the design of the lighting plan. For example: If you only want to light the walkway from the driveway to the front door because it’s dark, or you just want a few lights for security reasons, then the cost is not going to be as much as someone who wants much more. An individual who has an extensive landscape, a large beautiful home, an outdoor living/entertaining area where they love to have guests, and knows how outdoor lighting can enhance the ambience of all these areas, then that outdoor lighting system is going to cost a LOT more.

WHAT? Next consideration is the quality of the products you may choose. Many folks see solar lights and DIY lighting kits available at the local home improvement store. These represent the very low end of the outdoor lighting goods on the market today. You can buy a small solar or LED do-it-yourself kit at one of these stores for about $100. The solar lights won’t last very long at all and will probably be in the trash quickly, while the LED do-it- yourself kit might last 6 months or a year. On the other hand, a professional grade LED outdoor lighting fixture - just one fixture - could cost anywhere from $125 to $450 -- or more depending on the type of fixture (its function) and the construction materials. Brass, copper, aluminum and nickel are some options out there contributing to the variance in cost. But these fixtures will also last anywhere from 5 years to a lifetime. Do you want high voltage or low voltage lighting? High voltage lighting products (which operate at 120 volts or more) can cost quite a bit more than low voltage lighting products.

HOW? Now, how about installation? If you install the home improvement kit yourself, the cost is whatever your time is worth to you. High voltage lighting must be installed by a licensed electrician, and must be installed according to the National Electrical Code and any local codes. Permits need to be issued and inspections made along the way as the system is being installed. Wire must be buried to at least 18” deep which means trenches have to be dug in your yard. All this add up to a lot of money for the contractor. Low voltage lighting that operates at less than 24 volts, in most parts of the United States, do not require permits, inspections, trenching or licensing. This can mean cost savings in installation, even when using a professional. It must, however, also be installed according to the National Electrical Code.

DESIGN? Have you considered the actual design or plan for your lighting? Once again, if you are designing the system yourself, the cost is free, as long as you know enough about the products you use and the way light operates. Some green industry companies offer a “free” design or “free” demo, but the cost of the time taken here is actually hidden - rolled into the price of the finished project because everyone must recoup the costs for their time and materials used for these services. (See our blog post on this topic here.) Some companies, like ours, will charge a design fee because we are actually a lighting design company. Think about it this way: You can’t get an architect to design your home for free because designing homes is what he does to earn a living. And naturally the builder can’t determine the cost of building that home without a full architectural plan from which they can calculate the cost of the project. As I have mentioned before in previous blogs, the expense of education required to learn the skill of lighting design is quite high compared to an afternoon at the irrigation supply house learning how to “sell” outdoor lighting to increase profits. So a well-thought out design is necessary to assess the cost of the completed lighting system.

HOW MUCH? Last, but far from least, is profit. This is the down and dirty part of any business these days; but personally, I think it’s the part of business that makes our country (the United States of America) the envy of the world. Obviously, if you are doing the project yourself there are no profits to be determined. But there are contractors who really have no idea about the costs of doing business. They just say to themselves that they want to make a certain amount per hour and that’s it – so they may offer to do this work for you at a bargain price. (We have covered this more extensively in a previous blog here.) Company profits don’t come until all of those overhead expenses are deducted. Payroll is the single greatest expense for any employer; honest, reliable, well-trained technicians don’t come cheap – and no homeowner would be comfortable with an unscrupulous laborer with a questionable background walking around their home or poking around on their property. My point is that it costs a lot of money to conduct a reputable and profitable business which can stay around long enough to back up the work that they do. Also figured into the cost of doing business is warranty work. Our company provides three years of service with each new residential installation project. No matter how good the product or installation is, things go wrong. Lights go out, timers fail -- and we have to come back and take care of it at no additional charge to the client. These expenses still need to be calculated into each and every job in order to be cost-effective enough to keep the doors open. Those companies who suffer a lot of failures will eventually also fail themselves as they try to recover expenses by charging too much, or by simply letting go of the drowning albatross (the company). A company, who is mindful of good business practices, uses quality products, installs them well, and charges a fair price will do just fine.

There are several other things that go into the pricing of an outdoor lighting system, but these are the obvious biggies that must be considered. So here is the answer to the question: Our company, NightScenes Landscape Lighting Professionals, has completed a very wide range of projects since we began almost a decade ago in this industry. Prices have gone up over the years, both due to normal increases in manufacturing and labor, as well as the giant leap from incandescent, halogen and high intensity discharge (HID like mercury vapor and metal halide) to LED. Over 90% of our installation projects come to us by client and industry referrals, and are usually large estate properties. We have installed small projects for about $2000, and projects upwards of $100,000. Our average residential project is in the neighborhood of $14,000 for approximately 40 fixtures; and we don’t do very many commercial projects.  The commercial projects are those that can get into the $100K range.

Learning and honing a craft by attending schools around the country; gaining and maintaining industry certifications; researching and using high quality products; hiring and training employees of integrity and treating them well; paying for and controlling overhead expenses; and making a fair profit to continually improve our business all go into the pricing of a superior outdoor lighting system. Those who don’t cover everything outlined here will, of course, be able to charge less - while those who share our business profile may charge more. Potential clients who have very limited budgets may have to trade some value features for price; while others demand the highest available quality and will gladly pay what they feel is a reasonable price for excellence in product and company reliability.

Hopefully now you have a realistic idea of what you should expect to pay for a low voltage landscape lighting system.  If you do need more information, please don’t hesitate to drop us a note at info@night-scenes.com .

Path Light Fixtures Do Not Belong In Grass!

Path lights, sometimes called spread lights, are usually the most visible fixtures in the lighting design. Because of their specific function, they stand taller to throw light out over a larger area below, like a walkway or flowerbed.

But placing this type of above ground, more decorative fixture in a turf area is almost always a terrible idea. Here is what we see happening all too often: there’s a long walkway from the road or driveway to the front door (or side door, or pool area out back …), with no mature trees nearby to allow for down lighting (almost always the preferred method), and there are no flower beds on either side of the walkway either.

So, the landscaper decides to go ahead and just put some regular path lights along the way, usually in the two-by-two method that I like to call the “runway look.” First of all, this just looks bad unless you are trying to land a plane at your front door. Second, the ladies using this walkway can easily knock the tar out of these lights with their purses. Then comes the lawn care dude with his ZTR (zero turn radius) mower rockin’ and rollin’ with his ear buds in and iPod blasting - and he takes them down at the stem. Usually within a few months half of the lights are broken, and the remaining fixtures are leaning in every direction. It’s a total disaster. Certainly not the high-end look the homeowner was hoping for when he invested in landscape lighting.

What can be done to avoid such an expensive blunder?

You know there must be some lighting on that walkway; people do have to be able to move around after dark safely, right? Of course they do. Here are some options:

· My favorite option is a cast iron fixture that is built like a tank. We have access to a fixture which is made from 4X4 or 6X6 square iron tubing. It has several different beautiful patterns available which can help the fixture blend into just about any outside décor. We can also get this durable fixture in heights from 13” to over 6’! We’ve been installing this workhorse for about 6 years now, and have never seen one damaged ever - and the natural rust finish looks the same from day one.

· Then there is the in-ground fixture that can throw light out horizontally. We’ve only used this option a few times, and its biggest drawback is that the growing grass can block the light if the fixture is installed low enough to not be damaged by a lawn mower.

· When all else fails, we have recommended that some type of flowerbed be built on either side of the walkway or path area to accommodate the traditional path fixture to keep it safely operating properly.

All of this is to say that the single stem, usual path fixture is an expensive “accident waiting to happen” when placed in grassy turf areas. The damage created by the lawn service equipment will never be covered by a warranty, and the cost of replacing a high-quality fixture, including labor, will be more than the average homeowner or lawn maintenance company would like to spend for a service call.  info@night-scenes.com