Reasons Why Exterior Lighting Should be Installed in the Summer
Published April 2021
Benefits of Exterior Lighting Projects in Warmer Months
While the world is busy planning outdoor summer leisure plans, there are good reasons for businesses to prioritize outdoor lighting this summer. Often building improvement projects and lighting upgrades get scheduled based on customers fiscal schedule without much consideration of the timing of the installation. While it is always our goal at Retrofit Lighting & Design to minimize impact and disruption during the installation of lighting projects, there are environmental and calendar considerations that can make a lighting installation project less disruptive on your business’ day to day schedule.
“Everything takes longer in the cold. Batteries discharge faster, wires we work with are more stiff and harder to strip, working around snow piles or digging out a pole, removing gloves for small manipulations…the list goes on. Spring and summer hours are really better for everyone involved.”
Dave Schickling, TRC Electrician
Are you considering an exterior lighting upgrade? Scheduling lighting work during the summer can greatly reduce the time it takes to install a project versus doing it in the winter. Our technicians and even our equipment move faster in warmer temperatures and require less down time. In the summer there also is not ice on fixtures or snow piles on the ground that need to be removed prior to work beginning.
“Faster moving personnel and equipment with less down time and site prep time mean we can get your lighting project installed with the minimum of disruption and cost.”
Bret Wobschall, TRC Director of Operations
Example: This exterior lighting case study, featuring an exterior parking lot lighting project we completed at Park Jeep, highlights the cost savings, energy savings and customer experience. The project savings included a 22% ROI, saving approximately $10,000/annually, as well as a $13,000 rebate that Retrofit Lighting and Design processed for Park Jeep to assist in offsetting the project costs.
Example: An additional Auto Sales Lot Case Study of ours highlights a customer that needed our support with exterior lighting while improving energy efficiency, reducing maintenance costs, improving lighting quality, and increasing safety in exterior spaces. This parking lot redesign saved the customer over $45,000/annually, in addition to a $53,000 rebate that Retrofit Lighting and Design fully processed for them (we have a rebate team that does all of this for our customers!).
Interior Lighting – Should I Wait Until Winter?
Conversely, if you have a manufacturing facility (Manufacturing Lighting Customer Project Example) or warehouse space with high ceilings and high temperatures, the winter may be ideal for lighting installations.
Did you know that the ambient temperature at the ceiling could be 1 degree warmer for every foot of height versus the temperature at the floor? So, if you have a facility with 30’ ceilings and the ambient temperature at floor height is 70 degrees it could be 100 degrees at the ceiling where the installers would be working on lights. Those higher temperatures require extra hydration and cooling breaks for installation crews.
“If your facility is 20 degrees cooler in the winter than the summer, the ambient temperature at your ceilings will be much more bearable in the cool months.”
Bret Wobschall, TRC Director of Operations
The seasonal impact on installation for interiors is typically not as severe as the impact for exterior lighting, but the efficiencies gained in both scenarios can be impactful. At TRC we focus on efficiencies, and that goes far beyond just providing efficient lighting and controls systems. We are continuously evaluating our development and installation processes to be as efficient as possible. We consider all things, even the temperature, to try to help our customers get the best possible lighting project.
