Why the term tells you nothing
Nobody advertises standard packages. The word no longer distinguishes anybody. What is worth checking is what the company hands you, since one of those produces paper and the other produces a number.That is the whole distinction, and it is worth holding onto while you compare quotes. A package is a price with a description attached. A design starts with your building and arrives at a number. Both are legitimate ways to sell. Only one of them is designed for you, and you should know which one you are buying.
What a design contains
A plan is specific to your building. It names which rooflines, which gables, which trees, which walkways, rather than describing the front of the house in general terms. It says what the standard white is. It says where the controller mounts and how the wiring runs. And it says which areas are not being lit.
Order of operations
A price without a design is
https://evercrestlighting.com/about/ a guess wearing a decimal point. The cheaper number frequently covers a smaller scope, which only becomes clear at night after the install. 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 gives you something to check the finished job against, which is worth more than any assurance given in a driveway.
Designing for how you live there
Expect to be asked things, rather than pitched. How you use the outside of your home, where you actually go after dark, and whether the priority is holidays, everyday light, or both. Those answers shape the design as much as the building.
Design lets one plan handle everything at once
Roofline, landscape, accent, patio and security work all tend to come up. Piecemeal buying gives you fixtures instead of a result. One plan, phased if it needs to be, holds together.
You are allowed to say no to part of it
The first plan is not meant to be final. You can remove things and you should, if they do not earn their place. If it comes back to you unchanged, with no room to adjust, that is worth noticing. Ask how many rounds are normal before you sign anything.
Ask for a copy
Ask for a copy, and keep it. It matters if the property changes hands, if you phase the rest of it, or if anybody ever has to work out what is where. A company reluctant to hand over the plan is telling you something about how they see the relationship.
Getting a design drawn
It starts on site, because that is where the building and the way you use it are both visible. EverCrest Lighting does custom outdoor lighting design and installation covering permanent roofline systems, landscape, accent, patio and security lighting for residential and commercial properties throughout Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, out of Greenville. The consultation is free. Call (864) 252-1732 or email
[email protected].