Outdoor Lighting on Hilton Head Island

Who owns the yard

About 79 in 100 occupied homes in the town limits are owner-occupied (as of 2024), and the median home was built in 1987, so many yards are established landscapes with large trees.

Homes used part of the year

About 1 in 4 homes in the town limits is held for seasonal or occasional use (as of 2024). A timer that switches the lights on at dusk matters when nobody is home to do it.

Trees and neighborhoods

A Sunset Landscape Lighting customer in Sea Pines describes a design that highlights the best trees on the property without being too much for the neighborhood.

Low voltage or 120 volt

Landscape lighting runs on a low-voltage transformer that plugs into a GFCI outlet. New outlets and 120-volt flood lights are licensed electricians’ work.

HOA approval first

In a community with an architectural review board, the application usually needs a site plan marked with fixture positions and spec sheets before anything is installed.

What a system starts at

Murphy Outdoor Lighting, a Hilton Head company, says installed systems typically start between the mid-$3,000s and the upper $4,000s.

For a designed look, with paths, trees, steps and the front of the house lit as one plan, start with a lighting specialist. Sunset Landscape Lighting lists new installations, repairs and upgrades, and troubleshooting, and offers a free night-time demo. Nightscapes Lighting and Outdoor Lighting Perspectives both begin with a free consultation. A Sunset customer writes that the owner’s design balanced not too little and not too much, avoiding both pure minimalism and gaudiness.

For a short list of fixtures, a new outlet, a security light on a garage or wiring to a detached building, call an electrician. Live Oak Electrical Services lists outdoor, landscape, pool, dock and security lighting installation, Arc Angel Electric lists outdoor lighting, and Bluffton Electric names landscape lighting. If a landscaper is already redoing your beds, Island Environments lists landscape lighting among its services, so the cable goes in once.

Hilton Head landscape lighting leans on trees, and Hilton Head outdoor lighting for a path or patio is planned around them. A Sunset Landscape Lighting customer describes a system for a Sea Pines home that highlights the best trees on the property without being too much for the neighborhood, and customers of Nightscapes describe warm up-lighting on the trunks of large live oaks that filters into the canopy. For a lot in an established community, such as Long Cove, Spanish Wells or Moss Creek, a plan can start with the existing trees; for a newer lot, it can start with the path, the entry and the front of the house.

Outdoor Lighting Perspectives lists pathway, driveway and step lighting, patio and outdoor living lighting, permanent roofline lighting, string and bistro lights and security lighting. Nightscapes adds permanent roofline and holiday lighting. For a boat dock or the pool, ask an electrician: Live Oak Electrical Services lists both pool lighting and dock lighting.

Murphy Outdoor Lighting, a Hilton Head company that also works in Bluffton and Beaufort, installs only low-voltage systems. Its transformer plugs into a receptacle on a GFCI circuit, the kind used in kitchens, baths and outdoors, and is often mounted on an outside wall next to the irrigation controller. It says a licensed electrician is needed when the house has no outlet in the right place, and for 120-volt outdoor fixtures and flood lights.

Pick the controls up front. Murphy describes countdown timers with photocells that switch the lights on at dusk and run for 4, 6 or 8 hours, digital astronomical timers that work out sunset every night with no Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi controllers you run from a phone, which need the transformer to have a signal from your router. With about 1 in 4 homes in the town limits held for seasonal or occasional use, a timer that runs itself matters.

If your home is in a community with an architectural review board, the board comes first. Murphy Outdoor Lighting says an application is usually a standard PDF form with a copy of your site plan marked with fixture positions, plus fixture spec sheets or photos, and that boards routinely look for glare guards (cowls) and reasonable LED brightness. After approval it says installation is often two to three weeks out, with a couple of days for cable, transformer and fixtures and an evening visit to aim and adjust the lights. Ask your owners’ association for the form, and check the community’s own page, such as Hilton Head Plantation, Palmetto Dunes or Indigo Run.

For the electrical side, the Town of Hilton Head Island requires a building permit for electrical work, and its Building Service Center says the contractor you hire submits the application for you. Contractors must register with the Town and hold a Town business license. Ask whether the quote includes any new circuit or outlet and who pulls the permit; the details are under permits and licenses for electrical work.

Coastal air and sprinklers are hard on fixtures. Murphy Outdoor Lighting installs solid brass, copper or stainless steel fixtures and says aluminum fixtures often seize at the threads or fail from corrosion and water getting in, and that failed connections, such as wire nuts, electrical tape over splices or pierce-point connectors, are among the biggest reasons a system needs new cable. It expects periodic maintenance to clean and adjust fixtures, replace LED bulbs and keep up with new patios, trees and walkways.

Sunset Landscape Lighting lists repairs and upgrades and troubleshooting; one customer says the owner quickly fixed several lights and a courtyard fountain light. Nightscapes offers repair services and annual maintenance plans, and Outdoor Lighting Perspectives lists ongoing maintenance and support. If an old system is failing, ask before you tear it out: Murphy says it will inspect an existing system if it was installed professionally with proper materials.

Outdoor Lighting Perspectives lists commercial lighting next to its residential work, from its office on Arley Way in Bluffton. Live Oak Electrical Services lists security lighting installation, and an electrician is the usual call for parking-lot and building-mounted fixtures that run on 120 volts or more. Ask any company for its South Carolina license number and its Town of Hilton Head Island business license before you sign.

If the lighting is for a security problem rather than looks, see security systems on Hilton Head for cameras and access control, which are sold separately from light fixtures.

Murphy Outdoor Lighting’s own website says jobs typically start between the mid-$3,000s and the upper $4,000s, installed with parts and labor, and can climb for larger properties. That is one company’s published figure, not a Hilton Head average.

The price follows the property size and the number of zones or scenes, the fixture material (brass, copper and stainless cost more than aluminum), and whether a new outlet or circuit is needed. Sunset Landscape Lighting offers a free night-time demo, Nightscapes and Outdoor Lighting Perspectives a free consultation, Arc Angel Electric upfront pricing and free second opinions, and Bluffton Electric a free service quote. Get the design and the fixture material in writing before you sign.

Looking for Daufuskie Island outdoor lighting or Daufuskie Island landscape lighting? Two of the companies above say on their own websites that they serve Daufuskie Island: Arc Angel Electric lists it on its service-area page, and Bluffton Electric names Daufuskie Island in its service area. Both have offices in Bluffton, 4.9 straight-line miles from the C.C. Haigh Jr. Boat Landing at 2 William Hilton Pkwy, where the Daufuskie ferry leaves. Sunset Landscape Lighting’s address is 0.9 mi from the landing, but its website does not list service areas, so ask.

Call first and ask how materials and crew get across, and whether the quote includes travel time: a service area on a website is not a promise for every address.