How much does a whole-home lighting upgrade cost?

Whole-home lighting upgrades start at $4,500. The number depends on how many rooms, how much of the ceiling is accessible, fixture selection, and how many dimming or smart zones you want.

Can recessed lighting be added without replacing the ceiling?

In most homes yes. We cut only for the fixtures and access points, fish from the attic or crawl where possible, and patch what we open. We show you the cut plan before we start.

Why do my LED lights flicker on the dimmer?

Almost always a compatibility mismatch between the dimmer and the LED driver, or too few watts on the circuit for the dimmer's minimum load. We check the pairing before installing rather than after.

What color temperature should I use?

2700K to 3000K reads warm and residential; 3500K and up starts to feel commercial. The important thing is consistency — pick one and hold it across the house, including under-cabinet and exterior runs.

Lighting · Treasure Valley, Idaho

Whole-home lighting upgrades across the Treasure Valley

Replacing a single center fixture per room with a designed, layered, dimmable lighting plan is the change homeowners notice most. Here is how a whole-home lighting upgrade is scoped.

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Open-concept living room at dusk with evenly spaced recessed LED lighting — Lighting · Summit Power Electric project photography

Layers, not fixtures

A good plan has ambient light for the room, task light where people work, and accent light on the things worth looking at. Most houses only have the first one, and it is usually in the wrong place. We plan the layers per room and then choose fixtures to serve them.

Recessed layout and beam spread

Spacing follows ceiling height and beam angle, not a grid. We keep cans off the walls at a consistent setback, align rows with architecture, and pick trims and color temperature that stay consistent room to room — mismatched color temperature is the most common giveaway of a piecemeal retrofit.

Dimming zones and controls

Zones should match how the room is used: one for the seating area, one for the kitchen work surface, one for the accent run. We verify dimmer and driver compatibility before install, because a cheap mismatch shows up as flicker at 20 percent.

Exterior and landscape-ready power

Soffit lighting, path and grazing runs, patio and pergola power, and switching that does not require walking outside. Exterior work is planned with transformer locations and future landscape zones in mind.

What it takes in a finished house

Retrofitting an occupied home means fishing walls, minimal-cut access, and a plan for the attic and crawl routes. We walk the house first and tell you where the ceiling has to open and where it does not.

What we plan for

Ambient, task, and accent layers planned per room
Consistent color temperature and trim across the house
Dimming zones matched to how the room is used
Verified dimmer and driver compatibility — no flicker
Exterior, soffit, and landscape-ready power
Minimal-cut fishing routes planned in occupied homes

Smart home electrical integration

App-compatible dimmers, room-based control zones, whole-home scenes, and occupancy controls turn a lighting upgrade into a system — one button for evening, one for away, one for the exterior.

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