Every quote calls itself custom
Custom appears on almost every outdoor lighting quote in existence. The word has been used until it is empty. What is worth checking is what the company hands you, because a design is a document and a package is a price.Keep that straight through the whole process. A package is a price with a description attached. A design starts with your building and arrives at a number. Both are legitimate ways to sell. Only one of them answers to your building, and you deserve to know which you have.
What you should be looking at
A plan is specific to your building. It names which rooflines, which gables, which trees, which walkways, instead of saying the front of the home. It says what color temperature the everyday setting will be. It says where the controller mounts and how the wiring runs. And it says which areas are not being lit.
Why the design has to come before the price
A price with nothing behind it is not comparable to anything. Two quotes a few hundred dollars apart can describe completely different jobs. With a plan
https://mylesbgsl002.theburnward.com/permanent-christmas-lighting-what-to-know-before-you-buy on the table, price becomes a real comparison. When the price comes first, scope gets trimmed to hit it.A plan you understand gives you something to check the finished job against, which is worth more than any assurance given in a driveway.
The questions a designer should ask you
A good design conversation is mostly questions. Where do you walk after dark. Is the patio used at night. Is this mostly a holiday purchase or an everyday one. Do you host. Those answers change the plan more than the architecture does.
Bringing the categories together
Most properties need more than one kind of lighting. Piecemeal buying produces a property with lighting rather than a lit property. One plan, phased if it needs to be, still ends up coherent.
You are allowed to push back on the plan
A design is a proposal, not a verdict. If a run looks wrong to you, say so. A company unwilling to revise is showing you the package. The answer should not be a hesitation.
What you walk away with
A design is worth having in writing. It is useful years later for reasons you cannot predict now. A company reluctant to hand over the plan is telling you something about how they see the relationship.
Where to start
The design begins with a visit, not a catalog. EverCrest Lighting designs and installs custom outdoor lighting across permanent, landscape, accent, patio and security work for residential and commercial properties throughout Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, out of Greenville. Consultations are free. Call (864) 252-1732 or email
[email protected].