Planning Your Landscape Lighting Design: Questions You Should Ask
You might not think there’s much more to planning landscape lighting design than upgrading the lights at entryways, adding illumination to walkways, or placing uplighting under the topiaries. At least, you may feel this way until you start trying to cobble together a landscape lighting design. With professional help, you can take your design to unimagined heights, meeting both practical and aesthetic needs. First you must find the right Sioux Falls landscape lighting designer, and the best way to do this is by asking pointed questions.
What are your qualifications and experience?
In other words, what have you done? One of the first things you should do is ask to see a gallery of past projects and get references that you can check to determine the quality of work you can expect. This is just due diligence on the part of the consumer.
How will landscape lighting meet my practical needs?
You have certain ideas about how you want to use your outdoors spaces. At the very least, practicality demands you be able to move about your property in safety, which means adequate lighting for walkways and entryways is a must.
However, you and your family also prefer a certain lifestyle that could include cooking outdoors, night swims in the pool, entertaining intimate groups of guests, or throwing massive parties. You want to make sure you find a landscape lighting design specialist capable of taking your practical needs and lifestyle into consideration.
How will landscape lighting improve the appearance and value of my property?
Let’s be honest – you want your yard to be the envy of the neighborhood and you want to make sure the curb appeal of added lighting increases the overall value of your home. The last thing you want it to upset your neighbors by flooding the area with light – bigger isn’t always better. What you want is lighting that is not only functional, but that makes your outdoor spaces magical and beautiful to behold once the sun goes down.
This is a tall order, no doubt, but the right landscape lighting designer can draw on expertise to help you realize a lighting concept for your outdoor spaces that is both understated and awe-inspiring.Lighting needs to complement your architectural style and existing landscape and hardscape features, but it must also be pleasing to the eye.
It must invite guests to relax and enjoy themselves, or give you the ability to set a certain mood. Balancing practical and aesthetic concerns is perhaps the hardest job for your landscape lighting design specialist, which is why you hire professionals in the first place.
How will you maintain my budget and timeline?
Living in Sioux Falls means that weather conditions can impact the ability to work outdoors at times. Your landscape lighting designer should be able to give you a reasonable estimate of when work will be completed based on anticipated seasonal weather, while helping you to draft a plan in the meantime. You’ll also want to choose a professional that will offer a free estimate for your project and work with you to maintain a budget. Don’t forget to ask about warranties for work.