Providing Outdoor Lighting Services

Although that is the starting point, it is not always easy to get the ball rolling. "It’s very difficult to get the clients to answer the question, ‘Why light?’ That’s the hardest thing in the world to find out," said Locklin. To get that answer, he said a contractor could describe different scenarios to get the customer to think about the reasons for lighting. Those reasons include wanting added lighting for nighttime security, highlighting a tree or statue in the yard, illuminating the sides of the house, entertaining guests on the patio, barbecuing outside or providing light for children to play in the backyard at night. The variety of reasons to light fits right into Nightscaping’s definition of its namesake – "Nightscaping is the art of highlighting the natural visual elements of your landscaping and architecture to dramatically enhance and extend the optimum viewing hours of your property," according to the company’s web site.

Locklin said problems can start early if the contractor does not find out the answer to why a customer wants to highlight those natural visual elements. But the potential problems don’t end there. "The next big mistake contractors make is over lighting," said Locklin. For example, he described a scenario of a landscape that probably only needed four lights. The contractor instead chose eight lights for that area. The contractor ended up bidding the entire job with twice as many lights as necessary, causing the price to be too high for the customer. Locklin explained that if a contractor can do more lighting with less lights, the cost is lower, the customer is more willing to accept the bid and the potential remains for adding additional lighting in other areas. After completing a low cost job, the contractor can follow up a few weeks later, discover the customer is pleased with the job and get another job from the same customer.

Locklin also said there is a third problem contractors encounter when bidding lighting jobs. "The other big mistake is that young contractors buy everything on price," he explained. To avoid this mistake, Locklin suggested that a contractor needs to figure out what lamp will provide the proper light for the area. For instance, a narrow spotlight can be used to highlight a statue, or a wide lamp can be used to illuminate the side of a house. Once the contractor finds the proper lamp, he and the customer can look in a catalog and choose a fixture that works for the area. If a homeowner decides to light the side of the house, the homeowner and the contractor need to decide whether to use uplighting or downlighting. If the choice is made to illuminate from the top down, the lamps will need to cover a wide area and the fixture choice will need to be a style that mounts under the eaves.

"The mistake a young contractor will make is to go buy a catalog and go for the cheapest without considering how it will do the job. And then the customer isn’t happy," said Locklin. "I tell contractors continuously that people expect outdoor lighting to be expensive. Don’t disappoint them. Make money. Tell them, ‘I am a professional outdoor lighting technician. I can fill your needs.’"

SELLING OUTDOOR LIGHTING. Not every contractor is willing to add landscape lighting to a company’s list of services. "One of the things that keeps landscape contractors from doing landscape lighting is they’re afraid of making a mistake," said Locklin. Locklin does his part to help contractors be more comfortable offering this service by holding classes about landscaping lighting.

Locklin’s classes provide landscape contractors with proper practices to follow when selling the service of outdoor landscape lighting. He teaches the technical hands-on side as far as installation and wiring, and he also teaches a variety of sales tactics. According to Locklin, one of the most important items to learn is how to take a nighttime photograph. He said one of the keys to making a sales presentation is to show a customer samples of one’s work. The capability of taking a nighttime photograph allows the contractor to show daytime and nighttime photographs from before and after the project to prove his abilities. A presentation kit with those samples eliminates the need for a customer to drive across town to view a contractor’s work.

"We also teach contractors how important a maintenance contract is," said Locklin. "It keeps you in [the client’s] face all of the time and it keeps their equipment looking good." Lighting maintenance includes cleaning fixtures, testing the contacts, applying anti-corrosion material on contacts and fixtures and replacing bulbs. It is especially important to establish maintenance contracts in dusty or dirty areas and areas that are exposed to salt in the winter, according to Locklin. Lighting in such areas is more prone to damage by the conditions and requires additional maintenance.

Maintenance contracts are established on a preventative maintenance schedule to alleviate angry calls from customers. "For the person who can afford a contractor, they don’t want aggravations," said Locklin. "They want their lights to come on at sundown and off at 10:30 at night if that was the agreement. They don’t want any problems, and they’re willing to pay for it."

Locklin said landscapers have an eye for form, beauty and symmetry. Therefore, lighting is a natural choice for most contractors. "All you’re trying to do is enhance the beauty of the landscape and of the architecture and not compete with it," he said. By avoiding Locklin’s three noted mistakes and by developing a sound sales presentation, a contractor could have greater success in offering lighting services.

For more information about Nightscaping visit the company’s web site at www.nightscaping.com.