Outdoor Lighting is a great way to Artfully Illuminate Your Outdoor Space!
Whether you're looking for curb appeal, security, or extending your entertaining area outside, landscape lighting is a design trend that does just that.

View some of our Landscape Lighting photos by clicking here.

However, some people often choose not to install outdoor lighting in the interest of cutting landscaping costs or simply not seeing the appeal. What they don’t realize is that landscape lighting can do more than just highlight your yard’s best features.

In fact, here are five great reasons why outdoor lighting is highly beneficial.

1. Safety - Outdoor lighting illuminates walkways and other trip hazards in your walking path. Landscape lighting can also be used to illuminate steps and your backyard for those late night dog walks. 

2. Security - Outdoor security lighting deters potential intruders from selecting your home as a target by raising the likelihood of them getting caught. Moon lights and area lights, while offering beautiful appeal, are also great at minimizing areas to hide in the dark.

3. Curb Appeal - Adding strategically placed lights leading to or illuminating your features of interest is a very artistic and very effective way of creating curb appeal. Whether its a set of columns, a paver walkway, or a beautiful tree in your landscape - lighting adds curb appeal at a time few other things can.

4. Added Value - Outdoor lighting, being a technical addition, is actually considered an essential home feature by roughly half of new homeowners looking to buy. Many potential buyers consider it a “desirable quality” when home shopping.

5. Expands Outdoor Living - Once you’ve invested in a patio, outdoor kitchen, or new landscape, you’ve created the perfect place to entertain guests and spend time with family...Don’t let the lack of proper lighting ruin the experience!

Visit our Landscape Lighting Offers Curb Appeal and Safety blog post for more inspiration.

By using better lighting fixtures, having more experienced technicians, and understanding the design of outdoor lighting as we do here at The Master’s Lawn Care, we're able to offer the best Landscape Lighting services in Gainesville.

For help Illuminating Your Outdoor Space look no further! Contact us now at (352) 378-5296 or (904) 913-5296 or fill out our form at the top of the page, we would love to help and show you why we're the top-ranked Landscape Lighting Company in Nocatee & North Central Florida!

How much does a landscape or lawn service in Gainesville, Florida cost?  ...or... How much should I budget for lawn and landscape work in Gainesville, FL?

This is always one of the first questions a homeowner has when starting the research process for a Landscape company. The problem with answering this question, though, is the fact that a lawn service or project has so many variations and options that it can be very tough for one to truly know what the price to fully enjoy their yard will be. Notwithstanding, I'll do my best here to give you some realistic cost ranges as to what most people will spend. (And remember, these prices are AVERAGE, and can vary drastically depending on the size of your property, the thoroughness of the company, the quality of the material, etc)

Gainesville Irrigation System Costs

First things come first, and before you can expect to have a vibrant landscape in North Florida, you must make sure you have water irrigate it. Most homes built after the 90's in our area came with irrigation systems, but there are still many in our area that haven't had one installed yet. To irrigate efficiently and effectively, a professionally-installed irrigation system that meets code, comes equipped with a backflow preventer, and utilizes a rain sensor is a must-have.

Price Range for Design/Installation: - $3,500-5,000

Price Range for a Service Call - $100-250 (depending on the type of repairs needed)

Price Range for a Bi-Annual or Quaterly System Inspections - $75-250 per service

Gainesville Sod Installation

Occasionally we'll have a client that just wants to have a new lawn installed. Although there are many more things that create curb appeal than just green grass, there are people who just need new grass to give them a lawn they want their kids and pets playing in. Here are some rough price estimates, with variables of size of lawn, access for equipment, and amount of preparation work needed. 

The estimated costs include:

• the removal of the existing weeds and dirt to make sure the existing problems and pests are removed from the lawn
• the removal of approx 1" of existing soil to make sure new sod is installed level with the current lawn
• application of an organic soil ammendmanet (milorganite) that helps kick-start the biological cycle in the soil to create nutrients and healthy soil under the new sod
• Sod costs and delivery fees
• Installation labor
• Irrigation Check-up to verify coverage of new lawn
• Dump Fees for old materials removed from the lawn

1,000 - 1,500 Sq. Ft. of Sod - $2.25-2.75 per square foot

1,500 - 3,000 Sq Ft. of Sod - $2.25-2.50 per square foot

3,000 and up Sg. Ft. of Sod - $2.00-2.50 per square foot

Smaller Gainesville Landscape Designs:

This typically includes: a professional landscape design sketch concept, removal/disposal of existing unwanted plant material, approximately 30-50 plants, mulch, and the installation of all of the above. This is typically for a very small postage stamp-sized lawn, or just the front or back of a normal sized yard. 

Price Range: $2,500-$6,000. (This, like everything else mentioned in this article, is contingent on a wide variety of factors)

Larger Gainesville Landscape Installation Prices:

This would include everything in the basic install noted above, but about twice as many materials and size of the design. Also, it may include a hardscape patio or firepit as an additional feature in the backyard.  This is typical for a full landscape re-design (front and back) of a normal to a large-sized yard. 

Price Range: $10,000-$25,000

Gainesville Landscape Lighting Pricing:

Our landscape lighting systems are first-class quality from the design to the fixtures. The 2 main problems with outdoor lighting in Florida are the fixtures allowing moisture into the electronics and burning out or the system not being maintained properly to keep adjusting for growing the maturing landscape. We solve these two issues with quality fixtures that have a lifetime warranty and with on-going service to adjust and aim the landscape lights with the landscape as it grows. We recommend choosing our premium LED system over the cheaper lighting systems because of the savings on electricity, bulb replacement, and their lifetime warranty. It may cost a little more up front over a home depot system, but will save you money for years down the road in headaches and frustration. We also offer Wi-Fi transormers that are controlled by your smartphone or tablet as well. 

Price Range: $200-300 per lighting fixture (including the transformer, fixture, LED bulb, and installation) with a minimum of 10 light fixtures. 

Gainesville Patio Pavers, Walkways, and Firepit Pricing

Patios, Paver Walkways, and Custom firepits extend your living space outdoors at a fraction of the cost. They give you the freedom to entertain guests and spend quality time together somewhere other than around the television. These can be done on a relatively low budget using crushed concrete or gravel as a surface, or they can be done intricately with pavers and travertine.

Price range: $11-17 per sq. ft., plus any retaining walls or firepit additions.

Gainesville Landscape Maintenance Service Pricing

Landscape maintenance services can vary wildly on pricing - depending upon a myriad of factors. Size of lawn, the frequency of service (weekly, biweekly, monthly), annual schedule (how many scheduled visits per year), service inclusions (mowing only, shrub trimming, weed removal in mulch beds), and whether that company is insured properly for your protection. The pricing scale can range all the way from your neighbor's teenager just cutting the grass to a professional lawn service providing a thorough and detailed service that leaves your landscape immaculate and follows up with scheduled lawn pest treatments and fertilization to keep your lawn looking the best in the neighborhood. The Master's lawn maintenance service includes our lawn health program with it to protect your lawn from unwanted pests. 

Price Range: $195-$350 per month

Gainesville Lawn Health and Fertilization Pricing

Lawn spraying programs are offered most often by chemical companies like ChemLawn (now rebranded as TruGreen) and other Pest Control companies. These companies are great at keeping pests out of your lawn using chemicals - but we have found they typically are not very knowledgeable about lawn health. The Master's handles everything in the Gainesville lawn - the design, preparation, installation, irrigation, mowing, aeration, fertilization, and pest control. We leave the termites and house pests to the experts in their field, and we stick to what we're experts about - and that's lawns. Our program includes weed control, pest prevention, disease treatment, fertilization, and soil amendments - all in one organic-based program to improve the health of your lawn. 

Price range - $42-95 per month

Although all of these numbers and prices are very general, I do hope this article helps you to have a better feel for pricing on Gainesville lawn and landscape projects and what to expect when you start going through the process. If we can be of help in this process, please call us at (352) 378-5296 and we look forward to working with you.

Think about it: Most of your guests (and if your home is on the market, many would-be buyers) see your home only in the evening, when its best features may be lost in the shadows. Well-executed Gainesville Florida outdoor lighting enhances architectural detail and plays up Gainesville landscape features, casting your home in the best possible light and adding an abundance of curb appeal.

Gainesville Outdoor landscape lighting also adds value. Judith Patriski, an appraiser and owner of Quad Realty Co. near Cleveland, estimates that for upper-bracket homes, an investment in outdoor lighting can yield a 50% return. “When you pull into a driveway and see a gorgeous home, you’re going to pay more for it,” says Patriski.

And she emphasizes that it’s not only about aesthetics: “In all price ranges, lighting for security is important”—both to protect against intruders and falls. Here are the elements of successful outdoor lighting. Mimicking moonlight

Much of the success of exterior lighting hinges on its design. Hang around lighting designers long enough and you’ll hear a lot of talk about “moonlight effect.” That’s a naturalistic look that features light no more intense than that of a full moon, but still strong enough to make beautiful shadows and intense highlights.

Other techniques Gainesville Florida outdoor lighting designers use:

Highlight trees: Whether illumined from below or given presence by a light mounted in the tree itself, trees make stunning features.

Use uplights: Uplighting is dramatic because we expect light to shine downward. Used in moderation, it’s a great way to highlight architectural and Gainesville FL landscaping features.

Have a focus: The entryway is often center stage, a way of saying, “Welcome, this way in.”

Combine beauty and function: For example, adding lighting to plantings along a pathway breaks up the “runway” look of too many lights strung alongside a walk.

Vary the fixtures: While the workhorses are spots and floods, designers turn to a wide range of fixtures, area lights, step lights, and bollards or post lights.

Stick to warm light: A rainbow of colors are possible, but most designers avoid anything but warm white light, preferring to showcase the house and its landscape rather than create a light show.

Orchestrate: A timer, with confirmation from a photocell, brings the display to life as the sun sets. At midnight it shuts shut down everything but security lighting. Some homeowners even set the timer to light things up an hour or so before dawn.

Adding safety and security

Falls are the foremost cause of home injury, according to the Home Safety Council. Outdoors, stair and pathway lighting help eliminate such hazards.

Often safety and security can be combined. For example, motion-detecting security lighting mounted near the garage provides illumination when you get out of your car at night; the same function deters intruders. Motion detecting switches can also be applied to landscape lighting to illumine shadowy areas should anyone walk nearby.

Even the moonlight effect has a security function: Soft, overall landscape lighting eliminates dark areas that might hide an intruder, exposing any movement on your property. Overly bright lights actually have a negative effect, creating undesirable pockets of deep shadow.

For help Illuminating Your Outdoor Space look no further! Contact us now at (352) 378-5296 or (904) 913-5296 or fill out our form at the top of the page, we would love to help and show you why we're the top-ranked Landscape Lighting Company in Nocatee & North Central Florida!