Adding Voltage to Your Business

Landscapers interested in adding outdoor lighting as a service will have to dedicate a lot of time to training and becoming certified. Those who rush into the service or try to learn on the job without proper training won’t last.   Outdoor lighting is a niche service for contractors, but it’s a profitable one. The profit margins are consistently in the 30-40 percent range. The lights are used to highlight buildings, plants and water features.

A typical residential installation can run more than $5,000 in price, which often inspires other skilled contractors – namely irrigation specialists, landscapers and fence companies – to pick up outdoor lighting as an additional offered service.

But the transition is anything but an easy one. Often, these contractors rush into the job without proper research, proper licensing, certification or education – all barriers to entry for new companies.

Ask any outdoor lighting professional and they’re likely to tell you that the “fake it ‘til you make it” mentality just won’t fly when staking out the niche and then carving out one within it.

So, what does a newbie coming into the outdoor lighting business need to know and watch out for when entering this niche market? Contractors can’t enter the line of work and expect to be successful by osmosis, says Jeff Tullis, president of Accent Outdoor Lighting, Chesterfield, Mo.

“When I started out in outdoor lighting, I spent many hours educating myself and learning about design principles by driving through subdivisions and scoping out houses. I would go out night after night looking at all the work, and it got to the point where a partner of mine was afraid I’d get arrested for it,” Tullis says with a laugh. “But like anything else in life, you really have to educate yourself first. You just can’t absorb how good lighting is done by sitting back and waiting for it to happen. Training and certification are really important – not just for ability, but for credibility as well.”

Tullis, who is a certified low voltage lighting technician (CLVLT), says that certification can be a big help in bolstering a new contractor’s lighting knowledge and expertise. Members of the Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals (AOLP) can take the exam at the annual conference.

“I’ve been a member of AOLP and did their certification and both have been immensely helpful – not just in creating work but keeping abreast of products, service and equipment and how the service and lighting has changed,” he says. “Being involved in AOLP helped us with success – in partnering with other companies who have complementary skills, finding good distributors, building valuable relationships and in providing support for our learning.”