Annual Landscape Lighting Service

Good landscape lighting service today is rare. It's sad to say that most lighting contractors fail to provide follow-up lighting service to their customers. My guess is that on any given day/night 35% of all landscape lighting systems need some kind of service work. Success in any business depends on satisfying customers with a product or service before and after the sale. How many times have we heard homeowners say that they don't even remember the name of the company that installed the lighting and have never seen them since? Delivering excellent lighting service will create lifetime customers who will talk about your company by name and will bring you more business. Service contracts simply are getting your own customers to sign up or agree to do Annual Service. Good lighting systems that are maintained regularly satisfy customers.

Annual Service must be well thought out before enacting. For example, what is my hourly rate? How much do I charge for replacing lamps and/or sockets? When is the best time of year for Annual Service, etc? I would consider late Winter or early Spring for Annual Service because it is a time when cash flow is low for contractors, it's just before business get crazy, and homeowners begin thinking about their landscape. A typical slow month is another great time to schedule Annual Service rather than waiting for the service work to come during peak season.

Do I really need to service a lighting job annually? Yes! Inform the customer after the initial install that you provide service annually. Many times customers want to know right off the bat if you are going to provide service down the road. There are four main reasons why annual service is recommend (1) Lamps burn out and need to be changed. (2)Fixtures need to be adjusted, straightened, or re-aimed. (3) Transformers and clocks need to be checked and reset. (4)Wire might need to be re-buried or re-stapled.

How you get customers signed-up with Annual Service is up to the contractor. One way to get customers to sign-up is to send out a mailer to all your past lighting customers. In a one page mailer, make things very simple for the customers to read and show them the benefits. Make the mailer easy to respond to via fax, e-mail, letter, or a call back. Have two boxes to check off in the letter. The first box to check off might be for changing all the lamps out in the system etc. The second box to check off is for changing out only the lamps that are burned out. If the customer checks off the first box indicating changing all the lamps, then guarantee the lamps for one year. This is a great way to get many of your customers signed up for annual service contracts. People will pay good money if there is a guarantee. After you have sent out a letter to each customer, follow it up with a call. Customers love to talk about their lighting job and tell you again how well it looks. Talking to customers is a great way to sell additional lighting. The customer might tell you that he is adding some trees and a water feature to his back yard and needs extra lighting. If the contractor has kept good notes on the initial lighting job, he can tell the customer how many watts are available on his transformer(s) for add-ons.

If Annual Service is strategically planned and performed well, it can strengthen your company and become very profitable. If you get serious about servicing your customers, it will always produce additional work, and the phone will keep ringing. Start planning today how you can enact a strategic service plan to better strengthen your company, better serve you customers, and make a good profit with Annual Landscape Lighting Service.

Tim McKay
Regional Sales Manager
Colorado/Utah
303-881-9575
tim@nightscaping.com

*If you are a contractor who provides Annual Lighting Service and would like Nightscaping's® printable version of a Maintenance Agreement, its easy to print and use. Do what it takes to keep your customers happy.

Contractor of the Week Wild Boar Earthmovers

Nightscaping® is proud to spotlight Wild Boar Earthmovers in Windsor, Co as the Contractor of the Week. Clint and Erika Sattler started Wild Boar Earthmovers in 2001. Wild Boar Earthmovers designs and installs beautiful, top quality landscapes, waterscapes and outdoor lighting systems for residential customers throughout Northern Colorado. I have known Clint and Erika for almost 3 years and they are a great couple with character and integrity. Clint and Erika work well together, whether meeting home owners or designing properties they are truly a great team. They picked up landscape lighting very quickly and it has become one of their passions. They are now excellent in selling, designing, and installing landscape lighting. A few months ago they became proud parents for the first time with their new son Gage. Nightscaping® is proud to partner with Clint and Erika Sattler with Wild Boar Earthmovers.

*All landscape photos display Wild Boar Earthmover's high-quality of expertise.

Wild Boar Earthmover
1201 Stone Mountain Dr.
Windsor,Co
80550 970-674-1745
www.wildboarearthmover.com

Printing Error: Nightscaping® sends a deep apology to Greg and Marsha Meissner, of Meissner Landscaping, Inc. As last weeks Contractor of the Week, a mistake was made in the link to their website. Please visit it now and view the highly experienced design-build firms ability to inspire at www.meissnerlandscape.com.

Plastic Stakes vs. Metal Stakes: Bill Locklin

The rapid growth of 12 volt outdoor lighting using plastic stakes should make safety a great concern to consumers. Plastic ground stakes used to support 12 volt metal outdoor lighting fixtures are a devastating accident waiting to happen!

My transformer campaign for fire prevention a few years back has been credited with forcing the industry to change transformer design to a safer design in use today. I am compelled to take the industry to task for the use of plastic stakes. Yes, they are cheaper and durable. The problem with using plastic is it's insulating qualities. Placing a metal electrical fixture in a plastic stake isolates the fixture from the earth (electrical ground). In the event that a live current carrying wire touched the metal fixture the entire fixture would become a source for a severe electrical shock.

Being deeply involved in the industry for almost a half century gives me the knowledge and experience to speak out. I'm concerned about the future of our industry. However, I am more concerned about the possibility of a single fatal accident caused by using a plastic stake.

How could this happen you ask? After all we are only dealing with 12 volts and UL says that 15 volts or less is OK. The heart of any 12 Volt system is the transformer, the item that reduces 120 Volt household electricity to a safe 12 Volt. The transformer is an electrical device containing two coils of copper wire, one for the 120 Volt, while the other is isolated for the 12 Volt.

In the event of a lightning strike or power surge causing one of the 120 Volt wires(within the transformer) to touch one of the 12 volt wires the transformer could continue to provide 12 Volt for the fixtures. However from the 12 volt wires to ground (earth) the voltage would be a deadly 120 Volt.

Should the installing mechanic accidentally remove a small section of insulation from the 12 Volt wire allowing the bare wire to touch the metal fixture support, instantly the fixture becomes electrified with 120 Volt to ground. The 12 Volt lamp will continue to burn even though the fixture surface is charged with deadly 120V to ground making it possible for the unsuspecting to receive a deadly shock.

Because the accidentally skinned wire is touching the metal fixture stem the metal parts become dangerously charged with 120 Volts. Should a person not knowing the danger of this 120 Volt be kneeling on the wet ground ( knees touching the wet ground) use the 12 Volt fixture as an assist to "getting up" they would be subject to a full 120V AC, far greater than the deadly 100 Milli-Amps, the minimum for possible electrocution.

Had a metal spike been used, the scenario would have been entirely different. It would have been SAFE! When the skinned wires from the fixture were inserted into the metal spike and then placed in the ground (earth), as the electricity was applied to the fixture immediately a fuse, circuit breaker or the GFCI would have interrupted this dangerous 120 Volt.

I invite those of you who are interested in receiving a CD of real, live demonstrations and drawing board explanations expanding on the plastic stakes vs. metal stakes discussion to contact us at info@nightscaping.com. Give us your name and mailing address, and let us know you are requesting The Shocking Truth CD. We do not need one single person maimed or killed "because it was cheaper".

William "Bill" Locklin Owner of Nightscaping®

Featured Fixture: Acrobat

Downlight from trees, architecture or other landscape structure with the Nightscaping® Acrobat. It features an MR-11 covered glass lamp and compact design that allows you to install the Acrobat in tight spaces where other downlights may be too large. This copper fixture is a perfect example of Nightscaping's® "See the effect, not the source" design philosophy.

Warranty: 10-Year 'Repair or Replace' Warranty.

Contact Nightscaping® for local distributor locations.

Similar Fixture: Artisan

Minimize glare and obtain superior light control when you specify the Nightscaping® brand Artisan for up or downlighting applications. Featuring a permanent cover shield and no tools needed lamp change capabilities, the solid copper Artisan is the perfect fixture for difficult to reach spaces in the landscape.

Warranty: 10-Year 'Repair or Replace' Warranty.

Contact Nightscaping® for local distributor locations.