How We work
We charge a design fee because the design is the work. The difference between a space that feels considered and one that merely has lights and speakers in it comes down to decisions made on paper before anything is installed. Those decisions take time, expertise and a particular way of seeing. Giving that away in the hope of recovering it through product margin is not a model we use, because it creates the wrong incentives.
Because the fee is fixed and separate from what gets specified, there is no incentive to recommend expensive products. The goal is always the best result for the budget, which usually means spending carefully in the places that matter and finding value everywhere else. The highest compliment a finished space can receive is that it looks like significantly more money was spent than actually was. That is exactly how we work on our own projects, and it is the standard we bring to yours.
Stage 1: Studio Visit Every project starts at our studio in Harrogate. The barn has been designed, built and finished to the same standard we bring to client projects, and experiencing it in person is the most direct way to understand what atmosphere design actually means in practice. We will talk through your project, your brief, your relationship with technology and your aesthetic direction. Bring any creative documents, material samples or inspiration you have gathered. No charge.
Stage 3: Scheme Design Working from drawings and the brief established at consultation, a full scheme is developed for each required zone. This covers fixture selection and placement, zone and scene logic, control system recommendation, and switch and sensor positions. Two documents are produced: an atmospheric presentation plan and a technical document formatted for your electrician. £250 per zone, three zone minimum £650. Includes one round of revisions. Additional rounds £125 per zone.
Stage 5: Aiming and Commissioning Every adjustable fitting is physically aimed and set. Scenes are programmed and adjusted until they feel right in the actual space. Light levels on paper are a starting point. This is where the scheme comes alive. £500 full day.
Stage 2: Site Consultation We visit your home or project site to review the space in detail, walk through any existing drawings, understand what is going in and have an honest conversation about budget. By this point we have established the scope together and this visit moves the project forward. £175.
Stage 4: First Fix Review Before ceilings and walls are closed, a site visit confirms that cable and back box positions match the drawing. This stage is not optional on any project where the outcome matters. £175.
What We Need From You
To produce the best possible scheme we ask for:
Architect's drawings in PDF or DWG format. Any creative direction documents, moodboards, material palettes, paint specifications. Confirmation of all fixed elements going into the space, kitchen, joinery, furniture layouts, artwork positions. An honest conversation about budget, both for the design fee and for the fixture specification.
The more we understand about how you live and what matters to you in your home, the more precisely we can light it.
Product Supply
Where we specify a product we can supply it (and generally have tried and tested it). That means trade access to ranges that are not available retail, responsibility for ordering, lead time management and ensuring what arrives is what was specified. If something is wrong it is our problem to fix, not yours.
We will always present a range of options across different budgets. The design thinking is the same regardless of what is spent. Where budget should and should not go is part of the advice, and sometimes the honest answer is that a less expensive product does the job just as well in a particular position.
This applies equally to audio and AV. Speakers, amplification, streaming and control systems are specified and supplied through the same trade relationships, with the same responsibility for getting it right. A system that has been designed, supplied and commissioned by the same person is a different proposition to one assembled from separate purchases and handed to an installer.
If you prefer to source products independently that is your choice. We will provide a specification sheet with everything you need. What you buy and whether it matches that specification is then your responsibility. We will always commission what is installed but we cannot be accountable for the outcome if the product is not what we designed around.
Most clients find it simpler to let us handle supply. It is one less thing to manage on a project that already has enough moving parts.
Networking & Audio
Every lighting scheme we produce includes a basic infrastructure plan at no additional charge. This covers the things that need to be in the walls before they are closed and are expensive or impossible to add later. Cat6 to every television position. Power and data to access point locations, including external positions for garden and outbuilding coverage. PoE provision for video doorbells, cameras and smart locks. Conduit routes for future flexibility.
You do not have to buy any of this equipment now, or from us. But you do need the cable in the wall before the plasterer arrives. The cost of pulling a few extra runs during first fix is negligible. The cost of not doing it is a surface mounted conduit or a wall that needs opening up. We make sure you have the option, whatever you decide to do with it later.
Where a project calls for a fuller audio or AV system we will scope and quote that separately. But every client leaves with a home that is properly wired for how people actually live in it, regardless of how much further the brief goes.
Full project lighting design example
Three zone house, all five stages: £175 + £650 + £175 + £350 = £1,350.
Additional site visits: £175 half day, £300 full day.