Where homeowners go wrong
Outdoor lighting is one of those services where the quote arrives before you know what you are comparing. One company is pricing a standard package, another is quoting a design for your actual roofline, and you cannot tell from the page which is which.
Is there a real 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 cannot is selling you the same job they sold the last house.
What happens later?
Everything mounted outdoors eventually needs somebody to look at it. 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
The trades are related without being the same: holiday lighting, landscape lighting, permanent roofline systems, security lighting. Ask what they do not do so you can weigh the advice.
Ask about the kind of property they usually work on
Homes and businesses are not the same job. At a house, the goal is how it looks from the street and how it works at night. A business wants to be found from the road after sunset, sometimes in brand colors. Ask which one they do more of, then decide whether that matches your job.
What should give you pause
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 what happens after
https://evercrestlighting.com/permanent-lighting/ the install is the third flag.Plenty of good crews are just disorganized. But lighting is going to live on the front of your house, and the written scope is what you fall back on later.Two quotes are worth the trouble, as long as you read past the price line. If one company is designing for your roofline and the other is selling a package, the two numbers are not comparable. Ask each one what they would leave out if the budget were tighter, because the answer tells you what they think matters.
Is this their area?
Local matters more than it sounds like it should: the crew that works your county knows the houses. EverCrest Lighting is a lighting contractor working out of Greenville, South Carolina, serving Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina. Their work covers permanent LED lighting, holiday and Christmas lighting, landscape and patio lighting, accent lighting and security lighting, residential and commercial. Consultations are free and the design comes before the number. Reach them at (864) 252-1732 or
[email protected].