13 Mar The story of Gambino Landscape Lighting exclusive products
By Mike Gambino
This is the first time this story has ever been told.
I am often asked why I have my own brand of landscape lighting products- fixtures, LED’s and transformers. Back 25 years ago when I started up until about 12 years ago I exclusively used Brass and Copper products manufactured by the pioneer of the low voltage landscape lighting system Loran Nightscaping.
They would customize production fixtures to my specifications so they were sort of their stock fixtures with enhancements and customizations that improved the fixtures significantly. That was fine until several years later when I started working on super high end projects where the clients were demanding uniquely styled fixtures that none of their neighbors had.
At the same time I was also becoming disillusioned with the whole manufacturer distributor traditional purchasing channels where the manufacturer would sell their products to distributors and the distributor would sell to not only pro’s but to anyone who wanted the product . This created a business dilemma for the professional and became even more of a problem when manufacturers started selling directly to the general public first surreptitiously and now today out in the open without concealing their business practices.
I felt that loyalty is a two way street and if I was to use their products exclusively and be loyal to them then they should at least protect my interests and not sell products I had created the demand and interest for and specified in my designs direct without my participation and then be expected to honor all factory warranties and service the product going forward. From a business standpoint this is a losing proposition for the professional landscape lighting designer builder and I never understood it nor will I participate in or support it. The whole practice is inherently wrong and unfortunately is in full force today.
I believed then and I believe even more strongly today that landscape lighting is an art and products that go into the designs are simply tools which should be specified, acquired and supplied by the artist in this case the landscape lighting artist. After all would one commission a painter to create a portrait then supply the canvas, paint and brushes for them and expect to get the best results? I think not but what is being asked of the artist is to make magic with unfamiliar products and equipment and then be responsible for the end result being to the purchasers satisfaction. And with landscape lighting this goes one step further they must service and be responsible for it long into the future.
I had tried to get the manufacturer of the products Nightscaping to create a product line made exclusively for and sold exclusively to landscape Lighting professionals only however they were concerned with how this would affect their relationship with their largest distributor who they had basically started the industry with together way back in the beginning.
They also did not want to make the significant financial commitment to build tooling for such a small group of potential buyers. They didn’t like the financial outlook of this plan and decided not to move forward with it. They felt the fixtures would be too expensive and would not be purchased but by only a hand full of pro’s like myself who had the clientele who wanted this product line and were willing to pay for it.
This left me with no choice and out on my own and determined to make a proprietary line of the highest quality fixtures but not for a group of contractors like my previous plan but for only my own companies exclusive use. If I was to finance all of the tooling and 
manufacturing expense (and it has been very costly) and lay out large sums of money to manufacture in large qty to meet the minimum requirements of the factory and warehouse the stock by myself . Be 100% responsible for the manufacturing, quality control, stocking, specification and installation and warranty then I was going to put my surname on it GAMBINO so this way everyone knows whose product it is and who stands behind it and that is me. The products are built rock solid and have an average of 5 lbs of brass and copper content weight per fixture.
To date there is no other single individual who has successfully done this except for me and I am very proud of that fact.
My clients love the fact that they are getting not only me on their project site to install but my product that comes with my brand name and my promise that this system is specifically designed and built to perform and last. And yes the products and have ETL tested and approved for their intended usage.
For awhile in the beginning I wondered if what I was doing was the right thing to do. To this day I am reviled, chastised and ostracized by some in this industry because of envy, jealousy and or lost revenue because they are not getting my business. In the beginning there was strong push back against me because the powers that be were afraid that some of my contemporaries would follow suit and create their own product line too. None have. I don’t want to get into the underhanded things that others have tried to do against me but believe me some of it has not been pleasant. They have been unsuccessful in stopping me and I don’t let this bother me. Industry adoration means nothing to me it’s my clients who matter.
After all I could have saved a lot of expense and hassle if I would just do what everyone else does and buys mainstream products available to everyone and anyone. However we do things in my business so many ways differently than the norm and have had such tremendous success with it that any thought that I may have gone the wrong route quickly fleeted..
And a few years ago Loran Nightscaping and the large distributor who had both started the industry went out of business in the same year. I never wished them ill will or fate however their demise did validate my decision to do what I did and solidify in my mind as one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.
So that is my story and I hope it clears up some of the misperceptions.
Blog articles may be published with permission on other websites without editing or removing links.
No Comments