Expertise: Outdoor Lighting Design

With more than two decades of experience in lighting design, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives has become a leader in the industry thanks to its custom designs and customer-first approach. 

We recently spoke with owner Ron Hoffman to get a better understanding of the trends in the marketplace and how his company works to stay ahead of the curve with a highly skilled team dedicated to customer satisfaction.

What are these lights people are installing along their rooflines?
In the past 10 years or so, as color LED technology has developed, companies have been able to produce permanent roofline lights in an effort to replace temporary holiday lighting. The new lights are safe, reliable 12 volt systems that run along the roofline of your home. The lights can be used for subtle architectural white lighting, holiday lighting and event lighting throughout the year. 

The best part about Gemstone Lights is that you can make the lights as subtle or outrageous as you’d like. You control the brightness and patterns. If you want only every fifth light lit in soft warm white, you can do that. If you want quick bright movement in an array of colors, that’s available too.

Where are they installed?
They are normally installed on the fascia (facing out) or the soffit (facing down) below your gutters. Some of the more inexpensive systems have each light glued to the house and wire running between them. This is both unsightly and unreliable as they are entirely exposed to the elements. Some lights have an integrated aluminum trim and some can custom color match to your home. This not only protects the lights, but also hides them during the day so they blend into the house. Our power wires are typically entirely hidden and the controllers are commonly plugged into an outlet either on the outside of the house or in the garage. 

What are some factors to be considered?
App Control. Good apps have a large selection of patterns pre-loaded for architectural lighting, holidays, sports teams, colleges, movies, music etc. There should also be a timer feature.

Light Output Control. The better systems will also have brighter lights and a dimming feature. This allows for bright lighting for certain patterns or effects, but the ability to make them dimmable so you set the correct illumination level for your home and aesthetic.

Warranty. A light system worth investing in for your home will likely offer a lifetime warranty on the lights themselves, which isn’t really worth much by itself. You want to make sure there is a long labor warranty to make sure it gets corrected properly if there is an issue.

What should I expect this to cost?
Systems are typically priced in linear feet along with some additions such as power/controllers and extras or discounts depending on difficulty of installation or building details. Usually, the front façade of a house will range from $3,000-$6,000. The sides can be longer than the front and have the potential to increase the price drastically.

What are some things to watch out for?
In addition to using a quality product, you definitely want to use a reputable company for installation. Someone that has a track record with this type of work and will actually come back to you for warranty work if needed, not just sell you the original system then not support it. We do meticulous work and only use lifts which allows us to provide a high-quality installation, and ensures that both our installers and your house are safe throughout the entirety of the process.

What brand do you work with?
We work exclusively with Gemstone Lights. We evaluated all the available brands a few years ago and not only does Gemstone have the brightest lights—the only true warm white light in the industry— but also a large selection of custom tracks available and their app is fantastic. It’s easy to use and has hundreds of amazing designs to choose from. Gemstone Lights promises an elite experience and they have delivered this with their permanent roofline lighting product. After using them for a few years we have already been able to increase our warranty coverage to our clients because they have consistently proven that they are both responsive and reliable.

Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Central NJ
Hamilton Township, N.J.
(732) 334-3163
OutdoorLights.com/Central-NJ

Published (and copyrighted) in House & Home, Volume 25, Issue 2 (January/February 2025)
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