The word is free
Custom is on every website in this trade. It costs nothing to say so it has stopped carrying information. The test is not the word. It is what you get to look at before you were asked to decide.Keep that straight through the whole process. A package is a price with a description attached. A design is a plan for your property that arrives at a price. Both can be perfectly honest pieces of business. Only one of them is designed for you, and you should know which one you are buying.
The contents of a real plan
A real design tells you where light goes and why. It names which rooflines, which gables, which trees, which walkways, rather than describing the front of the house in general terms. It says what the standard white is. It says where the controller mounts and how the wiring runs. And it says what is deliberately being left dark.
Order of operations
A price with nothing behind it is not comparable to anything. The cheaper number is often the one covering less, which you find out once it is up. With a plan on the table, the number means something. When the price comes first, the design gets shaped to fit the number, quietly.Once the plan is written down, you can compare the finished work to it, which is the whole point of having it.
The questions a designer should ask you
Expect to be asked things, not just told things. Where do you walk after dark. Do you use the back yard in the evening. Is this mostly a holiday purchase or an everyday one. Do you host. The way you use the property drives the design, and a designer who does not ask is designing for a stranger.
Design lets one plan cover several jobs
Roofline, path lighting, accents and security all tend to come up. Bought separately over several years, they never quite agree: inconsistent color, uneven brightness, no hierarchy. One plan, installed over time if necessary, still ends up coherent.
Revisions
The first plan is not
https://mylesbgsl002.theburnward.com/hiring-an-outdoor-lighting-company-a-homeowner-s-checklist-what-separates-one-outdoor-lighting-company-from-another meant to be final. You can remove things and you should, if they do not earn their place. If it comes back to you unchanged, with no room to adjust, that is worth noticing. Ask how many rounds are normal before you sign anything.
The plan should end up in your hands
Ask for a copy, and keep it. It is useful years later in ways that are not obvious at the time. A company that will not give you the drawing is telling you something about how they see the relationship.
Getting a design for your property
The design starts with somebody walking your property. EverCrest Lighting does custom outdoor lighting design and installation across permanent, landscape, accent, patio and security work for residential and commercial properties throughout Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, out of Greenville. The consultation is free. Call (864) 252-1732 or email
[email protected].