HOW I DO IT
Light the Night: Adding Outdoor Lighting as a Service
By Jill Odom
IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR AN ADDITIONAL SERVICE TO OFFER clients that complements your design/build projects, consider landscape lighting. Lotus Gardenscapes, based in Dexter, Michigan, started providing low-voltage lighting early on at the request of their customers. Traven Pelletier, owner and designer of Lotus Gardenscapes, says in the last two years landscape lighting has become more common along with the outdoor room concept. He says as these projects become more complex and high-end, these installations typically include lighting.
Gardens of Babylon Landscapes, based in Nashville, Tennessee, has been offering landscape lighting for 10 years now.
Landscape lighting provides an opporunity to enhance your designs and make the landscape
pop. Photos: (Top) Gardens of Babylon Landscapes (Bottom) Lotus Gardenscapes
“It was a natural progression for us as our company and clientele grew,” says Tim Nebel, operations manag- er for irrigation, lighting & audio for Gardens of Babylon. “Lighting helps to extend the time our clients are able to enjoy their outdoor space and offers an element of safety in the nighttime
--- it’s a perfect fit for us as we help to create outdoor living spaces that can be enjoyed anytime, day or night!” GreenPro, LLC, based in Jenks, Oklahoma, started offering landscape lighting six years ago “It’s a great add-on for us,” says Dakota Williams, co-owner of GreenPro. “It’s easy to do while we’re out on the job site. Ultimately, it enhances what we do in the evening time. People enjoy their landscapes and outdoor spac- es during the daytime, but if we can extend the depth of the property and make it more secure during the evening that’s just a plus.” Nebel and Williams say they’ve noticed an increased demand for land- scape lighting.
“I think just the whole staycation thing, everything outdoors is blowing up and more people are wanting to extend their time outside,” Williams says. “That’s what lightning does. It extends the time outside you’re able to not only see but you can go outside and sit and have a glass of wine in the evening, and then
20 The Landscape Professional //May/June 2021
not just be sitting in the dark, or just on the back patio. You can enjoy that ambient lighting all the way to the edge of the property.”
PITCHING CLIENTS AND PROFIT MARGINS Thanks to landscape lighting’s popu- larity and practical aspects, it’s often not too hard to sell to clients.
Nebel says they provide information for outdoor lighting with all of their sales pitches. “We provide information about our landscape packages with every landscaping consultation but typically customers know they want lighting from the beginning of the project,” Nebel says. Williams says they include lighting in every landscape they do. He calls it their teaser set where they install five to seven lights as part of their package and he says customers always add more after they see it. Pelletier says lighting isn’t a hard sell to clients as they’re often requesting it. Currently, they don’t list the lighting as a line item in their proposals, but Pelletier says he’d like to move to this. “I think this year I’m going to encour- age the team to include it as a base package,” Pelletier says.
As for the profit margins for land- scape lighting, Williams says it is awe- some, ranging from 50 to 85 percent.
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