Landscape Lighting
Landscape Lighting, Aimed After Dark
Anybody can stick a fixture in the ground at two in the afternoon. Getting it right means standing in the yard at night with the lights on.
A Fairhope Project
What it looks like when the sun goes down
All three photos are the same Fairhope home — two shot the night we finished aiming it, one in daylight so you can see where the hardware actually sits.
What We Light
Three jobs, done in the right order
Good lighting does three things at once, and the trick is not doing all three everywhere.
- Safety. Steps, drives, walkways and patio edges — enough light to see the change in grade, not enough to blind you.
- Structure. Uplighting on trees and wash on walls and columns, so the property still has shape after dark instead of going flat black.
- Living space. Low light around seating, the grill and the fire pit, so the patio you paid for is usable past eight o’clock.
We keep the fixture count honest. A yard with too many lights reads like a parking lot, and the electric bill and the maintenance both follow the fixture count.
Lighting Here
Live oaks, humidity and salt
Baldwin County is a good place to own landscape lighting. The mature live oaks on the Eastern Shore light beautifully from below, and the evenings are warm enough that people actually sit outside most of the year — which is the whole point of lighting a patio.
It is also hard on hardware. Humidity gets into cheap connections, sprinkler heads throw water on lenses, and closer to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach the salt air goes after finishes and fasteners. We would rather set fewer fixtures that survive than fill a yard with ones you replace in two seasons.
One more local habit worth knowing: after a storm season, half the “broken” systems we get called about are a tripped transformer or a wire cut by an edger. Ask us before you replace anything.
Questions
Before you light the yard
Do you really aim the lights at night?
Yes, and it is not a sales line. A fixture aimed in daylight almost never lands where you want it after dark. We set and bury everything during the day, then come back after sunset to aim, adjust and swap anything that is too hot or too dim.
Can you add to or repair a system somebody else installed?
Usually. We can add fixtures to an existing run if the transformer has capacity left, and we can chase down the common failures — cut wire from an edger, a corroded connection, a dead transformer or a timer nobody has reset since the last power outage.
Does salt air eat the fixtures at the beach?
It is hard on everything outdoors near the water, which is why fixture choice matters more in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach than it does inland. We talk through material and finish options before ordering anything for a coastal property.
What does a lighting job cost?
It comes down to how many fixtures, how far the runs are and whether power is already there. A few trees and a walkway is a different job from lighting a whole front elevation. We price it after walking the property, and the estimate is free.
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Ready to get started?
Tell us what you have in mind and we will come walk the property. Estimates are free, and you will talk to Myles — not a call center. Or tap the chat bubble; messages go straight to Myles.