Lighting Installation Services in Northern Virginia

Lighting Is the Work We Do Most

Out of more than 2,500 completed jobs, over 640 have been lighting. It is by a wide margin our largest category — recessed cans, LED retrofits, chandeliers, under-cabinet runs, landscape and step lighting, exit signs and high-bay fixtures.

Our busiest lighting markets, by completed job count: Alexandria, Gainesville, Fairfax, Vienna, Ashburn, Woodbridge, Arlington, Manassas, Herndon, Springfield, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Aldie and Great Falls.

Recessed Lighting

The most requested lighting job we get. A typical living room or kitchen layout is a real design decision, not just a hole count — spacing, beam angle, and where the light lands on the counter or the wall all matter more than how many cans you fit.

Two things we bring up on nearly every recessed job. First, canless versus can: canless LED fixtures are shallower and often the only thing that fits in a tight joist bay or a ceiling with ductwork above it. Second, dimmers: LED dimming is only as good as the dimmer-driver pairing, and a mismatched pair is the usual cause of flicker or a buzz at low output. We spec them together.

Real jobs: a 20 x 14 living room in Arlington laid out from scratch; two kitchen fixtures in Fairfax converted to canless LEDs on separate switches with dimmer upgrades; recessed work in Vienna, Ashburn and McLean. More detail on recessed lighting installation.

Chandeliers and Heavy Fixtures

Chandeliers are the job where the electrical part is easy and the rest is not. Weight and height are what actually govern the work.

• Box rating. A standard ceiling box is not rated for a heavy fixture. Anything substantial needs a fixture-rated or fan-rated box, properly braced — and in an older home that usually means opening the ceiling or working from the attic.
• Height. We have hung fixtures at 8 ft, 14–20 ft, and one 35 lb chandelier at 18 ft floor-to-ceiling in McLean where the right answer was to install a lowering system so the owner can service it without scaffolding.
• Relocating the drop. "Move the chandelier to the middle of the table" is one of the most common requests we get, and it is a wiring job, not a hanging job.

LED Retrofits and Fixture Replacement

Retrofitting existing fluorescent fixtures to LED is a large part of our commercial and basement/garage work. A Manassas retail job is typical: ten fixtures retrofitted to LED with a Type B ballast-bypass conversion, and four emergency fixtures found along the way that needed attention.

The thing most quotes leave out is the emergency and exit lighting. If your building has exit signs or emergency ballasts, they have their own requirements and their own failure mode — the battery. We check them when we are already in the ceiling. We have replaced exit signs and emergency fixtures on jobs in Gainesville and Manassas as part of larger relamp work.

For larger commercial scopes see commercial lighting retrofits and warehouse high-bay lighting.

Under-Cabinet, Cove and Tape Lighting

Linear LED under cabinets or along a bar and cove is its own discipline — run lengths, driver placement, colour temperature and where the joints land all get planned before anything is cut. On one Northern Virginia bar-area job we ran two over-cabinet and two under-cabinet runs from a plan drawing, with the driver in an upper cabinet and the layout verified in the field after the cabinetry went in. Details on under-cabinet and LED tape lighting.

Outdoor, Landscape and Step Lighting

Over 20 completed jobs in this category. Floods, soffit lighting, path and landscape fixtures, and stair or step lights. Two rules govern all of it: outdoor devices and fixtures have to be rated for their location and the enclosure has to actually be weather-tight, and anything in the yard needs proper burial depth and GFCI protection. Low-voltage landscape systems are simpler but the transformer sizing and run lengths still need to be right or the far end of the run goes dim.

When a Lighting Job Turns Into a Wiring Job

Being honest about this saves everyone time. Adding lights often means adding a switch leg, and older Northern Virginia homes frequently have no neutral in the switch box — which matters the moment you want a smart dimmer. Adding a new circuit is sometimes the only correct answer if the existing one is already loaded. If your panel has no spare slots, that becomes a panel upgrade conversation before it becomes a lighting conversation.

Related: electrical wiring, dedicated circuits, ceiling fan installation.

Permits and Inspections

A like-for-like fixture swap generally does not require a permit. Adding circuits, adding switch legs, or running new wiring generally does. We file in Fairfax County through the PLUS portal, Loudoun County through LandMARC, Prince William County through the ePortal, and directly with Arlington County and the independent cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park. Requirements vary by jurisdiction and do change, so we confirm the current rule with the authority having jurisdiction rather than assuming.

Lighting FAQ

How many recessed lights do I need? It depends on ceiling height, room size and what the room is for. A 20 x 14 room with a 9 ft ceiling is a very different layout from the same footprint at 8 ft. We lay it out on site.

Why do my LEDs flicker or buzz when dimmed? Almost always a dimmer that is not matched to the driver. It is a fixable problem and it is not the bulbs' fault.

Can you hang a heavy chandelier on my existing box? Usually not. Standard boxes are not rated for the weight. We install a fixture-rated braced box.

Do I need an electrician to swap a light fixture? Not always. Call one when the box is loose, the wiring is cloth or brittle, the fixture is heavy or high, or when there is no ground present.

Will LEDs save me money? On a commercial relamp with dozens of fixtures running long hours, meaningfully yes. On a handful of residential fixtures, the honest answer is that the payback is real but modest — the better reasons are light quality and not changing bulbs.

Book a Lighting Job

Whether it is one fixture or a whole floor, we will tell you what the job actually involves before we start.

Call (703) 915-5351 or book online. Serving Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Vienna, Ashburn, Gainesville, Manassas and the surrounding area.

Outdoor lighting too? See landscape and outdoor lighting — flood, soffit, post, bollard, deck and low-voltage systems.