Residential Lighting Installation in Bakersfield, CA

Recessed lighting

Recessed lighting is the most common lighting change we make in Kern County homes, because it adds even, glare-free light without taking up a room visually. The result depends almost entirely on the layout — spacing, distance from the walls, and where the light lands relative to how the room is actually used.

In a finished ceiling the work is usually retrofit or wafer fixtures, cut in and fished from an existing circuit or a new one. In new construction or an open ceiling we set the housings before the drywall. Either way the fixtures are LED, dimmable, and — where they sit under insulation — rated for it.

• A layout planned to the room, not a grid stamped on the ceiling
• Retrofit and wafer fixtures for finished ceilings
• New-construction housings, air-sealed and insulation-rated
• Dimmable LED throughout, in a color temperature you choose
• An existing circuit or a new dedicated one, sized to the load

Kitchen and task lighting

A kitchen needs light in layers: ambient light for the room, task light on the counters where the person standing at them blocks the ambient light, and accent light that makes the space feel finished.

Under-cabinet lighting is the piece most kitchens are missing, and it is the one that changes the room the most. We run it hard-wired rather than plug-in, on its own switch or dimmer, so it reads as built-in rather than added on.

• Hard-wired under-cabinet and over-cabinet lighting
• Pendant and island lighting, boxes located to the layout
• In-cabinet, shelf, toe-kick and cove accent lighting
• Task lighting over sinks, ranges and prep areas
• Each layer on its own control, so they work independently

Fixtures, fans and high ceilings

Swapping a light fixture looks simple until the box is the wrong kind, the wiring in a 1980s ceiling is brittle, or the fixture is a sixty-pound chandelier over a two-story entry.

We replace and relocate fixtures, add lighting outlets to rooms that never had them, and handle the ones that need equipment to reach — vaulted great rooms, stairwell chandeliers, entry lights. Ceiling fans go on fan-rated boxes, always, because a standard box is not built to carry a moving load.

• Fixture replacement, relocation and new lighting outlets
• Chandeliers and pendants on vaulted and two-story ceilings
• Fan-rated boxes and bracing for every ceiling fan
• Old or damaged fixture wiring brought up to current code
• Proper access for high work, not a ladder balanced on a stair

Dimmers and controls

Most lighting complaints after an install are really control problems: an LED that buzzes or flickers on the old dimmer, a three-way that only works from one switch, a smart switch that needed a neutral wire the box didn't have.

We match the control to the load — dimmers rated for LED and for the wattage actually on the circuit, smart switches where the box has a neutral (and a plan when it doesn't), and three- and four-way circuits that work from every location.

• LED-rated dimmers matched to the fixtures on the circuit
• Smart and app-controlled switches where the wiring supports them
• Three-way and four-way switching that works from every switch
• Occupancy and vacancy sensors for closets, pantries and garages
• Timers and photocells for exterior lighting

LED retrofits

Replacing the lighting in a whole house with LED cuts the lighting load by roughly 80% and ends the recurring job of changing bulbs in hard-to-reach fixtures. On older recessed cans it also takes heat out of the ceiling.

The parts that matter beyond the energy number are the ones people notice: a color temperature that suits the room, a color-rendering index high enough that food and skin look right, and drivers that don't flicker on a dimmer or on camera. We retrofit cans, replace failing integrated fixtures, and swap out fluorescent tubes in kitchens, laundries and garages.