Landscape lighting cost

Landscape lighting costs $80 to $300 per fixture installed, typically around $180. A front yard scheme of 12 fixtures with its transformer is usually $2,000 to $4,000, most near $2,800, and a whole property of 30 fixtures runs $4,000 to $10,000.

Fixture count sets the budget, and fixture quality decides whether you pay for it once. Solid brass fixtures from a professional line cost two or three times a big-box kit and outlast it by a decade, which makes the cheap scheme the expensive one by year six.

What it costs

The wiring side of the job, and when line voltage is the right choice rather than low voltage, is covered in outdoor lighting installation cost. This page is about the scheme itself: how many fixtures, which ones, and who fits them.

How many fixtures a scheme needs

Designers work by feature, not by square foot. A rough count for a typical house:

• Front facade: 2 to 4 uplights washing the walls between windows, or grazing stone
• Entrance and house number: 1 or 2
• Each specimen tree: 1 to 2 uplights for a small tree, 3 for a large or wide one
• Front path: 3 to 5 for a 30 to 40 foot path, staggered and not paired
• Steps: one per two or three risers, set into the wall or riser
• Planting beds: 1 to 3 low spread lights where the planting deserves it
• Backyard and patio: 6 to 15, depending on how much is used after dark

That puts a modest front yard at 10 to 15 fixtures and a full property at 25 to 40. A quote with 25 fixtures for a small front yard is selling fixtures, and one with four is leaving the house in the dark.

Fixture quality, and why it matters more than it looks

Cast brass and copper are the professional standard. They do not corrode, they weather to a dark finish that disappears in planting, and a fixture fitted today is still working in twenty years with a lamp change. Expect the top half of the installed range.

Powder-coated aluminum is the middle tier. It looks the same on the day, then chips, and corrosion creeps under the coating, especially near sprinklers, lawns treated with fertilizer, and the coast. Five to ten years is typical.

Plastic and thin-metal kit fixtures are cheap because the stake, the lens seal and the cable connector are cheap. Water gets in, connectors corrode, and they are strimmed and kicked over. Three to five years is a good run.

Connections matter as much as housings. Push-on piercing connectors from a kit are the first thing to fail; a professional uses sealed, gel-filled or soldered splices.

LED against halogen, and retrofitting an old scheme

Almost every new scheme is LED. A 4 to 7 watt LED gives the light of a 20 to 50 watt halogen MR16, lasts 25,000 to 50,000 hours against 2,000 to 4,000, and runs cool enough not to cook the fixture seals.

An existing halogen scheme can go two ways:

Retrofit lamps at $30 to $80 each fitted, swapping the bulb and keeping the fixture. Worthwhile when the fixtures are brass and sound. Choose 2700K and a beam angle that matches what the halogen did.

Replace the fixtures where they are aluminum or plastic and already failing. Putting a $20 lamp in a corroded $30 fixture is money on the way out.

LED draws so much less that the old transformer is usually more than big enough after a retrofit. Some cheaper LED lamps flicker on older magnetic transformers, so test a couple before converting the whole run. Sizing and voltage drop are dealt with in outdoor lighting installation cost.

Professional, kit, or somewhere between

A professional lighting firm designs the scheme, often shows it to you with temporary fixtures on a night visit, uses brass fixtures and sealed connections, and warranties both. It costs $150 to $300 a fixture and it looks deliberate.

A DIY kit at $150 to $600 is the right call for a single path or a small patio, or to find out what you like before spending properly. It is the wrong call for a facade or a large tree, where aiming, beam angle and brightness are the whole effect.

The middle route: buy professional-grade fixtures from a lighting supplier, pay a designer or installer for a night visit to place and aim them, and do the cable yourself.

Maintenance plans at $200 to $600 a year usually cover one or two visits to re-aim fixtures knocked by gardeners, clear planting that has grown over lights, check connections, reset timers for the season, and replace failed lamps, sometimes with parts included. On a large brass scheme they keep it looking as designed. On a dozen kit lights they cost more than replacing them.

To light a new path properly from the start, plan the lighting cable before the paver walkway goes down, when a sleeve under it costs almost nothing.

Frequently asked questions

How many landscape lights does a typical front yard need?

Ten to fifteen for most suburban houses: a few uplights on the facade, one on the entrance, one to three per tree worth lighting, and a handful on the path and steps. Start with the features and let the path pick up the spill before adding more path lights.

Are integrated LED fixtures better than fixtures with replaceable lamps?

Integrated fixtures are sealed and compact, and when the LED fails the whole fixture goes. Fixtures with a replaceable lamp let you change brightness, color and beam later for a few dollars. On a scheme you intend to keep for decades, replaceable lamps in a brass body are the safer choice.

Can I put LED bulbs in my old halogen landscape fixtures?

Usually, if the fixture uses a standard MR16 or bi-pin base. Buy lamps rated for enclosed outdoor fixtures and for your transformer type, and match the color temperature across the whole scheme so no single light looks blue.

What does a landscape lighting maintenance plan actually cover?

Typically one or two visits a year to re-aim and straighten fixtures, trim back planting, check and reseal connections, replace failed lamps, and reset the timer or photocell. Check whether replacement fixtures and lamps are included or billed extra.

Why do kit landscape lights fail so quickly?

Water gets into the lens seal and the cable connector, and the thin housing corrodes or cracks under a mower or strimmer. Most kit failures are at the connection rather than the LED, which is why re-splicing the cable with sealed connectors often brings a dead one back.