Facilities lighting procurement is actually four different problems
For the last five years, I've managed facilities procurement for our 400-person company. About $85,000 a year runs through 12 vendors — everything from office supplies to cleaning services to building maintenance. Lighting is around $6,000–8,000 of that, depending on whether we're mid-renovation.
Every time a new facilities manager or office manager asks me "what should I buy for lighting around here," I know what they want. A single answer. A total cost. A best brand. A specific model number.
But honestly, after four or five genuinely botched lighting purchases, what I've learned is this isn't one question at all. It's at least four, and they don't share the same answer.
Let me break down what I mean.
A note on feit-electric, since it comes up a lot in my POs: it's one of the brands we order from most, mainly because it covers both basic replacement bulbs and smart lighting. That convenience matters when you're juggling a dozen vendors. But which feit-electric product you need — or whether you need one at all — depends entirely on the scenario below.
Scenario 1: You're replacing bulbs inside existing fixtures
This is the most common situation. Someone complains an office is too dim, or a bulb burns out every few weeks, or a halogen 50 watt keeps failing because it gets left on overnight.
If you're shopping for a feit electric halogen 50 watt replacement, the first thing to verify is the base type. MR16 and G8 bases look similar in photos and are not interchangeable. Check the existing bulb's part number before you order anything.
Second: if the original fixture is on a dimmer, don't reach for the cheapest LED replacement on the shelf. LED bulbs that aren't rated for dimming will flicker or hum at low levels (basically, they don't play nice with older dimmers). Buy the version rated for dimmable circuits.
Third, CRI (color rendering index — roughly, how accurately the light shows colors). For offices where anyone does color-sensitive work, I look for Ra 90+. For general room lighting, Ra 80–85 is fine. DOE efficiency standards (updated January 2024) now require most general-purpose lamps to hit a minimum of 45 lumens per watt, so you can filter out lower-quality stock without much effort.
The honest limitation here: replacement bulbs are the cheapest, lowest-risk purchase I deal with. When a bulb is wrong, it usually costs $5–15 per unit to fix. When a fixture spec is wrong, that can climb into the hundreds.
Scenario 2: You're setting up power for smart or low-voltage lighting
In one of our conference room upgrades, we installed low-voltage strip lighting. The vendor threw in a feit electric class 2 power supply, and I initially assumed it was just a random accessory. It turned out to be the component to watch.
Class 2 power supplies (meaning units certified to UL 1310 and limited by NEC to safe output levels) exist so nobody gets a dangerous shock if something goes wrong on the line. You'll see them on smart strip lighting, landscape lighting, and anything running under roughly 30V.
Here's what I learned the hard way: "compatible" rarely means compatible. The power supply said 24V. The strip lighting said 24V. Looked fine. But the strip needed 2.5A and the supply could only push 1.5A. It ran warm, flickered, and eventually took out the controller. Check amperage, not just voltage.
Replacement Class 2 supplies run $15–40 depending on output. That project cost us about $220 more than it should have, because the "cheap" supply burned out the controller and we had to reorder.
(And yes — the controller wasn't under warranty. That's a $380 lesson I now check on every single PO: voltage, amperage, including the controller.)
Scenario 3: You're trying to buy a decorative chandelier
Decorative lighting lives in a completely different category from everything else I procure. When someone wants an antler chandelier for the conference room, or a tier chandelier for the front lobby, this isn't facilities procurement. It's a design project that happens to have a procurement step attached.
What to watch:
- Lead times. Custom antler chandeliers often run 4–8 weeks. Confirm that against whatever deadline you were verbally given. (Spoiler: it's usually earlier than the vendor's stated timeline.)
- Damage in transit. Large decorative fixtures ship fragile even well-packed. Ask for video inspection before installation.
- Installation complexity. A tier chandelier can weigh 40–60 lbs and needs ceiling reinforcement. This is not a handyman job. Get your electrician's quote before you approve anything.
The honest limitation here: if budget matters, tell finance this is a "space upgrade" rather than "facilities maintenance." They're different line items and different approval chains. We saved months of back-and-forth once I started coding our $2,400 antler chandelier under renovation instead of maintenance.
Scenario 4: You're evaluating switch and infrastructure costs
"How much does a light switch cost" sounds like the simplest question in this article. It's actually the least direct, if you want a real answer.
Material cost ranges (as of January 2025, US suppliers):
- Standard single-pole toggle switch: $3–8
- Decora/rocker switch: $4–12
- Occupancy sensor (per room — worth it): $25–60
- Smart switch (WiFi/Zigbee): $30–80
- Faceplate/trim: $2–10
Labor is the real variable. $75–150 per switch depending on location and electrician rates in your area. If there's no neutral wire behind the switch (many older buildings don't have one), smart-switch retrofits can require re-wiring, and labor can climb past $200 per switch easily.
Our most expensive switch project wasn't a smart switch. It was new wiring. A conference room needed independent control of reading spotlights and projector dimmers, and the existing switch box only controlled one circuit. Re-wiring that room ran about $650 in materials and labor. (The kind of thing finance asks about after the fact.)
How to know which scenario you're in
Here's the quick triage I give new office managers:
Q: Are you replacing a bulb inside a fixture that already works and looks fine?
→ Scenario 1 (bulb replacement). Verify base type and dimmer compatibility.
Q: Is this a new smart or low-voltage lighting install?
→ Scenario 2. Check voltage AND amperage, and confirm the supply carries the UL 1310 mark.
Q: Is this something people will comment on or photograph?
→ Scenario 3 (decorative). Budget it as a design project, not maintenance.
Q: Are you changing switches, wiring, or fixtures themselves?
→ Scenario 4. Get an electrician's quote before you put a number in front of finance.
Last thing: when you're not sure, start with Scenario 1. Bulb swaps solve about 60% of our "the lighting is wrong" complaints without touching a panel. The rest usually turn out to be a different problem entirely — and now you know which one.
— Someone who's been buying this stuff since 2020.