The word is free
Custom is on every website in this trade. The word has been used until it is empty. What is worth checking is whether there is an actual design behind it, because a design is a document and a package is a price.That is the whole distinction, and it survives every sales conversation. A package is a price with a description attached. A design begins at your house. Both are legitimate ways to sell. Only one of them is designed for you, and you should know which one you are buying.
The contents of a real plan
A plan is specific to your building. Scope should be itemized, because the front of the house means two different things to two people. It says what the standard white is. It says where power comes from. And it says which areas are not being lit.
Why the design has to come before the price
A price without a design is a guess wearing a decimal point. Two quotes a few hundred dollars apart can describe completely different
https://marcoqbxm435.rivetgarden.com/posts/exterior-accent-lighting-picking-what-deserves-the-light-how-does-accent-lighting-differ-from-everything-else-here-is-the-distinction-accent-lighting-done-right jobs. When the design comes first, the comparison is honest. When the price comes first, the design gets shaped to fit the number, quietly.A plan you understand is also a plan you can hold somebody to, which is the practical reason to insist on one rather than accepting a number and a handshake.
Designing for the way you use the property
Expect to be asked things, not just told things. Where do you walk after dark. Do you use the back yard in the evening. Are you buying December or every night. How often are people over. Those answers change the plan more than the architecture does.
Design lets one plan cover several jobs
Most properties end up wanting several things. Bought separately over several years, they end up mismatched: different whites, different intensities, competing focal points. Designed together, they read as one thing even when the budget spreads the work across phases.
Revisions
A design is a proposal, not a verdict. You can take runs out without needing a reason beyond not wanting it. If it comes back to you unchanged, or the answer is that this is how it is done, that is worth noticing. Ask whether revisions are expected before you sign anything.
What you walk away with
Ask for a copy, and hold onto it. It is useful down the road for reasons you cannot predict now. A company reluctant to hand over the plan is worth a second thought.
Where to start
The design starts with somebody walking your property. EverCrest Lighting designs and installs custom outdoor lighting covering permanent roofline systems, landscape, accent, patio and security lighting for homes and businesses across Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, out of Greenville. The consultation is free. Call (864) 252-1732 or email
[email protected].