Outdoor electrical built to last.
Lights along the walkway. An outlet on the patio. A gate at the driveway, or power out to the shed. We use parts made to survive the weather, not the bargain ones that quit after a season. And we pull the permit. You won't be chasing a dead light next spring.
Lighting that looks good and lasts
Landscape lighting, permanent holiday lighting, deck and walkway lighting, outdoor security lighting. We install brand-name fixtures (Kichler, Vista, FX Luminaire) with properly-sized low-voltage transformers - not the bargain-bin path lights that fail in two seasons.
Outdoor outlets and circuits
Weather-resistant outlets, NEC 590-compliant outdoor receptacles, dedicated circuits for outdoor kitchens, hot tubs (when standalone), and detached workshops. Every outdoor receptacle gets a weatherproof in-use cover.
Specialty wiring (gates, sheds, ADUs)
Electric gate operators (LiftMaster, Apollo, FAAC), intercom and access control, detached structure subpanels for sheds, garages, workshops, and ADUs up to 100 amps. We pull permits for detached structures the same as we do for main-panel work.
What kind of outdoor job are you looking at?
Maybe it's one outlet on the patio. Maybe it's a whole detached workshop. They all show up here. Whichever one you have, the same in-house crew gives it the same care. The small job doesn't get rushed so the big one gets the attention. The detailed pages are still being built. Until they're up, give us a call and we'll talk through what your yard needs.
Outdoor & Landscape Lighting
Path lights, uplighting, deck lights, garden lighting, low-voltage transformers. Brand-name fixtures (Kichler, Vista, FX Luminaire) designed for long life in NoVA's freeze-thaw cycles. Coordinate with landscaping projects and pool surrounds.
Permanent Outdoor / Holiday Lighting
Year-round installed lighting that doubles as holiday lighting in season. Trimlight, Jellyfish Lighting, Gemstone Lights - color-changing, app-controlled, mounted permanently to your home's eaves and trim. No ladder time every December.
Outdoor Kitchen Electrical
GFCI receptacles, refrigeration circuits, lighting, heat-lamp wiring for outdoor kitchen installations. Pool-adjacent outdoor kitchens are a common pairing on larger NoVA properties. We coordinate with the kitchen builder on appliance specs.
Outdoor Outlets & WR Receptacles
Adding weather-resistant outdoor outlets where there aren't any. NEC 590-compliant, GFCI-protected, in-use covers required by code. Most installs done in a half-day.
Driveway & Electric Gate Wiring
Electric gate operators, intercom integration, access control, photo-eye safety sensors. LiftMaster, Apollo, FAAC, Mighty Mule - we install and wire residential gates to UL 325 safety standards.
Detached Structure Wiring
Subpanels and dedicated circuits for sheds, detached garages, workshops, and ADUs. Typically 60A or 100A subpanel from the main service, properly bonded and grounded per NEC 225 and 250. Distance limits apply - we assess during consultation.
Outdoor work we've done across Northern Virginia
What hiring us for an outdoor job actually looks like
A patio outlet is a few hours. A detached workshop subpanel is two or three days. The size changes. The steps don't. We come look. We put a written quote in your hands. We pull the permit and do the work. Then we walk you through it before we leave.
Free consultation
We come look at the actual job - the existing electrical, the install location, the routing path. For gate operators and detached structures, we measure distance from the main panel.
Written proposal
Itemized. NEC sections cited. Good for 30 days. For outdoor work, we name the specific products we'll install - brand, model, rating.
Permit + work
We pull every permit in your jurisdiction. Most outdoor outlets, lighting installs, and gate operators complete in one day or less. Detached structures and outdoor kitchens may run 2-3 days.
Walkthrough
We show you every receptacle, every fixture, every disconnect. Test the in-use covers, verify GFCI trip on outdoor circuits. Inspection card delivered.
Questions homeowners ask about outdoor work
What's the difference between an outdoor electrician and a regular electrician?
Any licensed electrician can do outdoor work, but outdoor electrical fails differently than indoor work - corrosion, water ingress, UV degradation on cheap fixtures, conduit that lets water track. We treat outdoor work as a specialty practice: WR-rated outlets, NEMA 4X enclosures, sealed conduit penetrations, wet-rated luminaires even in damp locations. The day-of inspection passes either way; what we care about is whether the install lasts 5+ years.
The most common outdoor-electrical complaints we see when called in for corrections: garden lights that died in one season (bargain transformer plus unsealed connections), outdoor outlets that won't reset (corroded GFCI from water ingress), gate operators that lock up in cold weather (no heated enclosure for the control panel). None of these were code violations on install day - they were product or workmanship shortcuts that took 1-3 years to manifest. We don't take those shortcuts.
Do you install permanent holiday lighting systems like Trimlight or Jellyfish Lighting?
We can install permanent year-round mounted lighting systems - Trimlight, Jellyfish Lighting, and Gemstone Lights - that double as holiday lighting in season: app-controlled, color-changing, and no ladder time every December. Ask us about current brand availability when you call.
These systems mount permanently to your home's eaves, trim, and roofline. A controller and small subpanel installs in your garage or basement; the lights themselves stay in place year-round and are off most of the year. Most NoVA homes can be done in 1-2 days depending on roofline complexity. We pull a permit for the electrical work and coordinate with the manufacturer's installation specs.
Can you wire an electric gate operator and integrate it with our intercom?
Yes. We install electric gate operators - LiftMaster, Apollo, FAAC, Mighty Mule - and integrate them with intercom systems, keypads, RFID access cards, or app-based access control. All installs meet UL 325 safety standards for residential gate operators, including photo-eye safety sensors and entrapment protection.
Gate operator installs require a few coordinated pieces: the gate itself (typically a separate fabricator or already-installed), the operator unit, the safety sensors (photo eyes), the access control method (keypad, intercom, RFID, app), and the wiring from a dedicated circuit at the home to the gate location. For most NoVA driveways, the wire run is 50-200 feet, requiring conduit and proper conductor sizing. We coordinate with the gate fabricator if it's a new build, or work with the existing gate hardware on retrofits.
What about wiring a detached shed, workshop, or ADU?
Yes - we run subpanels and dedicated circuits to detached structures. Typical scope: a 60A subpanel for a shed or small workshop, a 100A subpanel for a larger workshop or ADU. We bury the feeder in conduit, ground at the detached structure per NEC 250.32, and pull a permit for the subpanel and the structure-level circuits.
Distance from your main panel affects conductor sizing and conduit type. Short runs (under 50 feet) typically use direct-burial THWN cable; longer runs may need rigid conduit and oversized conductors to limit voltage drop. ADU electrical is more complex - separate metering may be required if the ADU is a rental unit (jurisdiction-dependent). We assess during the consultation. Pool houses, detached garages, workshops, and sheds are all common - the work is comparable in scope to a panel upgrade plus the conduit run.
How long do outdoor lighting systems typically last?
With brand-name fixtures and properly-sized transformers: 15-20 years for LED landscape lighting, longer for the wiring infrastructure itself. With bargain fixtures and undersized transformers: 2-3 seasons before failures start. We install Kichler, Vista, FX Luminaire, or Hinkley fixtures with line-plus-margin transformer sizing - adds cost upfront, multiplies lifespan.
The variables that drive longevity: LED quality (brand-name LED lifespan is 50,000+ hours), transformer sizing (undersized transformers run hot and shorten LED life), wiring quality (waterproof direct-burial-rated cable lasts decades), connections (proper crimps plus sealant at every connection point), and fixture-housing material (brass and copper last; cheap aluminum corrodes). The components account for maybe 20% of total install cost difference but 80% of lifetime difference.
What homeowners usually tackle alongside the outdoor work
Outdoor jobs rarely stop at the yard. The lighting ties into a pool build, the new subpanel leans on the main panel, the wiring runs under a deck we could be framing. Here's what tends to come up in the same conversation.
Got something outdoors that needs power? Let's take a look.
Free consultation. A written, itemized quote within 48 hours. Brand-name fixtures. Weatherproof outlets. Permits pulled. And an install built to outlast the weather.