Adding Lighting to a Screen Enclosure Company

If you build or rescreen pool cages in Florida, Alabama or anywhere in the Southeast, you already own the hardest part of this work. You know the frame.

Why does lighting fit an enclosure company?

A pool enclosure is an evening space, and many of them go dark at sunset. One porch light on the back wall does not light a pool deck. The homeowner paid for an outdoor room and loses it when the sun goes down.

You are the contractor who is already standing on that frame. You know the beams, the posts, the fasteners and the finish. A lighting company has to learn aluminum. You only have to learn lighting.

The region matters too. The pool enclosure and lanai system from Brighter Nights Lighting Technologies is marketed in Florida, Alabama and the Southeast. That is your market already.

What carries over from enclosure work?

• You know the structure. Self-mating beams, posts, purlins and chair rail are your daily vocabulary. You can look at a cage and know where a track run will sit clean.
• You know how to fasten into aluminum. Fastener choice, pre-drilling and keeping dissimilar metals from eating each other are habits you already have.
• You know how to work over a pool deck. Walk boards, ladders on pavers and keeping debris out of the water are routine for your crew.
• You measure in linear feet of extrusion. Lighting track is ordered the same way.
• You already have the customers. Every cage you have built and every rescreen on the schedule is a lighting conversation waiting to happen.

The track itself will feel familiar. BNLT pool enclosure track comes in 10 foot and 22 foot pieces. It is powder coated at the mill in the same aluminum and the same paint as the enclosure structure.

What is new to learn?

The lighting side has its own craft. Plan to learn four things well.

• Power planning. Where the system gets power, how far each run goes, and how to keep the far end as bright as the near end. Start with voltage drop explained for installers.
• Wire routing. Every inch of wire should be hidden or tucked along the frame. On a cage, people sit a few feet from your work and look straight at it.
• Controls. BNLT systems run on Bluetooth mesh and work without Wi-Fi. An optional Wi-Fi Gateway adds remote access. You set up the controller and hand over a working app.
• Selling after dark. A cage sells in daylight. Lighting sells at dusk with the lights on. See running a night demo.

How do track on beams and sconces on posts differ?

A pool enclosure can carry two separate lighting systems. They are two different products that do two different jobs.

Think of the track as the ceiling light of the outdoor room and the sconces as the lamps. The sconces are ambience lighting.

The sconce is built for the air it lives in. The fixture is rated IP64 and has been through more than 500 hours of salt-spray testing. The white range tunes from 2000K to 7500K, so the same fixture can sit at a warm candle tone for dinner and a crisp white for cleanup.

Both systems are controlled from the app. Multiple controllers on one network can be run together or one at a time, so the homeowner can control the whole cage together or one area at a time. Full details are on the pool enclosure lighting page and the sconce lighting page.

How do you offer it on a new build?

Put it on the quote as a line item from day one. Do not wait for the customer to ask, because they may not know it exists.

• Show it at the design stage. When you walk the customer through the layout of the cage, point at the beams and posts and ask how they plan to use the space at night.
• Take the footage off your own drawings. You already have the beam lengths. Match them to a kit size.
• Plan power early. If the pool builder or electrician is still on site, getting an outlet where you need it is a simple request. After the deck is poured it is a project.
• Install while you have open access. Working the beams before the screen goes in is easier than working around it later.
• Count the posts for sconces while you are there. It is the natural second line on the same quote.

How do you offer it on a rescreen?

A rescreen is the best opening you will get on an existing cage. The panels are out, your crew and ladders are already on the frame, and the homeowner is already putting money into the enclosure. Adding track at that point saves a second setup.

Bring it up when you quote the rescreen, as an option on the same paperwork. For cages you rescreened in past years, a short message with one good photo can restart the conversation. The homeowner guide to pool cage lighting installation is a useful link to send along with it.

How do you buy it and get trained?

BNLT is a manufacturer and sells only through distribution. You order through a stocking distributor and product ships in 3 to 5 days. There is no buy-in. Fill out the form on the installer program page and BNLT connects you with a stocking distributor.

Training runs through the Masters of Lighting Academy. The Contractor Mastery Series is the course inside it. BNLT does not install. Homeowners who fill out the design form are matched with a certified installer and an estimate. More on that is in how to become a certified permanent lighting installer.

Know the warranty terms before you quote. Track carries 10 years. Sconce fixtures carry 10 years and sconce bulbs carry 3 years. Controllers carry 3 years. The system has to be registered within 60 days, so build registration into your closeout. Terms are on the warranty page.