Outdoor LED lighting is set to grow by almost 10% a year, but are you making the most of this lucrative market? In this article Anthony Martindale, senior product manager at Collingwood lighting explores some profitable opportunities for you and the contractor.

While there is always a market for security lighting, the flexibility of modern LED fittings means that you can offer the contractor and their customers far more to win higher value business.

The difference is partly mindset. Instead of thinking about functional lighting think about the visual impact that the products can create, that is where the real margin is.

For you and the contractor, you may already be selling 80% of the job but missing that extra 20% that will significantly increase the order value. And outdoor lighting jobs are getting bigger and more sophisticated, both for homeowners to create “outdoor living rooms” and for commercial businesses who want that curb appeal to create an edge over the competition.

Helping the contractor win these larger projects will pull through more luminaires plus other products including drivers, IP rated connectors, cabling, junction boxes, and lighting control.

Landscape lighting

A big ongoing trend is the focus on outdoor living and entertainment. People want lighting to create a relaxing outdoor area for socialising and to highlight features and draw the eye.

Whether it’s for someone’s garden or the outdoor space in a pub or restaurant the entertainment area is a place to relax and socialise. Here more subdued lighting with a warmer colour temperature of less than 3000K to create a relaxed atmosphere is a good choice.

But the magic happens when you consider feature lighting to create interest. It may be an interesting texture on a wall, a plant, or a water feature. Or it could be that functional lighting of a path or steps, which serves the dual purpose of safety and drawing the eye. Contrast is key, picking just a few elements and leaving the rest in shade.

Commonly used products in landscape lighting include spotlights, outdoor downlights, wall lights, ground lights, bollards, spike lights and to add an extra wow factor LED strip lighting.

Architectural lighting 

Lighting a building’s façade can be part of a wider landscape lighting scheme and/or serve a vital role in enhancing a business’ curb appeal. For some, in the hospitality business for instance, it is vital to attract footfall. What is certain is that it is another chance to sell a solution for higher margin business.

Again, the secret is to accurately illuminate the right areas and crucially avoid any light spillage that could cause light pollution or glare. In practice this means that you should be able to offer the contractor products with different beam angles depending on what they want to light.

A fitting with a wide beam, of for example 110°, will create a wash of light across a surface or illuminate an area of the building from further away. A medium beam of about 45° is a good for mid-level lighting to create a swathe of light across a dedicated area. And to pick out features, details and even entrances of a building you will need a narrow beam of about 6°.

Decorative wall lights are another way that the contractor can highlight architectural features or light entrances. Again, you need to consider what beam angle the contractor needs.

The colour temperature of the lighting is also important. This can depend on what material you are lighting.

For warmer coloured materials such as wood or sandstone a warmer light of 2700K or even 2200K will help it glow. To help bring out the natural elements of stone and for red brick suggest 2700k or 3000K. And for white materials a cooler light of 4000K or more will add drama, but cooler lighting should be used sparingly because it can cause light pollution and have a negative effect on nocturnal animals.

Avoiding light pollution

If you want to avoid returns from outdoor lighting projects, then you also need consider the DarkSky requirements that many local councils demand. The products you sell must ensure that the contractor avoids light pollution that affects both neighbours and nocturnal wildlife.

Luminaires that have hoods or shields allow the installer to target light output to ensure there is no light spillage causing glare.

Luminaires also need to avoid any upward spillage of light which causes that glow we see from urban areas. To avoid this, you need to provide luminaires that have a ULOR, or upward light ratio of less than 0.5% or 50 lumens.

For uplighting, your customers need to accurately target the light so that it only lights what is needed. Beam angle is important to ensure there is no light spillage and supplying asymmetric lighting will ensure that they can accurately target the light.

Lighting control and accessories

But targeting the light where it is needed is just part of the story. Proper lighting control means that the final customer only uses light when they need it, a key part of DarkSky requirements that will also save them energy.

This control could be as simple as PIR sensors, timers or even manual switching or it could be more sophisticated lighting control that allows the final user to set different lighting scenarios.

Finally, you need to have confidence that the products you supply to the contractor will stand the test of time. Most will need a minimum IP rating of 65 and be durable enough to withstand the British climate. Check the warranty of what you are selling, the last thing that either you or the contractor wants is to be called back to the job.

Outdoor lighting is about far more than security and safety, although this is of course vital. If you can help your customers win higher value outdoor lighting projects their reputation and business will grow and you will sell more luminaires and other products. It’s a win win for everyone involved.

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