Know what it is that you are buying: A professionally designed and installed landscape lighting system or one big giant headache!

Know what it is that you are buying: A professionally designed and installed landscape lighting system or one big giant headache!

By Mike Gambino

Eager BusinessmanThis article is not going to be about equipment per se, not that it is not important because it is but this is about something of even greater importance and that is the individual or company that you hire to put your lighting system all together for you.

First I want to start with a little story of an experience I had this week. I got a call from someone who I had consulted with and proposed a custom lighting project for earlier in the year who didn’t hire us. At the time he said that he couldn’t see the value in spending all that money to go with me when his AV (audio visual installer) who had given him a bid was quite capable of doing the job for him for so much less. I didn’t bother saying anything to him because it was clear that he was one that just doesn’t get it and couldn’t look past the job cost and was willing to roll the dice with an unproven source to save money or so he thought.

Back to the call, well after only a few short months this property owner called me again this time with his hat in his hand asking for my help. Apparently his system has gone sideways after only a few short months of being installed. Here were some of the issues he is having

1- Brightness levels of the lamps are not appropriate and effective. The lighting looks very boring and drab in his word.

2- Many of the fixtures have moisture and water in them which are affecting the LED lamps.

3- Cable is coming up out of the ground , the installer threw mulch on top of it and now it’s decomposing. In the trees cable was installed on the viewing side which is very unsightly.

4-Several of the plastic fixture stakes have broken leaving the fixtures lying out of aim sideways in the dirt.

And the complaints went on and on………….

The purpose of the call was to get us to come out and pick up the pieces. Unfortunately for him we are not interested in working on failed systems with inferior products hampered by amateur installation techniques. It simply isn’t worth our time to mess around with unprofitable work and then be on the hook for any future problems that were caused by pre-existing problems that will plague this set-up for the rest of its existence. We also do not want to associate our brand with problematic systems that we had nothing to do with only because the property owner made a poor choice and hired the wrong person or company. There have been a few instances in the past where we tried to be M. nice guy, help out only to come back and bite us.

When you hire Gambino Landscape lighting you are buying a promise that everything will turn out to your satisfaction. You are also buying into the experience and dedication to the trade that we have established over the past 25 years.

You are buying a place and time in our construction schedule and a promise and trust that we will deliver the finest products that are designed to perform and are built to last all backed up by a company who has a vested interest in making sure that very thing occurs.

Although everything is bought outright by the client it is our attitude that it is our equipment residing on your property and we are responsible for making sure it performs and lasts. In many cases we continue “ownership” of it long after the original owner has sold and left the property. We have some projects where we are on the 3rd and 4th owner and we continue on servicing the system.

So when you make the decision to have a custom system installed think about the real cost if you make the wrong decision.

Facebook-iceThis landscape lighting blog is published by Mike Gambino of Gambino landscape lighting inc. all rights reserved. Mike is a professional landscape lighting system designer/ builder and has been designing, installing and maintaining landscape lighting systems for more than 20 years. Mike resides in the Los Angeles area with his wife and 2 sons. To visit his website go to www.gambinolighting.com . To inquire about hiring Mike please click here .

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