ᐅ Should you hire a lighting designer or not?

Hi!

The electrician from our general contractor recommended hiring a lighting designer. He “just happens” to know someone for that.

I think having a lighting plan does make sense. However, I’ve seen very different prices. Some offer a fixed price, while others charge according to HOAI (Official Scale of Fees for Services by Architects and Engineers)...

Do you have any recommendations on which pricing model to prefer and what to look out for?

The electrician says the lighting designer should do the planning and then he will handle the installation. On the other hand, there are also lighting designers who not only provide the planning service but also sell the luminaires and want to carry out the installation themselves.

Please share your experiences on this topic.

In the neighboring thread about LEDs, there are a few examples of how not to do it.
Otherwise, I believe you can do without a lighting designer if you know yourself where you want mood lighting with existing lamps or task lighting. It’s convenient to be able to switch several indirect lights with one switch during the darker months of the year.
Unfortunately, we don’t have that.

A lighting designer is usually hired for houses where Klee and Kokoschka hang in the hallway and water flows from Dornbracht fixtures. Simply because putting recessed lights by Heini Huber up by the book is like casting pearls before swine. They can still be skipped if it’s just about illuminating a lilac-colored wall.

For home automation, lighting design, and access control planning, I would recommend handling everything through a single source.

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11ant schrieb:
For home automation, lighting design, and access control planning, I would have everything done by a single provider.

Access control planning? What exactly does that include?

Finding a single provider for everything might be difficult.

R.Hotzenplotz schrieb:
It will be hard to find everything from a single source.

I already offered you in the private message to put you in touch with "my" planner.

R.Hotzenplotz schrieb:
Locking system planning? What does that include exactly?

I meant that lighting and control systems belong together, then there is also ambient lighting and security lighting, as well as the garage door opener and the motorized lock on the possible intermediate door, and so on.

Many aspects overlap here, and some even interact with each other, so it should not be a patchwork solution.

After all, you are not building a budget home like the Flair 113 ;-)

The locking system planning itself is not very complex here, in a single-family house with one or two entrances.

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11ant schrieb:
I already offered you in the private message to have a chat with "my" planner.

That's true. However, I somehow prefer that the people who do the planning also carry out the project. Otherwise, it often ends in mutual blame. Of course, having a purely planning-focused approach is very valuable, since it is planned in the customer's financial interest rather than the interests of the planner, seller, or installer. However, this can be quite unusual in a turnkey contract. In the end, with such a setup, I might end up paying more than what I save through efficient planning...