06 Mar Maintaining a Gambino landscape lighting system…No worries leave that up to us
By Mike Gambino
A quality High Performance Landscape Lighting system designed and Installed by Gambino Landscape lighting is a valuable investment that should be protected. It is the responsibility of the lighting system owner to be sure that the system is cared for by its original design and installation team to keep everything performing as well as the first day that it was completed. Once we’ve installed a system on a property for the property owner or subsequent owners of the property we want to be the ones to maintain and services it for a lifetime as there is no other person or company that knows your system better or that has a vested interest in keeping it looking its optimum best. It is our feeling that, if we are doing our job right, then past systems should be our marketing team that helps us promote and sell future projects. In fact we do no formal advertising whatsoever. This has been true for over 15 years. All of our work comes from existing clients or referrals from satisfied clients. Although directly not our most profitable service, Maintaining our systems has set us apart from competitors over the years and has played a huge part in the tremendous success of the company by keeping clients happy. After all the Gambino name is on the fixtures and this is our promise and legacy.
Solid state LED systems such as Gambino landscape Lighting systems contain sensitive electronics that need to be maintained at the very least yearly and in some extreme conditions should be put on at least bi yearly comprehensive service plan. Servicing systems per installers recommendations ensures that all warranty’s will be honored and in full effect in the rare event of a failure.
The garden is an ever changing and growing environment. Tree mounted fixtures will need regular attention as hardware will need to be adjusted and loosened from tree growth. Fixtures are constantly being blasted in different angles by irrigation and rain water. Fixtures must be monitored for moisture intrusion inside fixtures. LED’s are electronic devices and will not tolerate wetness. Plants must be kept pruned away from fixture lenses to prevent the spread of light and unsightly “hot spots” at night which can degrade and take away from the overall look and effect of the lighting. Fixture relocation may be needed on a semi regular basis or stem risers added due to growth to place the light back where it was originally intended and keep things looking their best.
Glass lenses can cloud over, get covered with dirt and mulch which can significantly reduce brightness and change the color of the light in a negative way. Fixtures can get knocked out of aim or adjustment without the owners knowledge but they will probably subliminally realize this as it will create changed effect typically for the worst and not better than what the client has become accustomed to.
No LED lamps outdoors in enclosed fixtures will last forever and will eventually need to be replaced due to failure or upgrade as technology improves shall the need be. Those offering “lifetime warranties” or 10-15 year warranties on LED’s are not being honest with the end user of the product because if you read their so called warranty closely you will see that it leaves them so many weasel clauses that you will be wasting your time trying to get them to replace them after so much time for no cost. Furthermore and unlike Gambino landscape Lighting, Most fixtures or LED’s have no manufacturer names on them to make any warranty claim. And unlike Gambino, most installers do not offer maintenance service and in fact will never revisit their installation after the first year. So you as the homeowner is pretty much on your own.
And in the event you do track down the responsible party. You not being a commercial customer or the direct purchaser of the product and not having the original purchase receipt are going to find a very slippery slope. Barring multiple catastrophic failure early on, the hassle to file a warranty claim is certainly not going to be worth the effort as your probability of success is very low.
This 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 30 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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