"Honey? Did you see the Smith's house at the end of the street? Have you seen it AT NIGHT lately? How do we get our house to look like that?!?"
If you found this blog post, that may sound a little familiar. The desire to attractively light up your house or yard has been around for decades (maybe ever since Tommy Edison came out with his bulb?), but it has become much more common in the past decade. Technological advances have made this cheaper, more energy efficient, and within the reach of normal homeowners like yourself. In Utah especially, interest has accelerated these past few years when COVID forced us to spend more time at home, and got everyone thinking more about how they can enhance that space. When it comes to home improvements, lighting may not be the first thing that you think of, but once you see it, you can't get it out of your head. Because a beautifully lit home is so eye-catching and visual, once it's on a home near you, it’s natural instinct to then want your home to match it (or even out SHINE it).
If you're a particular type of person, maybe the first thing you did was look into adding some lights yourself. I certainly did this when I was a first-time homeowner and not yet introduced to true professional outdoor lighting. Maybe you got some solar lights from Costco and some string lights for the backyard. Maybe you even got a couple of spotlights, but then stopped as you had no idea how to power them or run a wire to them. There will be an upcoming post dedicated to DIY vs professional lighting, but lets say that you have concluded that you want to call a pro for this. The next question on anyone's mind: What is this going to cost?
I've spoken with many people in the Salt Lake area who have this question, and the answer surprises some of them, though not all. I know that most of you just want a simple answer to this question, but as with many things, it's tough to give a straight-forward answer. Before I dive into the question itself, let me walk you through some of the things that contribute to the total cost:
The lighting fixtures themselves: A simple lightbulb can be < $1 at the hardware store, but to do outdoor lighting right you want high-quality durable fixtures that can point light towards where you want and away from where you don't want. This fixture has to withstand the elements, which includes tough weather, as well your son with the lawn mower, animals passing thru your yard, and the sun beating down on it day in and day out. Uplights, accent lights, pathways lights, flood lights - to get the ones that will last is not cheap
Wire and Transformers: Assuming you aren't going the solar route (and trust me, solar lights will NOT be bright enough), you need to get power to your fixtures. This involves high grade insulated wire that may have to run dozens or hundreds of feet. Due to the distance the power must travel from your house to the lights, and something called voltage drop, most lighting designs will also require a transformer to bring the voltage down. If you don't do that, fixtures in different places will get different voltages and put out very different brightnesses. If these aren't insulated properly, water will get in and short out your system before long
Lighting design: Not everyone knows how to highlight the architectural features of your house or light a large tree properly, and that expertise is largely gained by doing a lot of designs and installations. If you have unique features you’d like to highlight, you need to know the difference between a wash light and an uplight, between moonlighting and silhouetting.
Hiding the wires: Probably the piece that most people don't think about - you don't want lights so bad that you can live with wires running all over your yard. The wire has to be trenched and buried, and if you need the wire to cross over a concrete walkway or go up to the second floor… well that's why you call the pros. But this is labor intensive work
I know what you're thinking -" just tell me the DANG price already" - but it isn't that easy. The price can vary widely depending on the size of your house and property, and what areas you'd like to address. For many homes in Salt Lake and the surrounding area, you could have as many as 5 different "areas" to light up:
Front of the house (aka Curb Appeal)
Back of house / backyard
Pathways
Gardens / landscaping
Deck / Patio or Pool
Some of these may not apply to your house and obviously each of these components will vary widely from one property to the next, which is why all of our lighting designs are custom for every client. Many lighting blogs out there will put the price in terms of $ per fixture, but most homeowners are calling the professionals because they don't know how many fixtures they need. Below I will try to give you some ballpark estimates, but please keep in mind that these are estimates. If your property could be described as a “compound”, expect lighting up the full area to cost a bit more than the below estimates. Let’s start with most people's first priority:
I live in a cute but modest home in Millcreek - 1 story + finished basement, about 2000 sq ft - and this would represent the low end of this pricing bracket. With no second floor, and less than 1000 sq ft on that first floor, I only needed a handful of lights to get the below effect. This low end starts at about $1,400 - $2,250.
If you have a slightly larger home or maybe have a second story, expect $2,300 - $3,500. For a mini-mansion, $3,500 - $5,000.
Lets try to keep this simple, and assume that you just want to light up the main gathering space. Classy string bistro lights strung over that area can be a great direction to go, and you should expect that to run you $600-$1,600 for a small to medium sized space.
Easy rule of thumb - you typically want a fixture every 10-12 feet of pathway you'd like lit, and a fixture + wire is typically around $300. If you know the length of pathways you have, you can calculate what this might be.
There's no good rule of thumb here because the wants and needs of different homeowners will vary more widely here than anywhere else. Especially large trees might require 2 fixtures, while smaller ones only need 1, and the lighting needed in gardens or general landscaping is unique to each property.
Decks and patios can benefit immensely from outdoor lighting - they will be more usable and inviting, and also safer as you can make sure any possible tripping areas are more visible. These are great in Utah, where we can enjoy them 9+ months of the year. Depending on the size of your area, this could be anywhere from $800 - $2,000 or more.
To reiterate, every home, property, and homeowner is unique, so use this to get an idea of an approximate budget, but get that custom design and proposal before you anchor yourself too strongly. If these totals seem daunting, many homeowners start by lighting up the front of their house initially, and then add their backyard or landscaping over time as their budget allows. A good lighting designer should be able to work with you and meet you where you are now.
When you are ready to really enhance the look and feel of your home, please call Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Salt Lake at (801) 850-0024.
