Where homeowners go wrong
The trouble with shopping for outdoor lighting is that two numbers can describe two completely different jobs. A template plan and a custom design can land within a few hundred dollars of each other, and look nothing alike once installed.
Start with the design
The first question is simple: is there a plan drawn for my house? A company that designs for the property can explain every run. A company that will not is selling you a package.
What happens later?
Everything mounted outdoors has a day when it needs attention. Ask now who that is. For seasonal work, ask specifically about takedown and off season storage. For permanent systems, ask how the app works and who supports it.
What is in their lane
Some companies only hang holiday lights. Others only do landscape. Some cover the whole property. It matters because a company that only does one thing will recommend that one thing.
Ask about the kind of property they usually work on
A house and a storefront are different problems. A home wants curb appeal and usable light after dark. A business wants to be visible and to look open, often in company colors. Ask which one they do more of, then decide whether that matches your job.
Red flags
A price that only holds until the end of the visit is a sales tactic, not a quote. If nobody will draw the design, there is nothing to hold anybody to. Vagueness about support down the road is the third.None of
https://evercrestlighting.com/about/ that means a company is dishonest. Since the work stays on the building, the details are worth pinning down now.Two quotes are worth getting, provided you compare the scope. 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.
Ask where they actually work
A company based near you knows the housing stock and the weather. EverCrest Lighting is a lighting contractor working out of Greenville, South Carolina, covering Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina. They do permanent LED lighting, holiday lighting, landscape lighting, patio lighting, accent lighting and security lighting for homes and businesses. Consultations are free and the design comes before the number. Reach them at (864) 252-1732 or
[email protected].