CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE AWARDS


ing would crack. But before he could even start drilling, the placement had to be perfect. Tere would be no second chances to adjust. “It was a long process of about two weeks,


going at night to test different demos of the dis- tance from the columns to get the exact lighting we wanted,” he says. “Core drilling has been becoming very pop- ular in the lighting industry,” he says. But just because it’s picked up in popularity doesn’t make it any easier. Montoya and his team studied core drilling techniques from other lighting contrac- tors and practiced to find what would work best for this project. “I was studying, reading, watching videos,”


he says. “Everything helps. You never stop studying.” He connected with a local supplier to source


some of the materials similar to the marble and concrete flooring surrounding the pool. With that in hand, he was able to start putting some of those concepts into action. Te team tested their core drilling methods and trained on getting it right without damaging the materials. “It’s just practice. Practice makes perfect,


right? Tere was no room for mistakes. We had to take our time,” Montoya says. Even once they had the method down,


Montoya and his team worked on it repeatedly to make sure everyone knew what they needed to do to complete the job correctly. “With any design you have in mind, it’s always good to practice and go over it several times with your team to make sure that it’s done properly,” he


It’s just practice. Practice makes perfect, right? There was no room for mistakes. We had to take our time.” – Santiago Montoya, RN Lighting LLC


says. “Tere’s always room for improvement, but precision and consistency come with practice.” Even with the core drilling covered, pro-


viding power for the lights was an additional headache. During the initial walkthrough, as they were planning fixture placement, Montoya also needed to consider how they could run wir- ing through the flooring. Fortunately, instead of grouting, the tiles were joined by polymeric sand. Montoya’s crew was able to lift each heavy title with prybars to get wiring to the fixtures. “We had to be really precise with the whole


project,” he says. “It’s not just with the position- ing or core drilling for the lights. You have to be very precise in moving the tiles, making sure the pavers and polymeric sand still settle at the same level.” Te installation process itself only took about


a day, but that doesn’t include all of the days of preparation and study that went into the proj- ect, says Montoya. It was a lot of extra work, but now he knows that every member of his team has the skills to understand how to approach a core drilling project and get the job done correctly. For him, making sure his employees have a variety


of skills that they’re keeping sharp is part of a larger business plan. “I like for all of us to be able to do core drill-


ing, be able to do a gutter mount light or a soffit light,” he says. “We did that design, but we don’t stop there. We keep practicing, because we never know if tomorrow we’ll get another job where even more precision is needed.” But for now, he and his team can enjoy the


finished results of their hard work, he says. “It was a very long process, but we were suc-


cessful,” says Montoya. “I’m happy with my team and the results we got, and the homeowner was extremely happy.”


Kyle Brown is editor-in-chief of Irrigation & Lighting maga- zine and can be reached at kylebrown@irrigation.org.


Lighting category sponsored by


Santiago Montoya, CEO of RN Lighting LLC, Auburn, Georgia, followed a long process of studying core drilling methods to successfully install in-ground well lights to illuminate a client’s pool house and architecture without damaging the property’s expensive marble and concrete flooring. Photo: Santiago Montoya


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Fall 2022 Irrigation & Lighting 37


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