The differences between DIY and professional outdoor lighting.
By Henry VanHengstum
Canadians love spending as much time outdoors as possible — especially during summer. BBQs, pool parties and bonfires are a great way to enjoy our yards during the warmer months. When the good times roll into the night, landscape lighting can keep you and your loved ones outside longer.
When it comes to lighting your landscape, homeowners have an important decision: do it yourself or hire a professional?
Retailers offer a wide variety of affordable wired lighting options. Those options are significantly reduced without lighting design experience or proper electrical training.
Hiring a professional has many benefits, and it’s not as expensive as you think! A professionally designed and installed outdoor lighting system highlights your home’s most beautiful features, sets a lovely mood for entertaining, and helps keep your property safe by deterring intruders and some unwanted wildlife.
Professionals offer higher quality fixtures, help manage your power consumption and back up their installation with a warranty.
Let me dive deeper into why hiring a professional is the right choice for you.
Professionally designed landscape lighting can do much more than just brighten your space. Lighting experts consider your home’s architecture, landscape and how you want to use the space at night.
The right design increases curb appeal by highlighting unique features of your landscape, like architectural features, ornamental trees or gardens. Adding colour filters creates a mood or ambiance in your space.
A lighting professional also sources all the fixtures and materials, saving you valuable time.
There are a lot of different fixtures available for a DIY lighting project, but buying from a big box store doesn’t mean you’re getting the best quality. Often, retail-grade lighting fixtures prioritize affordability above longevity.
Lighting professionals give you access to top brands offering longer-lasting products. At Select Lighting, we even offer outdoor lighting maintenance programs, so you don’t have to do anything yourself!
Hiring a trained professional to install your lighting system is much safer than trying it yourself. At Select Lighting, our technicians are experienced and highly trained to work with low voltage outdoor lighting systems.
Smart controllers paired with high-quality LED bulbs are an eco-friendly option. When properly installed, your landscape lighting could use up to 75% less power than an older system using incandescent bulbs. LED bulbs last between 50,000 and 100,000 hours, so you don’t have to replace them often.
Lighting professionals help navigate any warranties of the products they install. They also back up their work — giving you the peace of mind that comes with knowing the work was done right.
At Select Lighting, we back up our work for two years. Most brands we install come with a 2-3 year warranty. If anything goes wrong, we’ll gladly make it right.
Before attempting to DIY your landscape lighting, there is a lot to consider, including design, functionality and safety. To get the most out of your lighting, hire a professional lighting team to help bring your vision to life. Select Lighting is happy to help. Get started by contacting us to schedule an assessment.
