Newer estate houses on Cross Timbers ground, where the architecture is usually the subject.
Southlake sits just north of DFW Airport, between Fort Worth and Grapevine, and it is the town in this part of the service area where the house, rather than the canopy, is most often the thing worth lighting.
Much of Southlake was built large and built recently: substantial two-storey elevations in stone, stucco, cast stone and brick, on lots where the planted canopy is still growing into itself. That combination makes the building the main event, and lighting a big elevation well is a more exacting job than lighting a tree.
The variable that matters most is how far the fixture sits from the wall, and it is the one most often got wrong:
On most Southlake houses more than one of those materials is present on the same front, and they get lit deliberately differently rather than with one repeated fixture spacing.
Southlake neighbourhoods commonly carry active architectural review, and exterior fixtures visible from the street are the sort of thing that gets looked at. That is not an obstacle so much as a constraint to know about at the start — a plan drawn to the rules is quicker and cheaper than a plan revised after a rejection.
The association and the city set those requirements, not us, and they differ between developments. Tell us at the design visit what applies to your property and Todd builds the plan around it. We are not going to quote you thresholds or fixture restrictions from a web page; what we will do is put the plan in writing, with a fixed price and a start and completion date, in a form you can hand to a committee.
The ground here is Cross Timbers rather than Blackland, which is the kinder of the two for lighting: sandier, better drained, and far less inclined to shift a fixture out of aim across a season.
Most Southlake properties we are called to are fifteen years old or less, landscaped all at once by a contractor, and irrigated thoroughly. That last part is the one that shapes the install. On a lot where every bed has been piped on a grid, there is no such thing as a casual spade cut, and the first morning is spent finding the irrigation rather than laying cable.
The generic sequence, from first visit to night set, is on the landscape lighting page. What is specific here is the planting: a Southlake garden is usually young. A fixture placed tight to a three-year-old crape myrtle is wrong by year six, so we set the aim for the tree as it will be, and leave enough cable at the fixture to move it when the time comes.
Southlake lots are big enough that a good number of owners do not want the whole thing lit in one go, and there is nothing wrong with that — provided stage one is built as though stage two is coming.
Almost every regret we are called in to fix on a phased property traces back to the same decision: a transformer sized exactly to the first set of fixtures. Add the drive and the rear garden two years later and it has nothing left to give, so the second phase arrives with a second transformer bolted up beside the first, a second circuit, and two sets of timings that drift apart. It is avoidable, and it costs very little at the start.
So when a Southlake project is phased we specify the transformer for the finished property rather than the first stage, bring the cable to where the later zones will begin and cap it, and write the stages into the quote so the committee sees the whole plan at once rather than being asked twice. The price for stage one barely moves; the price for stage two drops a great deal.
If the house also gets Christmas lighting, that is worth saying at the design visit rather than in November — a permanent festive LED run shares the same power and the same timer, and it is far cheaper to allow for it than to retrofit it.
We have not photographed a Southlake installation yet, so every photograph below is from Colleyville and Grapevine — the nearest documented work, on the same ground and the same kind of property. Each one is captioned with the town it was actually taken in. All are TC Lighting installations, shot after dark on the property. Click any of them to see it full screen.
The full gallery is grouped by town, and the reviews page carries thirty-one client letters in full. If you are in Southlake and want your property to be the first photograph on this page, the design visit is free.
Two of the thirty-one letters on the reviews page were written by Southlake clients, printed word for word as they were sent to Todd Cormier. The other below is from a nearby town, marked with where it came from.
“We have worked with Todd for more than 20 years (three different homes), and have found his design and services to be the utmost in quality, creative, dependable and customer service focused. The outcome achieved by his mastery of outdoor lighting is spectacular, and we highly recommend him!”
“I'm so pleased with the landscape lighting recommendation. Todd and his team did an amazing job on our lighting! Thank you again. Khurrum and I really appreciate it.”
“TC Lighting recently redid my front and back landscape lighting. The proposals for lighting were better than what I had in mind when I called. The outcome exceeded all expectations. I have combination of up lights, pathway lights and down lights in the overhangs…”
Just north of DFW Airport, between Fort Worth and Grapevine. Free on-site design visit, and Todd comes out himself.
Southlake, TX · inside the TC Lighting service area · free on-site design visit
Landscape lighting is the bulk of the work, but it is not all of it. Every service below is available on a Southlake property, from the same crew and the same licensed Texas electrical contractor.
Design and installation — uplighting, moonlighting, path and specimen work.
Read more →Seasonal install, maintained through the season, taken down and stored.
Read more →Govee-type colour-changing track set into the eave line. Invisible by day.
Read more →Halogen to LED on an existing system, keeping the runs and fixtures worth keeping.
Read more →Car parks, drives, steps, walls and seating areas, residential and commercial.
Read more →Inside work from the same licensed electrical contractor.
Read more →Cameras and doorbells fitted and wired properly.
Read more →Diagnosing and rebuilding failing systems, including ones we did not install.
Read more →Or start here: the home page for the whole picture, about Todd Cormier for who turns up, the photo gallery for the work itself, reviews for what clients say, and contact to reach us directly.
Yes. Southlake is just north of DFW Airport, next door to Colleyville. There is no photographed Southlake project in the gallery yet and we would rather say that plainly. The nearest documented work is Colleyville, next door, and Grapevine just east — both on comparable ground with comparable properties.
Differently on each material. Stone is grazed from close in so the texture throws its own shadows; stucco is close to flat and wants an even wash from further back, because grazing it shows every trowel mark. Reaching a second storey needs a tighter beam from further away rather than a brighter fixture close in.
No, but it is much easier to design to the rules than to revise after a rejection. Tell us what your association requires at the design visit. You get a written plan with a fixed price and dates, which is generally what a committee wants to see anyway.
No, but the plan should be honest about it. With a young canopy the architecture, the hardscape and the levels carry the design, and the trees get lit at a level suited to their size. The thing worth doing now is leaving transformer capacity and a spare run toward the trees, so the downlighting layer can be added in ten years without trenching a finished garden.
Four fields, about fifteen seconds. Send the address and what you are hoping to light. Todd walks the property himself, in daylight, and you get a written plan with a fixed price and dates before any work begins.
Prefer to talk? Call (972) 345-1180.