Landscape Lighting
Landscape & Outdoor Lighting
Warm evenings are the Emerald Coast's best hours, and a house that disappears at sunset is wasting most of them. Good lighting makes a yard usable after dark, makes a rental photograph well, and makes the front of a house look like someone lives there.
We design and install low-voltage systems and we aim every fixture on site, at night, with you standing there. A lighting plan drawn in daylight is a guess.
What's included
- Night walk of the property before anything is specified
- Transformer sized with headroom for future additions
- Direct-burial cable run in conduit under hardscape
- Path lights, uplights, downlights and wall washes as the design needs
- Palm and specimen tree uplighting with correct beam spreads
- Step, riser and seat-wall integrated lighting
- Timer or photocell control, with app control where you want it
- Aiming session at night, with you, after installation
How we price it
Free on-site estimate
Quoted after a walk of the property, ideally after dark. A lighting scheme is priced by what it takes to light your particular house and trees, not by a package.
What moves the number
- How many fixtures the scheme actually needs
- Fixture grade — brass and copper cost more and last far longer in salt air
- Transformer size, and whether more than one is needed
- Cable run length and how far it is from power
- How much trenching crosses finished surfaces
Warranty
2 years on workmanship
Two-year workmanship warranty in writing on the installation, plus the manufacturer's warranty on the fixtures themselves.
How it works
Designed after dark, not on paper
- 1Week 1
Night walk
We walk the property after dark with a portable fixture and show you the effect before you buy it.
- 2Week 1–2
Design & fixed quote
Fixture schedule, transformer sizing and cable routing, then one written price with no per-fixture surprises.
- 31–3 weeks lead
Materials
Fixtures and transformer ordered. Finish matters here — see the salt-air note below.
- 4Day 1
Cable & transformer
Transformer mounted near a suitable circuit, cable trenched to each zone and sleeved under any hardscape.
- 5Days 1–2
Fixtures set
Fixtures installed and connected but left loosely aimed, because the aiming happens in the dark.
- 6Evening, final day
Night aiming & walkthrough
We come back after sunset and aim every fixture with you, then set the timer and hand over the control.
Materials & brands
We install FX Luminaire, whose brass and copper fixtures are the ones that survive here. The finish is not cosmetic — on beachfront jobs it is the difference between a system that lasts a decade and one that corrodes through in three seasons.
We do not install cast-aluminium fixtures within sight of the Gulf. They pit, then the lens seals fail, then water gets in.
Low voltage vs. line voltage
| Low voltage (12V) | Line voltage (120V) | |
|---|---|---|
| Safe to work on | Yes — you can move a fixture yourself | No — licensed electrician for any change |
| Burial requirement | Direct burial, shallow | Conduit, at code depth |
| Changing the design later | Move or add fixtures freely | Every change is a rewire |
| Where it still wins | Almost all residential landscape lighting | Long runs, floodlighting, sport-scale output |
Safe to work on
- Low voltage (12V)
- Yes — you can move a fixture yourself
- Line voltage (120V)
- No — licensed electrician for any change
Burial requirement
- Low voltage (12V)
- Direct burial, shallow
- Line voltage (120V)
- Conduit, at code depth
Changing the design later
- Low voltage (12V)
- Move or add fixtures freely
- Line voltage (120V)
- Every change is a rewire
Where it still wins
- Low voltage (12V)
- Almost all residential landscape lighting
- Line voltage (120V)
- Long runs, floodlighting, sport-scale output
Built for here
What lighting is up against here
Salt air eats fixtures
Within a few blocks of the Gulf, salt is the whole story. Brass and copper develop a patina and keep working; painted aluminium corrodes at the seams and fails at the gasket. We spec by distance from the water.
Sand and irrigation spray
Buried fixtures silt up, and irrigation heads aimed at a lens leave mineral film that halves the output. We set fixtures proud of grade and coordinate positions with the irrigation zones.
Dark-sky and HOA rules
Several 30A communities restrict fixture height, brightness and colour temperature, and some require full cut-off downward-facing fixtures. We design to those rules rather than asking forgiveness after inspection.
Landscape lighting questions
How long do landscape lighting fixtures last in salt air?
Brass and copper fixtures near the Gulf typically give a decade or more, developing patina rather than corroding. Painted aluminium in the same position often fails within three to five years, which is why we do not install it there.
Can lighting be added to an existing landscape?
Yes. Most of our lighting work goes into established yards. Cable is trenched shallow and sleeved under any hardscape it has to cross, so nothing finished gets cut open.
Why do you aim the fixtures at night?
Because beam spread, glare and shadow are invisible in daylight. A fixture that looks correctly placed at noon will often shine straight into a window or wash out a palm trunk after dark.
Can I control the lights from my phone?
Yes. FX Luminaire offers app and zone control, which is genuinely useful for out-of-state owners and rental managers who want the lights on for a check-in.
What does it cost to run?
Very little. A typical residential low-voltage system with LED fixtures draws less than a couple of household light bulbs, and runs on a timer rather than all night.
Do you repair systems someone else installed?
Yes. Most calls are a failed transformer, a cut cable, or corroded fixtures near the water. We will tell you what is worth repairing and what is worth replacing.
Want to see your yard after dark?
We'll walk the property at night with a fixture in hand and show you the effect before you commit to anything.