Collaborate with Landscapers for More Work

The relationship between landscaping and electrical contractors is much more important than you might think. With accent lighting becoming a more prevalent design element for many landscapers, someone will need to install them. Although some landscapers actually are certified to install low-voltage lights, not all are familiar with running wires.

Your ability to work with landscapers can help build your business, not only in the number of jobs contracted, but also in services added to your repertoire.

In fact, Tom Tavella, vice president of communications for the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), says he works with electrical contractors and engineers often. Many of the landscapes he designs, whether residential or commercial, incorporate lighting and fixtures.

Getting the job is as simple as basic networking principles, he says. If you win the bid on the work, “don’t be afraid to call the landscape architect once you have seen the plans to work out the technical aspects,” Tavella says. “This will eliminate any surprises on both of our accounts.”

Or sometimes the landscape architect will contact an electrical engineer to discuss the lighting requirements for the design, whether it is a spotlight on a fountain or walkway lights. This typically is the case at Illuminations Lighting Design, an electrical contracting firm in Houston that specializes in different lighting applications, says Jimmy Reyes, a former electrician who now is landscape lighting project manager. Once the plans arrive, Reyes’ division designs the lighting scheme with input from the landscaper.

The collaboration between you and the landscaper makes for a better design and better working relationship. And as you continue to work with each other, you’ll start to learn how each other works and how you affect the other, Reyes says. For instance, different plants react differently to natural light and artificial light.

Over time, Reyes has picked up what kind of lighting fixtures work best in what locations and which plants are most appropriate for uplighting small specimen trees, he says. And you can learn type of bulb to use. Different kinds of bulbs give off different colors: incandescents produce a yellowish light; metal halites produce pure white light; and mercury vapor lights produce a greenish light, Tavella says.

Knowing the working processes of one another is a crucial factor to achieving success through the relationship.

Possible Issues
Electrical contractors and landscaping contractors have drastically different jobs and requirements: Landscapers works with perishable materials while you work with materials that can fatally injure you. Many of the problems that arise as a result of the electrician-landscaper relationship fall on that fact.

Also, there is a mentality among many contractors, regardless of industry, that you need to get a job done quickly. Once the job is done, you move on to the next one so you can increase revenues, says Peter Estournes, past president of the California Landscape Contractors Association (CLCA) and currently the chair of the board of directors. “Before a job is completed, make sure to have another lined up behind it,” he says. 

This can mean one of you is working ahead of the other, throwing off each other’s installation plans. At Illuminations, Reyes and his team work with the landscaper to determine who will start work first. Depending on the specific job, sometimes it is easier to work after the landscaper has completed his or her job. “The best-case scenario is going in first so we can do the underground work, or install the line- or low-voltage work,” Reyes says.

For these reasons, Tavella has job meetings with all those involved with the project before it begins. “We collaborate in the beginning so everyone is on the same page,” he says. “They’ve seen the plans and the specifications, so we work out what needs to be done and when, and go over the specified lights and fixtures, so there are no surprises.”

Branch Out
The electrician-landscaper affiliation does not have to end with landscapes. Illuminations has divisions that install the lighting for outdoor kitchens and even run wiring and cable for audio and video applications, Reyes says.