Broward · Miami-Dade · Palm Beach · Monroe
Lighting specification across South Florida
I represent the SESCO lines from Key West to Palm Beach. Send a schedule from anywhere in the four counties and you get budget pricing, photometrics, submittal support and someone who knows what this coast does to a fixture.
The territory
Four counties, and the towns inside them
Broward — Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, Hallandale Beach, Coral Springs, Weston, Davie, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.
Miami-Dade — Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Aventura, Sunny Isles Beach, Bal Harbour, Doral, Key Biscayne, Homestead.
Palm Beach — West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens.
Monroe — Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, Key West.
If your job is in any of them and the line is one of mine, I price it, chase the samples and photometrics, and stay on it through submittal and delivery. If the line is not mine, I will still tell you who holds it here.
The coast
Salt air is the constraint nobody drew
Within a mile or two of the water the finish matters more than the fixture. Standard powder coat over mill aluminum will chalk and bloom, 304 stainless will rust at the fasteners long before anyone expects it, and the failure shows up two years after the certificate of occupancy, when it is somebody else’s problem to pay for.
Marine-grade housings, 316 stainless hardware, gasketing that survives UV, and finishes rated for the exposure the job actually has. It is worth specifying at the drawing stage, because it is the cheapest it will ever be. The coastal lighting guide covers it properly.
Local code
Two things that catch specifiers from out of state
The beach lighting rule is about wavelength, not color temperature. Sea turtle nesting season here runs 1 March to 31 October, and exterior lighting visible from the beach has to be kept low, shielded and long-wavelength — 560 nanometers or greater. A 2700K warm white LED is not compliant however warm it looks, and the ordinances differ between municipalities, so the town matters as much as the county. The sea turtle code notes go through it.
Wind load is a real constraint on anything on a pole. Broward and Miami-Dade sit in the High Velocity Hurricane Zone, design wind speeds here put site lighting in a different bracket from most of the country, and manufacturer pole charts have been published against several different ASCE editions over the years. Comparing a pole rated under one edition with a site designed under another is how a package fails review. The HVHZ notes and the product NOA are the things to check before it is ordered.
The work
The jobs I see most here
Condominium and HOA common areas — corridors, lobbies, garages and amenity decks, usually with a board that needs the same fixture in forty places and a maintenance crew that will have to reach it.
Hospitality and restaurants, where color rendering has to flatter food and faces and the fixture still has to survive a wash-down. Multifamily and builder packages. Retail interiors. Landscape and site lighting, which is where the coastal and turtle rules bite hardest.
The rest of the market
If the line is not one of mine
This site indexes 639 manufacturers and the agency that represents each one in every state. If the line on your schedule belongs to another agency here, look it up — you will get the agency that holds it, and my read on the product either way. I have no stake in those and the answer is free.
Common questions
Before you send a schedule
Which counties do you actually cover?
Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Monroe. That is the territory for the SESCO lines I represent, from Key West to the north end of Palm Beach County.
Do you sell me the fixtures?
No. I am the manufacturer representative. You buy through your distributor. I get the product specified and priced, and I stay on it through submittals and delivery.
What makes a fixture turtle compliant?
Wavelength, not color temperature. Light visible from the beach must be long-wavelength — 560 nanometers or greater — plus low mounted and shielded, during nesting season from 1 March to 31 October. The exact ordinance varies by municipality.
Does the HVHZ apply to my site lighting?
In Broward and Miami-Dade, yes. Poles, brackets and anything else exposed need to be checked against the right ASCE edition and the product NOA before the package is released.
Have a job in South Florida?
Send the fixture schedule, the drawings, or just the type you are stuck on. No charge for a takeoff, and no pitch if the line is not mine.
Send me the project · 786-395-1222