A customer asks if you “do lighting.” You say yes, walk the yard, and then sit in the truck staring at a blank estimate. How many fixtures? What’s a transformer cost? Is $150 a light too much, or way too little? One landscaper put it plainly in a Facebook business group: “I have never quoted for a project this large” (Facebook).
This landscape lighting installation pricing guide fixes that. You’ll get the prices homeowners have already seen online, a five-step method to build your own price from real costs, a worked 18-fixture quote, and the sales moves that turn your mowing customers into lighting jobs.
Quick answer: Installed landscape lighting typically runs $85–$400 per fixture, depending on type (eden.studio, quotr.pro). A typical professional system lands between $2,000 and $6,000 (Superfast Electric). To hit a 50% gross margin, your price must be 2x your total cost, not cost plus 50%.
Table of Contents
- Landscape Lighting Installation Cost: What Homeowners Expect to Pay
- Is Landscape Lighting Worth Adding to Your Business?
- How to Price a Landscape Lighting Job (Step by Step)
- Per-Fixture vs Project vs Day-Rate Pricing
- Sample Landscape Lighting Quote (18 Fixtures)
- How to Sell Landscape Lighting to Your Existing Customers
- Charge for Design and Sell Maintenance Plans
- Deposits, Invoicing, and Getting Paid
- Common Landscape Lighting Pricing Mistakes
- FAQ
Landscape Lighting Installation Cost: What Homeowners Expect to Pay
Your customer has probably already searched “how much does landscape lighting cost.” Know the numbers they saw. They’re your price anchor, whether you like it or not.
Cost per fixture by type
These are installed prices (fixture plus labor) from published cost guides. Each source measures a little differently, so the ranges are listed by source rather than blended.
| Fixture type | Installed price range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| LED path light | $85–$120 | eden.studio |
| Spotlight / uplight | $150–$250 | eden.studio |
| Well light / specialty / color-changing | $200–$400 | eden.studio |
| Quality LED system (any type) | $200–$400 | quotr.pro |
| Average installed fixture | $209–$335 | Homewyse |
| Bollard | $250–$900 | LawnStarter |
Typical project sizes
| System size | Price range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 8–12 fixtures | $1,200–$2,500 | Tru-Scapes |
| Front yard, 10–15 fixtures | $2,000–$4,500 | eden.studio |
| 15–25 fixtures | $2,500–$5,000 | Tru-Scapes |
| 25+ fixtures | $4,500–$6,000+ | eden.studio |
| 30–60 fixtures | $5,000–$15,000+ | Tru-Scapes |
Most residential jobs for a small crew will fall in the $2,000–$8,000 range.
Low-voltage landscape lighting installation cost vs line-voltage
Stick to low-voltage (12V) systems. They plug into a transformer on an outdoor outlet and are the standard for residential work. Low-voltage work often doesn’t need a permit, but adding a new circuit may (Superfast Electric). Line-voltage work may require a licensed electrician (Tru-Scapes). Check your state’s licensing rules, GFCI requirements, and any HOA rules before you sell the first job.
Is Landscape Lighting Worth Adding to Your Business?
For a 2–5 person crew that already mows and does installs, lighting is one of the easier add-ons to justify. Here’s why.
It fills the slow months
Search interest for “landscape lighting installation cost” runs highest around December and again in April–May (Keywords Everywhere, Oct 2025–Sep 2026 data). That lines up with your calendar. Mowing slows down in October. The days get short, and homeowners suddenly notice how dark their yard is. That’s your selling window.
Lighting work keeps your best crew members on payroll when the grass stops growing. If you’re already looking at ways to fill winter, see our list of off-season revenue ideas.
Your mowing customers are a warm list
You don’t need new leads to start. Your recurring mowing customers already trust you, already let you on the property, and already see your truck every week. One install job can be worth more than a full season of cuts on that same yard.
What you need to start
- One trained crew member. Pick your most detail-oriented person. Many lighting manufacturers and distributors run contractor training.
- A supplier account. Wholesale pricing is where your fixture margin comes from. Retail-store fixtures kill your margin and often your warranty.
- Basic tools. A wire stripper, a multimeter (voltage drop matters), a trenching shovel or a pipe puller, and waterproof connectors.
- Insurance check. Call your agent and confirm your general liability covers low-voltage electrical work.
How to Price a Landscape Lighting Job (Step by Step)
Here’s the method. Every price comes from your costs, not from a guess or from what the guy down the road charges.
Step 1: Count fixtures on a daylight walk and a dusk walk
Walk the property in daylight to measure wire runs, find the outlet, and spot hardscape you’ll have to cross. Then come back at dusk. That’s when you see which trees, walls, and walkways actually need light. Count every fixture by type and write it down.
Step 2: Add up material cost
List what you pay, not what you’ll charge:
- Fixtures. Material cost runs about $40–$200 per fixture (Tru-Scapes).
- Transformer. Add up the wattage of every fixture, then size the transformer 25–50% above that load (Tru-Scapes). A 300W unit runs about $120–$180 (eden.studio). Larger or multi-zone units run $200–$600 (quotr.pro).
- Wire, connectors, stakes, and conduit. Measure every run from the transformer. These are the line items people forget.
Step 3: Figure labor in man-hours
A two-person crew needs about 30–45 minutes per fixture (quotr.pro). That works out to roughly 15 fixtures a day (NEI Distributors). Mounting the transformer takes about 2 hours (eden.studio).
Add time for:
- Trenching long runs or boring under walkways
- Drilling through hardscape or mounting in trees
- A night visit to aim fixtures
Multiply total man-hours by your loaded labor rate. That’s wage plus payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and any benefits. If you’re not sure what that number is, walk through our guide on how to calculate landscaping job costs. Labor can make up 40–60% of a lighting project’s total cost (Tru-Scapes), so don’t eyeball it.
Step 4: Add overhead, then price to a target margin
Add a share of your truck, insurance, phone, and software costs. Now you have your total job cost.
This is where most first-time lighting bids go wrong. Markup and margin are not the same thing.
- Markup is what you add on top of cost.
- Margin is what you keep out of the price.
eden.studio recommends a 50% markup on cost (eden.studio). That only gets you a 33% gross margin.
| Price multiple on cost | Markup | Gross margin |
|---|---|---|
| 1.5x | 50% | 33% |
| 2.0x | 100% | 50% |
| 2.5x | 150% | 60% |
The formula: Price = Total cost ÷ (1 − target margin)
A target of 50–60% gross margin is a reasonable goal for lighting. There’s no audited industry average behind that number. It’s a target, and you’ll see below why it’s reachable. For how lighting compares to your other services, check our breakdown of profit margins by service type.
One YouTube business coach said it well: “if you will price with profit and margin in mind, even more than you think you need to from the beginning, it’s going to have an exponential impact on the back end of your business” (YouTube).
Step 5: Set your per-fixture price
Once you’ve priced a few jobs, roll it into a per-fixture number you can quote on the spot. Here’s an illustrative uplight:
| Cost item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Fixture (wholesale) | $75 |
| Share of wire and connectors | $20 |
| Labor (1.25 man-hours × $35 loaded) | $44 |
| Overhead share | $17 |
| Total cost | $156 |
| Price at 50% margin ($156 ÷ 0.50) | $312 |
Quote the transformer as its own line. That way your per-fixture price stays steady whether the job has 8 lights or 30.
Per-Fixture vs Project vs Day-Rate Pricing
| Model | How it works | Works best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per fixture | One installed price per light type, plus transformer | Most residential jobs | Hidden trenching or hardscape work |
| Project / package | Flat price for a set package (e.g., “front yard, 12 lights”) | Selling to mowing customers fast | Packages that don’t fit oddly shaped yards |
| Day rate | Crew price per day plus materials | Repairs, add-ons, complex tree work | Customers fixate on hours, not results |
| Per square foot | Price by lit area | Rarely a good fit | Lighting is driven by features, not area |
Most small crews do well with per-fixture pricing for the quote and package names for the pitch. A flat price also protects you as your crew gets faster: the price stays the same while the hours drop.
Sample Landscape Lighting Quote (18 Fixtures)
This is an illustrative example, not a real job. Swap in your own costs.
The job: Front of house and walkway. 10 path lights, 6 uplights, 2 well lights. One 300W transformer. A two-person crew, about a day and a half.
| Line item | Your cost |
|---|---|
| 18 fixtures (avg $75 wholesale) | $1,350 |
| 300W transformer | $150 |
| Wire runs | $250 |
| Connectors, stakes, misc. | $100 |
| Materials subtotal | $1,850 |
| Labor: 28 man-hours × $35 loaded | $980 |
| Overhead share | $300 |
| Total job cost | $3,130 |
| Target margin | Price to customer | Per fixture (all-in) | Gross profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40% | $5,217 | $290 | $2,087 |
| 50% | $6,260 | $348 | $3,130 |
| 55% | $6,956 | $386 | $3,826 |
For comparison, NEI Distributors’ sample 18-fixture quote comes to $6,921 (NEI Distributors). At 50–55% margin, you’re in the same range. If your market won’t support that, cut cost first (better wholesale pricing, tighter runs) before you cut margin.
On the customer’s copy, show one line per fixture type, the transformer, and installation. Don’t show your cost column.
How to Sell Landscape Lighting to Your Existing Customers
A Facebook group member asked “How would you have bid this job?” after a $13,250 quote got turned down almost right away (Facebook). Price was only part of it. How you present the job matters just as much.
The dusk demo
Bring three or four battery or temporary fixtures to a mowing customer’s house around sunset. Light up their best tree and the front walk for 15 minutes. Customers rarely picture lighting from a brochure. They buy it when they see it on their own house.
Night before-and-after photos
Shoot the same angle in daylight, at dusk with no lights, and at night after the install. Ask permission, then post them with a local caption like “just finished this one in [town].” In local Facebook groups and on Nextdoor, a good before-and-after photo often does more selling than a paid ad. Keep your best ones on your phone so you can show them during the next site walk.
Bundle it with work you’re already doing
Lighting sells easiest alongside a patio, a retaining wall, or a fall cleanup. The ground’s already open and the customer’s already spending. Mention it on every hardscape estimate. Our guide on how to upsell landscaping services has scripts you can adapt.
Charge for Design and Sell Maintenance Plans
Charge a design fee. NEI Distributors puts typical design fees at $200–$500 (NEI Distributors). Credit it toward the install if they book. It screens out tire-kickers and pays you for the dusk walk.
Sell a maintenance plan. Fixtures get knocked by mowers, buried by mulch, and blocked by growing shrubs. A yearly visit to clean lenses, re-aim fixtures, trim around them, and check connections is worth $300–$800 a year (NEI Distributors). Schedule it with a spring cleanup so your crew is already on site. That turns a one-time install into recurring revenue on a customer you already serve.
Deposits, Invoicing, and Getting Paid
Lighting jobs carry real material cost up front. Don’t float $1,850 in fixtures for a customer who hasn’t paid a dime.
A simple setup that protects you:
- 50% deposit when the customer signs, which covers materials.
- Balance on completion, after the night walk-through with the customer.
- Maintenance plan offered on the final invoice, while they’re still excited about how the yard looks.
This is where doing paperwork from the truck pays off. With Okason, you can build the estimate on your phone right after the dusk walk and attach up to four of your night photos so the customer sees what they’re buying. When the crew marks the job complete, the customer, property, and line items carry onto a draft invoice in one tap. Okason adds no markup to card payments, so even on a five-figure lighting job you pay your processor’s published rate and nothing on top.
Common Landscape Lighting Pricing Mistakes
- Undersized transformer. Size it 25–50% above the fixture load. Customers almost always add lights later.
- Lowballed trenching. Boring under a driveway can take longer than five fixtures. Price it as its own line.
- Forgotten connectors and wire. These small items add up across 18 fixtures. Count them every time.
- Break-even pricing on the first job. As one YouTube coach put it, “don’t run a non-profit” (YouTube). Price your first lighting job at full margin.
- Skipping the dusk walk. You’ll miss the features that sell the job, and you’ll miscount fixtures.
- Confusing markup with margin. Cost plus 50% is a 33% margin. Use the formula.
For more traps that cost crews money, read landscaping estimating mistakes.
FAQ
How much should I charge per landscape lighting fixture (cost per fixture)?
Published installed prices run from $85 for an LED path light to $400 for specialty fixtures (eden.studio). Build your own number with the five steps above. At a 50% margin, a $156 all-in cost becomes a $312 fixture.
What markup should I use on lighting fixtures?
NEI Distributors reports fixture markups of 40–100% over wholesale (NEI Distributors). But price the whole job to a margin target, not just the fixtures.
What’s a fair hourly rate for low-voltage wiring?
NEI Distributors puts labor at $75–$150 per fixture (NEI Distributors). LawnStarter lists general labor at $45–$100 per hour (LawnStarter). Quote by the fixture so customers aren’t watching the clock.
How much does it cost to install a transformer?
Plan on about 2 hours of crew time plus the unit itself ($120–$180 for a 300W) (eden.studio).
Do I need a permit for low-voltage landscape lighting?
Often not, but new circuits may need one, and rules vary by town (Superfast Electric). Check locally before you sell the job.
Price Your Next Lighting Job Tonight
Pick one recurring mowing customer with a nice front yard. Do a dusk walk this week, count fixtures, and run the numbers through the five steps above. Price it at 2x your total cost. Then show them the night photos. If you want the estimate and invoice handled from the truck, you can try Okason free.