TL;DR. The same in-house electricians who install your solar, battery or EV charger install Gemstone permanent lighting, so adding it to a project means one crew, one mobilization and one travel line on the quote instead of a second company and a second visit. The lighting needs very little from your electrical: a sheltered receptacle for the power supply, Wi‑Fi reach for the indoor controller, and low-voltage runs sealed through the soffit. It is priced the same way whether it rides on another job or not, $28–$32 per linear foot installed, plus a $500 controller, travel and GST; what you save is the second trip, the second scheduling conversation and the finger-pointing when two contractors have touched the same wall.
Most of our lighting enquiries now come from people we are already talking to about something else: a solar array, an EP Cube battery, a Level 2 charger for the new EV. The question is usually some version of “while you’re here, could you do the lights?” The answer is yes, and it is the efficient way to do it. Here is what adding permanent lighting to another Stellar project actually involves, in the order it happens.
Why one crew matters more than one invoice
Permanent lighting is wired to your house. Someone drills through your soffit, seals that penetration, runs low-voltage cable to a power supply, and lands that power supply on a receptacle. If the company that did your panel work and the company that did your lighting are different, every future question starts with a phone call about whose hole it is. When Stellar’s electricians do all of it, the person who pulled the charger circuit is the person who tucked the lighting run through the soffit, and both are under one 12-month installation warranty with one number to call.
What the lighting needs from your electrical
- A receptacle for the power supply. Sheltered, usually in the garage or at an exterior outlet with a proper in-use cover. If there is not one where it needs to be, our electrician adds it, which is trivial on a day the panel is already open for a charger circuit.
- Wi‑Fi where the Hub sits. The Gemstone Hub controller lives indoors and talks to the app over your network. We check signal at the spot before we mount it.
- Low-voltage runs and sealed penetrations. The runs from power supply to track are low voltage; anything that goes through the building envelope is sealed, and any ground run is buried so nothing meets a lawnmower or a shovel.
- About 150 watts. A typical 117 ft front at full brightness. It is not a load your panel notices, and it is nothing next to a Level 2 charger.
The order of operations
On a combined project the sequence is straightforward, and the point of it is that the crew is on site once:
- The heavy electrical first. Panel work, the charger circuit, the solar interconnection or the battery: whatever needs the permit and the inspection.
- Receptacle and power supply while the panel is open. The lighting’s only real electrical need is placed as a line item on the same job rather than a separate visit.
- Track and lights last. Measured from your photos and confirmed on site, mounted along the fascia, wired to the power supply, and the Hub set up on your phone before we leave.
Solar work takes a day or two on most homes; a charger is usually a few hours; lighting is typically a single day once the system is on site. Scheduled back to back, you get one mobilization and one clean-up, and the house is finished when the truck leaves.
What it costs when it rides on another job
The lighting is priced the same way it always is: $28 to $32 per linear foot of lit roofline, installed, plus $500 for the controller, plus travel and GST. We do not run a bundle discount, and we would rather say that plainly than invent one. What changes is the travel line: it is itemized per visit, so lighting added to a solar or charger project shares the trip instead of paying for its own, and the design work starts from the roof photos and drawings we already hold for the other job. The full arithmetic, with worked examples for a bungalow, a two-storey and a wraparound, is in the Alberta cost guide.
| Example | Lighting line | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 117 ft two-storey front, added to a charger install | $3,776–$4,244 + GST | One travel line for both, receptacle placed while the panel is open |
| 150 ft front and sides, added to a solar install | $4,700–$5,300 + GST | Layout drawn from the roof photos already on file |
| 90 ft bungalow front, added to a battery install | $3,020–$3,380 + GST | Lighting circuit can sit on the backed-up panel if you want the house outlined during an outage |
Already have solar with us?
Then the lighting is a return visit, quoted the same way, and we already know your rooflines: the photos, the drone shots and the drawings from your solar design are in your file, so the layout is usually ready before we have spoken. Travel is itemized by address as always. If we are due back anyway for a battery or a charger, tell us and we fold the lighting into that visit.
The outage detail worth asking about
If you have or are adding an EP Cube battery, ask us to put the lighting on the backed-up panel. It draws so little that it costs nothing meaningful in reserve, and a house outlined in warm white on a dark street during a winter outage is a genuinely useful thing: you can see the door, the steps and the driveway, and so can the people looking for your address. It is a five-minute decision on install day and hard to change later.
What to send
For lighting, three photos of the front of the house: straight on, and from each corner. For the rest, whatever you already sent us. Mention in the notes that you want the lighting quoted with the solar, battery or charger and you get one written document with the lighting itemized: footage, controller, travel, GST. No site visit, no deposit to see the number, no obligation.
Get the lighting quoted with your project → Or start with the solar, battery or EV charger page and mention lighting in the notes.
