Low-voltage path, accent and security lighting for Denver yards, designed around your plantings and walkways and installed on a transformer and timer you control.
Landscape lighting does three jobs at once. It makes walkways, steps and driveways safe to use after dark, it takes away the shadows someone could use to approach your home unseen, and it turns the trees, stonework and plantings you have spent years on into something you can still enjoy at night. The difference between a yard that looks professionally lit and one lined with fading solar stakes comes down to planning. Good landscape lighting puts light where it is needed and hides the source. Path lights cast soft pools on the ground instead of glaring into your eyes. Uplights graze a tree trunk or a stone wall to bring out its texture. Wash lights spread a gentle glow across the front of the house, and downlights mounted high in a tree create the look of moonlight filtering through the branches. Nearly all of it runs on low voltage, fed from a transformer connected to a GFCI-protected outdoor outlet or circuit, which keeps it safe around soil, sprinklers and pets and easy to adjust as the garden grows. Northgate Electric designs and installs landscape lighting for homes across the Denver metro, from compact city lots to larger suburban yards, and we build every system so it can be expanded later.
A good design starts with a walk around the property after dark, where we pay attention to a few things in particular:
From that walk we build a layout that treats the yard as a series of zones rather than a line of fixtures. Walkways get path lights spaced so their pools of light just overlap, which guides you along without turning the path into a runway. Focal points, such as a mature spruce, a bed of ornamental grasses or a stone retaining wall, get uplights aimed and shielded so you see the feature and not the lamp. The front of the house often gets a soft wash that adds depth and makes the entrance easy to find. Side yards and gates get enough light for safety without floodlights glaring into bedroom windows. Courtesy matters here. Shielded fixtures aimed down or at a specific target keep the light where you want it, which is kinder to neighbors and to the night sky, and some HOAs have rules about exterior lighting that we check before the plan is final. We also think about color. A warm white suits most homes and plantings, while a slightly cooler tone can bring out blue spruce and silver foliage.
A landscape lighting system is only as good as the parts you cannot see. The transformer should be sized with headroom for the fixtures you have plus the ones you may add, and a multi-tap transformer lets us make up for voltage drop on longer runs, so fixtures at the far end of the yard are as bright as the ones by the house. Direct burial cable is laid in shallow trenches or slit into the lawn, and every splice is made with sealed waterproof connectors, because corroded connections are the most common reason a system goes dim or dark a few years in. Fixture quality matters too. Solid brass and copper fixtures cost more than aluminum or plastic, but they hold up to sprinklers, lawn equipment and intense high-altitude sun far better. Integrated LED fixtures use a fraction of the power of older halogen systems, which means lighter cable, less voltage drop and a smaller bill. The transformer plugs into a GFCI-protected outdoor receptacle with an in-use cover, or is hardwired where the manufacturer and code allow, and when no outlet sits in a sensible spot we add a dedicated outdoor circuit, with a permit when the work requires one.
Controls decide whether landscape lighting is a pleasure or a chore. A photocell turns the system on at dusk, and an astronomical timer follows sunrise and sunset through the year, so you never reset anything when the clocks change. Many transformers now connect to a phone app or a smart home system, which lets you run zones on different schedules, such as path lights until midnight and accent lights only until ten. Colorado conditions call for a little seasonal attention. Plants grow into fixtures over a summer, mulch creeps up around path lights, and snow shoveling can knock stakes out of line, so a quick check each spring to re-aim fixtures, trim back growth and look for damaged cable keeps the system looking right. Fixtures near sprinkler heads should be placed so they are not sprayed constantly, since hard water spots cloud any lens. Whether you have a short front walk in the city or a large property in Cherry Hills Village with a long drive and mature trees, the same principles apply, and a system built on them will look good for years.
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Landscape lighting is often the first outdoor system homeowners want to control from a phone, and it rarely stays the only one. Smart home automation ties outdoor lighting, indoor scenes, video doorbells and thermostats into schedules that run on their own, so the yard lights can come up when the garage door opens or when someone rings the bell after dark. We make sure the switches, hubs and wiring behind those routines are installed correctly and work reliably…
Landscape lighting pays off most when it solves a real problem first and adds beauty second. Uneven steps and a dark front walk are a genuine trip hazard for guests. Deep shadows by a side gate make a home easier to approach unnoticed. Solar stakes are a reasonable start, but in a Colorado winter, with short days and snow on the panels, they often give out early in the evening, exactly when you need the light most. A wired system on a timer comes on at the same brightness every night, whatever the weather did that day.
If new landscaping, a patio or a retaining wall is coming, the lighting plan belongs in the conversation now. Running cable and sleeves before sod, pavers or stone go in keeps everything hidden and avoids cutting into a finished yard. We coordinate fixture locations and cable routes with your landscaper, and if the yard connects to a deck or patio, we can carry the same system onto it with deck lighting and outdoor outlets so the whole space runs together. You get a lighting layout and a written price before anything is installed. Call today to plan your landscape lighting.
A thoughtfully lit yard is safer to walk through, more welcoming for guests and simply more enjoyable after dark. Northgate Electric designs and installs landscape lighting built on quality fixtures, sealed connections and controls you can adjust without going outside. Call (720) 555-0142 to schedule an evening design visit, or request a quote online.
Straight answers to the questions Denver homeowners ask us most about landscape lighting.
Yes. Low-voltage systems run at a small fraction of household voltage, so a nicked cable is not the shock hazard a line-voltage wire would be. The transformer itself connects to a GFCI-protected outdoor circuit.
Often, yes. If the cable and transformer are in good shape, we can change the lamps or fixtures to LED, which lowers the load, reduces voltage drop and extends lamp life. Corroded splices and brittle cable usually get replaced at the same time.
It depends on the size of the yard and what you want to feature. A front walk and a few accent lights can be a small project, while a fully lit front and back yard can use several dozen. We design around your priorities and your budget.
Direct burial cable is laid below the surface and routed along bed edges and hardscape wherever possible. We give you a simple sketch of the cable routes so your landscaper and aeration crew know where to be careful.
It helps. Light at entries, gates and side yards removes the dark spots someone could use to approach unseen, and a schedule keeps the house looking occupied while you are away. For motion-activated floodlights, we install line-voltage fixtures on their own circuit.
Yes. A photocell, an astronomical timer or a smart transformer can switch zones on and off automatically, including separate schedules for path lights and accent lights.
Many residential systems fall roughly between $2,500 and $8,000 installed, depending on the fixture count, the fixture material and how far the cable has to run. Larger properties can cost more. You get a firm written price after an evening design visit.
