Landscaping services
Landscape Lighting in Southampton, NY
Free quotes for landscape lighting in Southampton, NY.
Landscape lighting in Southampton, NY is a low-voltage system of path lights, downlights and a few low-output uplights, built here to a dark-sky code as much as to taste. The Town of Southampton prohibits lamps with a correlated color temperature above 3000 kelvin (Town Code section 330-343B(1)), requires outdoor fixtures to be fully shielded and aimed straight downward (section 330-345B), and sets a curfew: decorative and landscape lighting may not stay on continuously from 10:00 p.m. until dawn (section 330-345E(1)). The Village of Southampton has its own rule, Village Code section 116-13.1, adopted in 2020 in part to protect the ability to view the night sky. We design to whichever code governs your lot, list every fixture by lumens and kelvin, and put it all in a written quote. Our guide to Southampton's landscaping rules sets these sections beside the blower and fertilizer rules.
Typical published range
$100 to $500 per fixture; most systems $2,000 to $6,000 (Angi, national, updated April 2026)
No published survey prices Long Island, so these figures are national. Angi's landscape lighting guide, updated in April 2026, puts the average installation at $3,500, with most owners paying $2,000 to $6,000 and fixtures at $100 to $500 each. HomeGuide (December 2023) gives low-voltage fixtures at $100 to $150 installed and a transformer at $200 to $500 installed. The fixture count, the length of cable runs and trenching, and any new circuit move the number. Angi puts labor at $50 to $100 an hour; the Bureau of Labor Statistics put the national mean wage for landscaping and groundskeeping workers at $20.33 an hour in May 2025, and we could not verify a Nassau-Suffolk figure. New York's Tax Bulletin TB-ST-505 and Publication 862 do not name landscape lighting, so the bulletin's three-part capital-improvement test decides whether you sign a Form ST-124 or pay Suffolk County's 8.75 percent rate (Publication 718). Our published cost ranges set lighting beside every other service.
The system starts at a low-voltage transformer, a dedicated 12-volt unit that, HomeGuide notes, uses less electricity than a standard 120-volt transformer; cable runs from it to each fixture. Path lights are short post fixtures that throw light down onto a walk. Downlights mount on a wall or post and point at the ground. Uplights sit at grade and wash a trunk or wall from below. Color temperature, measured in kelvin, describes how warm or cold a light looks; the lower the number, the warmer the light, and we specify every lamp at 3000 K or warmer, the Town's limit. Lumens measure a lamp's output. A shielded fixture, fully shielded in the Town's definition, projects all of its light below the horizontal plane through its lowest light-emitting part (section 330-341). The Town caps any residential fixture at 2,600 lumens (section 330-345F).
Which government covers your lot decides the plan. The Town's lighting article applies in the unincorporated hamlets; the Village of Southampton, the other incorporated villages and the Town of East Hampton keep their own codes. In the Town, a fixture that is replaced, changed, repaired or relocated must meet the article (section 330-342), so a repair is the moment to bring an old system into line. No light may shine on or illuminate a neighboring property (section 330-345A), and security lighting may run overnight only at no more than 0.5 footcandle on the ground or any vertical surface (section 330-345E(2)). The Town also says new electrical systems may not be used until a certificate of compliance has been issued (section 123-16E). On a new landscape we lay cable before the stone and planting go in, and set fixtures last.
Second homes shape how a lighting system runs. In the 2020 Census, 40.7 percent of the Village of Southampton's housing units were held for seasonal, recreational or occasional use; the ACS 2020-2024 estimate is 54.8 percent. A house that sits empty midweek still needs its walk lit on arrival and its garden dark by the curfew, so every zone goes on an automatic controller, which the Town's code encourages (section 330-345E). A controller also prevents day burners, lights left on in daylight, which the Town prohibits (section 330-343B(13)). Privet and boxwood grow over path lights and mulch buries them, so a spring visit re-aims and clears every fixture. In the Village, wiring under the street right-of-way needs a written permit from the Superintendent of Public Works (section 95-7B(3)).
The next step is a walk of the property after dark. We mark each fixture on a plan with its lumens, kelvin rating and governing code section, trace the cable runs back to the transformer, and price the job in writing with start and completion dates and the cost of labor and materials, the elements Suffolk County's Chapter 563 requires in a home improvement contract. When lighting is part of a larger plan, our landscape design service draws it with the planting and the stone. To begin, send us your address through the contact page and tell us whether the lot is in the Village or a Town hamlet.
Signs your outdoor lighting needs work
Most lighting calls start with something you can see from the terrace, the drive or the street. In both the Town and the Village, a replaced or repaired fixture has to meet the current lighting law, so fixing an old system is the moment to bring it into line rather than patch it. These are the conditions we look for on a walk after dark.
- You can see the bare lamp from the street or a neighbor's yard, which means the fixture is not fully shielded under the Town's definition.
- Light falls on a neighbor's hedge, wall or windows, which the Town prohibits in section 330-345A and its code calls nuisance lighting.
- Lamps glow a cold blue-white instead of a warm amber, a sign they may run above the 3000 K limit in the Town code.
- The garden stays lit long after 10:00 p.m., or lights burn in daylight, because a timer failed or was never installed.
- Path lights lean, sit buried in mulch or have disappeared inside a privet or boxwood that grew over them.
- An old mercury vapor floodlight still lights the drive, though the Town lists mercury vapor lamps among prohibited outdoor lighting.
Each of these is a design fix as much as a bulb change. We swap in shielded housings, relamp at 3000 K or warmer, re-aim fixtures that reach the neighbors and put the system on a controller set to the curfew, with any failing transformer or cable run priced in writing before work begins.
Town Code Article XXIX: 3000 K, full shielding and the 10:00 p.m. curfew
The Town of Southampton's outdoor lighting article, sections 330-340 to 330-348 of the Town Code, was added in 2004, with amendments noted in 2009, 2015 and 2023. It governs the unincorporated hamlets, and its section 330-345 has no separate provision for path lights or tree uplighting, so landscape lighting falls under the general rules. We test every fixture against four of them. Color: lamps with a correlated color temperature above 3000 kelvin are prohibited. Shielding: all outdoor fixtures must be fully shielded and aimed straight downward, except fixtures with a total output of 600 lumens or less, the equivalent of a 40-watt incandescent bulb (section 330-345B(1)).
Output and placement: no residential fixture may exceed 2,600 lumens, a building-mounted fixture may sit no more than 12 feet above the area it lights (section 330-345C(1)), a freestanding fixture may be mounted no higher than 10 feet (section 330-345C(2)) and must sit back from side and rear lot lines at least three times that height (section 330-345D), and no light may shine on a neighboring property. Time: nonessential lighting, which includes decorative and landscape lighting, may not stay on continuously from 10:00 p.m. until dawn. The article also prohibits outlining a building in light except with fully recessed soffit lighting (section 330-343B(8)), blinking or pulsating effects, and mercury vapor lamps (section 330-343B(14)). Holiday lighting and underwater pool lighting are exempt.
Village section 116-13.1: downward light and the uplight question
The Village of Southampton added section 116-13.1 to its zoning chapter in 2020, with a stated purpose that includes the Village's character and the ability to view the night sky. Every exterior fixture installed, replaced or repaired since must conform. The core rule is direct: all exterior lighting must use fully shielded fixtures, as shown by a photometry test or the manufacturer's certification, with the light source directed downward. The Town exempts any fixture of 600 lumens or less from shielding; the Village's exception for unshielded residential fixtures covers those within five feet of a doorway, at no more than 900 lumens, the output of one 60-watt incandescent bulb. The only upward lighting the section provides for is a narrow-cone spotlight confined to a flag, so on a Village lot we leave ground-level uplights out and light trees, walls and steps with shielded fixtures pointed down.
Fixtures may be no taller than 20 feet and must be placed to prevent light trespass and glare. Wall packs and floodlights that are not fully shielded are not permitted, and private fixtures in the street right-of-way are prohibited (section 116-13.1F(4)). The Village's 3,000 K limit appears in the subsection for nonresidential lighting and in its streetlight rule; we hold residential lamps to the same line. Changes to nonresidential lighting go to the Board of Architectural Review and Historic Preservation.
Path lights, downlights, uplights and pillar lights within the lumen caps
Each fixture type meets a different line in the Town code, so we choose types by task and write the lumen figure beside every fixture on the plan. Path lights: post fixtures with a shielded head, spaced along a walk so light lands on the ground rather than in the eye; as freestanding fixtures they follow the Town's height and setback rules. Downlights: fixed to a building or a post, aimed at a terrace, a step or a bed, and kept under the residential lumen cap. Uplights: only a fixture at 600 lumens or less escapes the shielding and aiming rule, and it still may not reach a neighbor's property or burn past 10:00 p.m.; flag uplighting is exempt when the light source cannot be seen across property lines or from roadways (section 330-343A(4)).
Driveway pillar lights: an unshielded fixture on a pillar or post at the foot of a driveway is limited to 250 lumens, about a 25-watt incandescent (section 330-345B(4)). Motion-sensor lights: they may be unshielded if they go off within five minutes after activation ends and stay within 1,800 lumens (section 330-345B(2)). Floodlights: unshielded ones are allowed at 1,800 lumens or less if aimed no higher than 45 degrees (section 330-345B(3)), and a garden plan seldom needs one. The result is a plan anyone can check against the code, fixture by fixture.
Downlights only, low-output uplights, or motion control
The choice that shapes a lighting plan here is how much light points up and when it is on. The codes settle part of it: the Village text provides for no upward lighting beyond a flag, and the Town allows unshielded uplights only at low output. Within those limits three approaches cover most properties, and many plans mix them by zone.
Shielded downlights and path lights only
Every fixture points down and every lamp is hidden from view, so the plan meets the Town's section 330-345B and the Village's section 116-13.1 without relying on an exemption. It suits Village lots and gardens close to a neighbor. Walks get low path lights, steps get fixtures set into walls, and trees and beds are lit by shielded fixtures aimed down, all on one controller set to the curfew.
Add low-output uplights in the Town
In the hamlets, a fixture of 600 lumens or less is exempt from the shielding and aiming rule, which allows a soft wash up a trunk or a stone wall. It still may not light a neighboring property, its lamp stays at 3000 K or warmer, and it goes off by 10:00 p.m. We aim uplights away from lot lines and roads and give them their own zone on the controller.
Motion sensors on paths and doors
For arrival light at a house that sits empty midweek, a sensor keeps fixtures dark until someone is there. The Town allows an unshielded motion-sensor fixture that shuts off within five minutes after activation ends and stays within 1,800 lumens; the Village sets the same five-minute rule with a 900-lumen cap. Sensors suit the drive and the walk to the pool gate, beside path lights on a timer.
Questions
Landscape Lighting FAQs
How much does landscape lighting cost?
These are national figures; no survey prices Long Island. Angi (updated April 2026) gives $800 to $2,000 for a small system of 4 to 8 fixtures, $2,000 to $4,500 for 9 to 16 fixtures and $4,500 to $10,000 for 17 or more. LawnStarter (December 2025) gives $2,000 to $4,500 for a professional installation, averaging $3,250, and $3,000 to $4,000 for 30 to 40 fixtures. Fixr (January 2025) gives a national average of $3,000. On a South Fork lot, the fixture count and the trenching distance move a quote across those bands.
Can I leave my landscape lights on all night in Southampton?
Not in the Town of Southampton's hamlets. The Town defines decorative and landscape lighting as nonessential, and section 330-345E(1) says nonessential outdoor lighting shall not remain on continuously from 10:00 p.m. until dawn; security lighting may run overnight only at no more than 0.5 footcandle. In the Village of Southampton we have found no residential curfew hour in section 116-13.1, but lighting applications there must state hours of operation and the timing device, and we set Village systems to the same hour.
Are uplights on trees allowed in Southampton?
In the Town's hamlets, yes, at low output. A fixture of 600 lumens or less, the equivalent of a 40-watt incandescent bulb, is exempt from the rule that fixtures be fully shielded and aimed straight down (section 330-345B(1)), provided no light reaches a neighbor and it is off by 10:00 p.m. In the Village, section 116-13.1 requires fully shielded fixtures with the light source directed downward, and the only upward lighting it provides for is a narrow-cone spotlight confined to a flag, so we light Village trees from shielded fixtures aimed down.
Do I need a permit for low-voltage landscape lighting?
We have found no Town or Village code text that names low-voltage landscape lighting as needing a building or electrical permit, so we confirm with the building department for your lot before work starts. Two rules do apply. In the Town, section 123-16E says newly installed electrical systems may not be used until a certificate of compliance has been issued, which matters if the transformer needs a new circuit. In the Village, underground wiring under the street right-of-way needs a written permit from the Superintendent of Public Works (section 95-7B(3)).
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