Landscape Lighting in Houston, TX
Professional-grade low-voltage lighting that makes your yard usable past sunset and your home safer after dark. Saul's Home Improvement designs, installs, and programs landscape lighting systems for Greater Houston homes, with bronze and brass fixtures built to survive Gulf Coast humidity.
We design Houston outdoor lighting before we install it
The difference between a lit yard and a beautifully lit yard is design. Too many systems are just a row of cheap path lights from a big-box store, casting harsh pools and leaving the trees and architecture dark. Good lighting works in layers: uplights on the live oaks, downlights in the crepes, path lights on the front walk, and subtle wash on the facade.
We design every system on paper before a single spike goes in the ground. That lets us balance wattage draw across the transformer, plan hub-and-spoke wire runs, and avoid the voltage-drop issues that turn the fixtures at the far end of the run dim and orange. We install FX Luminaire, Kichler, and VOLT fixtures with solid brass or cast bronze bodies and five-year-warranty LED lamps.
- 12-volt LED systems draw 80 percent less power than 120-volt
- Smart-home ready with Wi-Fi controllers and phone-app scenes
- Night demo at your home so you can see every fixture position before install
Here are the lighting techniques we layer
A great outdoor lighting plan uses four or five techniques in one yard. Each serves a different purpose.
- 01
Uplighting
Beam up the trunks of live oaks, magnolias, or palms. Well-placed 20-degree spots at the base of a mature live oak turn it into a centerpiece at night.
- 02
Downlighting
Tree-mounted fixtures 20 feet up cast a soft light down through the branches. Pair two or three in a single canopy and the effect is indistinguishable from natural moonlight.
- 03
Path Lighting
Low shielded hat-style fixtures along walkways and driveway edges. Spaced 8 to 10 feet apart so the pools of light overlap slightly. We avoid the runway look by staggering left and right.
- 04
Moonlighting
Our favorite effect. A cluster of downlights set high in a tree canopy so the light comes through the leaves as broken shadow patterns. Subtle, romantic, and incredibly difficult to fake.
- 05
Wall Washing
Broad-beam fixtures at the base of a facade to evenly light stone, brick, or stucco. Highlights architectural texture and expands the visual depth of the yard.
- 06
Specialty Accent
Hardscape lights in seat walls, under step treads, in kitchen counters, or across pool coping. These are the details that lift a yard from nice to unforgettable.
Here are smart and low-voltage system options
Transformer Hub
Every system starts with a multi-tap 12-volt transformer sized for 80 percent of fixture load. 300 watt for small yards, 600 to 900 watt for mid-size, and dual 1500 watt cabinets for estate-scale installs.
Direct Burial Wire
We pull 12-gauge and 10-gauge low-voltage cable in trenched runs 6 to 12 inches deep. Hub-and-spoke layout at each zone keeps voltage drop within a tight 1 to 2 volts so every lamp outputs the same color.
Astronomical Timer
Factory-programmed to your ZIP's sunset and sunrise. Dusk-to-midnight is the most common schedule in Houston. Motion-triggered zones at garage doors and back patios stay dark until you need them.
Phone-App Control
FX Luminaire Luxor controllers let you dim, color-shift, and scene-set from your phone. Tie in with Alexa, Google Home, or Apple HomeKit. Perfect for parties, holiday scenes, or away-mode security.
Color Temperature Options
2700K warm white for classic home exteriors, 3000K for modern homes, and selectable CCT lamps when you want to match the warmth of interior fixtures on cool summer evenings.
Why Our Systems Outlast Big-Box Kits
Brass & Cast Bronze Fixtures
No plastic. No galvanic corrosion in Gulf Coast salt air.
Hub Connections
Waterproof King Innovations hubs instead of daisy-chain pierce points.
5-Year LED Lamp Warranty
50,000-hour rated and backed by five-year warranty coverage.
Here is how our landscape lighting install process works
Most residential installs finish in 2 to 3 days with no mess left behind.
- 01
Night Demo
We come after dark with temporary fixtures, test every effect, and adjust positioning on the spot. You see the whole system before you sign.
- 02
Design & Wattage Plan
Fixture list, transformer size, wire run diagram, and controller package for your sign-off.
- 03
Trench & Wire
Cable trenched 6 to 12 inches deep under turf, mulch, and bed edges. Transformer hard-wired by a licensed electrician to a GFCI-protected outlet.
- 04
Aim & Program
We wait for dark, fine-tune every aim, program scenes in the app, and hand-off with a voltage map of the whole system.
Here is what landscape lighting costs in Houston
Package pricing covers transformer, fixtures, wire, and install labor.
A basic 8 to 10 fixture package with a 300-watt transformer and a simple timer starts around $2,500 installed. Mid-size 20 to 30 fixture systems with smart-app control run $6,000 to $12,000. Full property lighting with a 1500-watt cabinet and 60+ fixtures can reach $25,000.
Price Variables:
- Fixture Count
- Fixture Grade
- Controller Package
- Trenching Difficulty
Financing Available
Lighting-only financing on 60-month terms. Bundle with a patio or outdoor kitchen for longer terms and deeper discounts.
Apply NowWe install outdoor lighting across Greater Houston
Crews dispatched daily from Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery counties.
Questions homeowners ask about landscape lighting
How much does landscape lighting cost to run?
Pennies a night. A 300-watt LED system running 5 hours a night adds about $4 to a monthly CenterPoint bill at current Houston rates. The LED retrofit from old halogen saves most clients 75 to 85 percent on their previous lighting bill.
Will the fixtures rust in Houston humidity?
Not when you spec the right metal. Solid brass and cast bronze fixtures develop a beautiful patina but never rust. We avoid painted aluminum and zinc because chlorides in Gulf Coast air eat through coatings within 3 to 5 years.
Can you add lighting to a mature landscape without tearing it up?
Yes. We use a trencher with a 2-inch blade in the turf and hand-trench in bed areas. Wire runs in mulch beds need no trench at all. Most established yards look exactly the same two weeks after install as they did before we started.
Do I need a separate controller for each zone?
No. FX Luxor and Kichler LED+ controllers handle up to 8 zones from a single transformer, each with its own schedule, brightness, and color temperature. You can run the patio, path, and tree lighting at different levels with one tap on your phone.
How long do LED lamps last?
Modern MR16 and PAR36 LEDs are rated for 40,000 to 50,000 hours. At 5 hours per night, that is over 22 years. The old halogens they replaced topped out at 2,500 hours, which meant a new lamp every 14 months.
Will hurricane winds damage the system?
Path lights can take a beating in 80 mph winds because they sit on short stakes. We install them with 12-inch composite stakes instead of standard 9-inch and tuck them against planting pockets. Tree-mounted downlights and in-ground uplights ride out the storm without issue.
Can I add smart-home integration later?
Yes. We oversize the transformer and pre-wire for zone splitting on every install. Upgrading to a Luxor ZDC controller is a 45-minute swap at the transformer cabinet whenever you are ready to add app-based control or color-tunable lamps.
