lighting
Lighting installation, downlights and spotlights
A light fitting installed where a point already exists costs £60 to £120. Downlights in a ceiling are priced per fitting, £70 to £140, and the number that goes into a room is almost always smaller than the number people first ask for.
What this covers
What it costs. A fitting installed at an existing point is £60 to £120. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Fitting fire rated downlights into a ceiling
- Hanging pendants and chandeliers on a new rose
- Under cabinet and plinth lighting in kitchens
- Adding a lighting point to a room with none
- Wiring dimmers suited to the lamp type
What is involved
Fitting a light where a lighting point exists is a short job: isolate, identify the loop at the rose, fit the bracket, terminate, test. Fitting a light where there is no point is a different job with a different price, because a cable has to come from somewhere, and where it comes from depends on whether there is a loft above or another room. Downlights add cutting: a hole saw through plasterboard, a fire rated fitting to restore the ceiling's fire resistance, and a cable route between joists that has to keep the right distance from anything anyone might later nail into.
The quantity question is worth getting right, because it is nearly impossible to undo. A four by four metre room lit by an evenly spaced grid of ten downlights looks like an office, and the lighting that people actually like in a room is uneven: a few directional fittings on the things worth lighting, a pendant over a table, something at low level in a corner. Four to six downlights in that room, placed where the work happens, does more with less and costs less to run and to replace.
Dimming is where an installation most often disappoints, and the cause is nearly always a mismatch rather than a fault. An LED lamp needs a trailing edge dimmer and a dimmable driver, and a dimmer designed for filament lamps will flicker, buzz or refuse to go low. Each dimmer also has a minimum load, so one small LED on a dimmer rated for a hundred watts behaves badly. Ask for both to be specified together and the problem does not arise.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask whether the price is per fitting or for the room, and what a fitting costs beyond the quoted count. Ask whether fire rated downlights are included where there is a room above. Ask which dimmer is being fitted for which lamp. Get the layout marked on the ceiling in pencil and stand in the room before anybody cuts anything.
Common questions
How many downlights does a room need?
Fewer than most people expect. A four by four metre living room works on four to six directional fittings placed over the things worth lighting, rather than a symmetrical grid of ten. Kitchens want more, and they want them over the worktop rather than over the middle of the floor.
Do downlights have to be fire rated?
Where there is a habitable room or an escape route above, yes: cutting holes in a ceiling removes fire resistance and a fire rated fitting restores it. In a bungalow with a loft above only, the requirement is different and the fitting still needs to be clear of insulation unless it is rated for cover.