Swimpool 360 designs and installs landscape lighting that is tested in your yard after dark before a single trench is dug. Low voltage LED path, step, tree, wall and patio lights, sized on a proper load calculation, buried and sleeved for Ontario frost, then aimed by hand at night so the light lands on the garden and not in anyone's eyes.
A yard lit by a row of identical stake lights looks like an airport. A yard that feels good at night is built from layers, each doing one job. Path and step lights give safe footing. Uplighting picks out the two or three plants or trees worth looking at. Downlighting and moonlighting from high in a mature maple or oak throws soft pools of light and leaf shadows across the lawn. Wall wash lights the face of a stone wall, fence or house so the space has edges. Hardscape lights tucked under wall caps and into step risers trace the built structure without showing a single fixture.
We design low voltage landscape lighting from the places you actually sit and walk: the kitchen window, the patio chairs, the driveway at 6 pm in December. Every layer is balanced against the others, so the brightest thing in view is a feature you chose, never a bare lamp. The darker parts of the yard are deliberate too. Contrast is what gives depth, and lighting everything evenly flattens it.
Low, shielded fixtures that light the ground instead of the air, placed on alternating sides of a walk so you get overlapping pools of light. Spacing is set from the fixture's actual spread at the demo, not a fixed number of feet.
Walkways We BuildNarrow spots for columnar trees, wider floods for broad canopies, cross-lighting from two sides for specimen trees. Moonlights are fixed high in mature trees on stand-off brackets that leave room for the trunk to grow.
Planting to LightUnder-cap LED strips and puck lights in segmental and natural stone walls, riser lights in stone and interlock steps. Cable is routed behind the block in the drainage stone so no wiring shows on the face.
Retaining Wall ServiceRiser and post-cap lights on decks, downlights tucked into pergola beams over dining tables, and soft accent light around fire tables and seating walls, all on a dimmable zone you control separately.
Plan Patio LightingLighting for planting, cabanas, fences and paths around the pool, kept well back from the water's edge and coordinated with the electrician's bonding and clearance work. Underwater lights are covered in our pool lighting guide.
Pool Lighting GuideAstronomical timers, photocells and app control with separate zones and dimming. We also take over tired systems: replacing halogen lamps and failed fixtures, fixing voltage drop and re-aiming lights that plants have outgrown.
Book a System CheckBook an evening demonstration and we will light your trees, walls and patio with demo fixtures so you can choose what you like. Call 647-239-7665.
Two systems with identical fixtures can perform completely differently. The difference is in the parts you never see once the trench is closed.
We add up the volt-amp (VA) rating of every fixture, not just the wattage printed on the box, because LED drivers draw more VA than their watts suggest. The total should sit at roughly 80 percent of the transformer's capacity or less, leaving room to add lights later.
A stainless multi-tap transformer offers several output voltages, typically 12 to 15 volts. Long runs to the back of a deep GTA lot go on a higher tap so fixtures at the far end receive the same voltage as the ones near the house. Transformers are CSA or cUL certified.
Voltage falls with distance and load. We choose 12-gauge, 10-gauge or 8-gauge direct-burial cable from the calculated drop on each run, aiming to keep every fixture inside its rated operating range. Uneven voltage shows up as mismatched brightness or flicker, even with LEDs.
Instead of chaining fixtures one after another, we run a main cable to a hub and feed a cluster of fixtures with leads of similar length, or close a run back on itself as a loop. Both even out voltage and make faults easier to trace.
Solid cast brass and copper fixtures weather to a dark patina and shrug off de-icing salt. Powder-coated aluminum costs less and is fine in sheltered backyard beds, but near salted driveways and walks it tends to bubble and pit.
We specify 2700K to 3000K warm white with high colour rendering, and pick beam angles per target: narrow spots of around 15 to 25 degrees for tall, slim trees, 35 to 60 degrees for shrub masses and wide canopies. Astronomical timers follow sunset through the year, and app control adds zones, dimming and scenes.
Good patio lighting is about faces and food, not about lighting up the stone. Over a dining table, a pair of small downlights hidden in the pergola beams gives enough light to see what is on the plate without glare in anyone's eyes. Around a fire table, low accent light on the surrounding planting keeps the flame as the focal point. Deck stairs get riser lights so each nosing is easy to read.
For backyard lighting we split the patio, the garden and the paths onto separate zones. That way a quiet night can run at 30 percent on the patio with the trees still lit, while a party can bring everything up. String lights are welcome too, on their own switched outlet or app channel. Planning a new deck or patio surface as well? See how materials compare in our composite vs wood deck guide and our patio material comparison, then light it from day one.
A typical backyard system takes two to four working days on site, plus the two evening visits that matter most: the demo before and the aiming after.
We start at dusk and stay until full dark. Battery demo fixtures go on your actual trees, walls and seating areas so you can judge brightness, beam width and shadows before anything is bought.
Each fixture goes on a scaled plan with its wattage and volt-amp rating. We group lights into zones (front entry, back patio, trees, pool surround), add the loads, then size the transformer, select taps and choose cable gauge from the measured run lengths.
Public utilities are marked through Ontario One Call before any digging. Private lines are not included, so we ask about barbecue and heater gas lines, irrigation and pool plumbing before flagging routes.
Cable goes in narrow trenches through beds and lawn, kept out of edging lines and aeration zones. Wherever it crosses a walkway, patio or driveway it travels inside a sleeve, so a future repair never means cutting stone.
Fixtures are set plumb, connections are made with sealed, gel-filled or heat-shrink connectors, and we read the voltage at fixtures along each run before backfilling. Runs that read low get a higher tap or a hub split while the trench is still open.
A second visit after dark is when each beam gets its final angle and dim level. We programme the timer, photocell or app, and leave you a plan showing where every cable runs, which zone each light belongs to and where the spare capacity sits.
Around a pool, outdoor landscape lighting has two jobs: guide people safely along the deck, gate and steps, and give the surrounding garden and structures some presence so the lit water is not floating in a black void. We wash the cabana softly, uplight planting beyond the coping and add step lights at level changes. Fixtures stay well back from the splash zone, and we avoid aiming anything across the water where it would bounce glare back at the patio.
The pool area is also where the line between trades is strict. Any 120-volt work, including a new receptacle for the transformer, a hardwired transformer, a new circuit or anything tied into the pool equipment, goes to a Licensed Electrical Contractor. They take care of the ESA paperwork and inspection, and they decide bonding and clearance details under the Ontario Electrical Safety Code. Our crew installs the low voltage side once that is in place. Underwater lights, deck jets and waterfalls are a separate subject, explained in our pool lighting and water features guide.
The cheapest, cleanest time to add lights is while a patio, wall or set of steps is being built. Because Swimpool 360 also builds the hardscape, we can set sleeves under the base, leave pull boxes in planting beds, notch wall caps for under-cap strips and lay step lights in the course as it goes up. Nothing has to be lifted later.
Retrofits are still very doable. Under interlock we lift a strip of pavers, slip a sleeve into the bedding and relay the stone. Under poured concrete walks we bore beneath rather than cut. Wall caps that were glued down can be released, wired behind and re-glued.
If you are planning an interlock patio or walkway or a retaining wall, ask for lighting sleeves in the quote even if the fixtures come a year later.
What lighting projects cost us to supply and install in 2026, in CAD. Fixture counts, cable distances, hardscape retrofits and fixture material move a project within each range.
| Item or Package | What It Covers | Installed Price Range |
|---|---|---|
| Path or walkway light | Brass or copper hat-style fixture on a stake, integrated LED | $150 - $300 each |
| Uplight on a tree, shrub or wall | Directional fixture with glare guard, choice of beam angle | $175 - $350 each |
| Step, riser or under-cap wall light | Set into new construction or retrofitted into finished hardscape | $200 - $400 each |
| Moonlight mounted in a mature tree | Downlight on a stand-off bracket, cable run up the trunk | $300 - $400 each |
| Multi-tap stainless transformer | 300 to 600 watt, supplied, mounted and connected | $450 - $1,100 |
| Smart control upgrade | Wi-Fi or app module with zones, dimming and sunset scheduling | $150 - $400 |
| New exterior GFCI receptacle | By a Licensed Electrical Contractor, ESA notification filed | $300 - $800 |
| Small package (8 to 12 fixtures) | Front walk and entry, or one patio with a few accent lights | $1,800 - $5,000 |
| Medium package (15 to 25 fixtures) | Typical GTA backyard: paths, trees, patio and steps on two zones | $3,500 - $10,000 |
| Large package (30 to 50 fixtures) | Front and back, pool surround, mature trees, multiple transformers | $7,500 - $20,000 |
These are planning numbers, not a quote. Your written quote lists every fixture, the transformer size and any electrical work separately. Book a dusk site visit and we will price your yard line by line.
Lighting is the one part of a landscape that changes as the garden grows around it. A spring visit keeps the design doing what it did on the first night. A typical tune-up costs $150 to $300 for an average backyard system.
Fixtures come in two styles. Some take a replaceable LED lamp (MR16 or G4 base), which is easy to swap and lets you change brightness or beam later. Others use a sealed integrated LED module, which resists moisture better but means replacing the fixture head when it eventually fails. We explain the trade-off for each location before you choose.
Swimpool 360 is based in Zephyr, in the north end of York Region, and has been building pools, patios and landscapes across the region since 2010. Lighting is part of that work, not a separate trade we hand off. When the same crew builds the patio, sets the wall and plants the beds, the sleeves are already where the fixtures need them and the cable route is on the plan from the start.
We install landscape lighting in Toronto, North York, Etobicoke and Scarborough, through York Region in Vaughan, King City, Richmond Hill, Markham, Aurora, Newmarket, Stouffville, East Gwillimbury and Uxbridge, and east into Durham in Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa. Properties range from narrow city lots to rural acreage with long driveways that need heavier cable and several transformers. Browse finished projects in our gallery or check coverage on our service areas page.
The full landscaping and hardscaping service lighting plugs into.
Patios, walkways and pool decks we can sleeve for lighting as they are built.
Block, natural stone and armour stone walls with built-in cap and face lights.
Planting plans that leave room for uplights and grow into the lighting.
Cedar hedges, screens and pergolas that look striking with a soft wash.
Underwater LED pool lights, deck jets and waterfalls explained.
Fall and winter are ideal for planning a lighting design, with installation scheduled around your spring landscaping or pool opening. Book your free design visit at 647-239-7665.
Tell us what you want to light and roughly how big the property is. We will book a dusk visit, show you options with demo fixtures and follow up with a written quote that lists every fixture.