Best Lighting Options: Use Vendor Neutral Approach

You can see that the lighting in your facility is poor, uneven and unsafe and you know it is costing you more than it should.

Your team is excited by the planned retrofit because you know the light will be better, you’ll be using less electricity, AND the cost to maintain the lighting will be going down.

You’ve spent the money on, and completed an energy audit, and you understand what lighting and control products are needed.

But you’ve done enough purchasing to know that it’s usually not a pleasant task, so your first thought is to just go with the big-name vendor you’ve seen advertise on LinkedIn and make the process simple.

Well, this may NOT be the best way to go about the process and we are going to share a few reasons why that may be the case.

1. Your new lights will last for a long time: The new LED-Technology you’re about to choose will perform consistently for over 10 years. Thus, having one lighting vendor or three isn’t going to make much of a difference to your business and will likely not be something you need to revisit.

2. You want optimal quality and performance. Superior Energy and Control’s manufacturer neutral approach to lighting technology keeps us current with dozens of lighting manufacturers and hundreds of lighting applications. While the vendors we work with sometimes have an amazing fixture for one application, others may not be so hot, or well-priced.

Locking yourself into a single manufacturer may not always give you the best, most cost effective option with every application, no matter how big the line of products may be.

3. You want the best pricing. 

There is no reason for you to pay more when there are comparable, even superior options available.  From our experience, we know that our clients feel more secure dealing with the largest 2 or 3, and well known manufacturers that are well established and will be around to service those 10 year warranties. 

However, there are several smaller vendors out there—the guys who are pushing the envelopes to provide superior products at great prices—that often get overlooked.  These manufactures are also stable and financially secure options. 

4. You want to qualify for more of the best utility rebates.  Utility companies are handing back money to businesses who are willing to lower their energy use with LED lighting and controls.  These programs can increase your ROI or even help you expand the size of your lighting retrofit to convert more of your business.

The standard programs utilities offer are normally based on approved products that are either found on the Design Lights Consortium (DLC), or other EnergyStar approved product lists.

The decision to purchase from just a single vendor could reduce your ability to maximize these incentive dollars.  Keeping your business decisions vendor neutral will keep you in the hunt for the biggest portions of rebates available to you.

5. You want to hire an expert, like Superior Energy and Control, to manage your project for you.

Retrofitting your lighting, adding controls, getting audit data, these projects are a lot of work and can distract from the important work of running your business.  There are pit-falls to avoid, tricks to the trade that we’ve learned by focusing many years of experience on this industry.

Superior Energy and Control has made vendor neutrality a major part of our business model, developing strong relationships with many lighting manufacturers at all levels.  When you work with us we will apply our knowledge and experience to help you find the best products from the right vendor. 

After the choice of products has been made, Superior Energy and Control will coordinate your purchase, manage your warranty program, and assure that the right approach is taken to installing your new lighting.

If you are looking for the right solution, please give us a call and one of our lighting consultants will work with you to assure your new lighting has the most impact on your business and bottom line.