Southern Landscape Lighting Systems of Acworth, GA, designs and installs LED low-voltage landscape lighting in the Metro Atlanta area. For nearly fifteen years, the team of lighting professionals has been making Acworth homes magical with elegant designs, highest-quality fixtures, and impeccable maintenance and customer service.
Magic-Making Begins and Ends with a Plan
A landscape design master plan considers the entire property, from the first shovelful of dirt to the landscape lighting system that makes the home visible, beautiful, usable, and safe after dark. The plan combines design concepts such as balance, proportion, focalization, rhythm and line, and simplicity.
The plan may be hand-rendered or an AutoCAD drawing. Images of plants, construction materials, hardscapes, color renderings, and section drawings are utilized to fully convey the design concept to the homeowner, contractors, HOA, or municipal architectural board. A master plan may vary in price from a few hundred to several thousand dollars depending on the project's complexity.
Wise planning is priceless. Thoughtful coordination can increase efficiency, reduce costs, prevent redundancies, and limit collateral damage to completed phases. A well-configured master plan can also allow the homeowner to install the landscaping in orderly stages that are budget-friendly.
A landscape master plan can include: demolition, grading, tree removal, tree, and shrub installation, fencing, the driveway, custom gating, walkways, water features (waterfalls, fountains, and fishponds), benches, a patio, decks, a gazebo, outdoor ceiling fans, a firepit, an outdoor kitchen, a stone pizza oven, gas lines, electrical lines, grass or sod, planting beds and plants, boulders, statuary, stonework, decorative planters, murals, mulch, irrigation, a pool, a spa, playground, lawn furniture, an LED low-voltage lighting system, labor, permitting, and oversight.
Budgeting the Landscape Lighting Wish List
The American Society of Landscape Architects offers the following advice on formulating a landscape budget in line with the home's style, price, and location: “Make a realistic budget. One rule of thumb is to invest 10 to 20 percent of your home’s value. If this seems steep, consider that landscape improvement return 100 to 200 percent of their cost when a house is sold—it’s the best improvement you can make in terms of increasing resale value.”
The article also contains encouraging news regarding the effects of landscape design on the home's value: “Homes that have been professionally landscaped can fetch 15 percent to 20 percent more at the time of resale than homes with less attractive landscapes.”
Creating Landscape Lighting Magic
Tip #1: Make LED low-voltage landscape lighting a non-negotiable, core priority.
Suppose a homeowner budgets $75,000 for landscaping on a $500,000 home. In that case, the project should include a landscape lighting component that makes the home, the landscaping, and the numerous amenities (pool, spa, patio, firepit, outdoor kitchen, etc.) visible, beautiful, usable, and safe after dark.
Too often, landscape lighting is an afterthought or receives no thought at all in the landscape master plan. Once the landscape and hardscapes are installed, the budget is exhausted, and so are the homeowners. If landscape lighting is a core priority in the funding from the start, funds earmarked for the lighting design and installation phase will be available.
Tip #2: Enlist the services of a proven landscape lighting professional.
Involve the lighting design professional in the overall landscape master planning from the earliest stages of the project. The involvement of a lighting design professional from the very beginning of the landscape design and installation process facilitates the incorporation of lighting design principles in the landscape master plan. The inclusion of lighting design and installation considerations in the master plan can enhance the landscape lighting's aesthetic quality and functional capacity. Also, costly redundancies, inefficiencies, and damage to other systems (irrigation, plumbing, electrical) can be avoided.
Tip #3: Enjoy the magic of LED low-voltage lighting early in the project.
Do not wait until the entire landscape project is completed to install the lighting design. In coordination with the architect overseeing the project, install as much of the lighting plan as possible so everyone can enjoy the completed phases. Extensive landscape master plans may extend over years. The beauty of an LED landscape lighting system is its flexibility. As soon as the new patio, outdoor kitchen, or other landscape elements are installed, turn on the landscape lighting and create magic in the backyard.
Contact Southern Landscape Lighting Systems for more information about LED landscape lighting design and installation. The Acworth office can be reached by calling (678) 324-6842 or emailing lindsey@southernlls.com.
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