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In 1997, Steve Stubbs left a corporate job in
Atlanta and bought an outdoor landscape lighting
Perspectives franchise.
Founded nine years ago in Charlotte by Tom Fenig,
Stubbs’ former corporate co-worker, Outdoor
Lighting Perspectives provides low-voltage outdoor
landscape lighting for upscale homes. Come nightfall,
landscape and architectural lights shine softly
on the dwelling as though it’s on center
stage.
There are 50 outdoor landscape lighting Perspective
franchises across the United States. Stubbs, whose
franchise is based in Isle of Palms, lights homes
throughout coastal South Carolina. Currently most
of his customers are in the Charleston area.
“People light their homes for safety and
security reasons, but the main reason is to showcase
the beauty of the home which outdoor landscape
lighting is designed for” says Stubbs.
The homes Stubbs lights tend to be in the high-end
market, meaning $500,000 and up. A outdoor landscape
lighting job takes about two days and prices vary
depending on the work. To date Stubbs’ most
lucrative job has not been a home but a resort;
Stubbs’ company installed a $23,000 lighting
project for Woodlands Resort & Inn in Summerville.
Stubbs enjoys the creative challenge each outdoor
landscape lighting project presents. “I
feel like an artist,” he says. “In
our business, we paint with lights and shadows.”
According to a 2003 utilities industry survey
conducted by Chartwell Inc., an Atlanta-based
technology research firm, 24% of the respondents
named outdoor landscape lighting as the product
most popular among residential customers—up
from 16% in 2002 and 7% in 2001.
“Outdoor landscape lighting is definitely
a growing trend,” states Mike Rollins, owner
of Charleston-based Moonlighting. “When
I started the business 12 years ago, it was just
me. Now the company has nine employees.”
Moonlighting illuminates homes mainly in downtown
Charleston, West Ashley and Kiawah Island. “Charleston
is a sophisticated market, and outdoor landscape
lighting is a luxury item people enjoy having,”
Rollins explains. “Today, outdoor lighting
is pretty much part of the architect’s or
homebuilder’s standard package.”
“It’s generally one of the last items
installed in our construction schedule, along
with landscaping,” says Barbara Szem, spokeswoman
for Johns Island-based architecture and construction
firm Seamar Fullerton, which designs and builds
homes on Kiawah and Seabrook islands. While the
architectural review boards of those resort islands
prohibit “wall-washing” homes with
exterior light, “we do use low-voltage outdoor
landscape lighting in and around the landscape
to softly frame various distinctive architectural
features of a home,” Szem explains.
Seamar Fullerton also uses low-voltage outdoor
landscape lighting to up-light various grand specimens
of trees, such as live oaks. “Many homeowners
prefer to use the low-voltage lighting in the
shrubs around the pool area to create an intimate
mood as well as for safety reasons,” Szem
adds.
James Island-based architect Christopher Rose,
who uses outdoor landscape lighting to highlight
features of homes he designs on Kiawah, Seabrook
and Sullivan’s islands, says less outdoor
lighting is more.
“Subtle outdoor landscape lighting can
be impressive, it can add drama to a home,”
he points out. “You don’t want the
lighting to be garish or glaring. You consider
what the home would look like on a full-moon night.
That’s the approach you take.”
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