For contractors and developers

Value Engineering a Lighting Package

Finding the money in a fixture schedule without changing what the building looks like.

Value engineering has a bad name on lighting packages, and it earned it. Too often it means somebody swapped the specified fixture for the cheapest thing with a similar lumen number, the architect found out at mock-up, and the substitution came back out at the contractor’s expense.

Done properly it is something else: finding the money in a fixture schedule without changing what the building looks like or how it performs. That is a supply-side skill, because it depends on knowing what else exists across a lot of manufacturers, and on knowing which lines will actually hold a price and a lead time.

Where the money usually is

The fixtures nobody sees. Back of house, service corridors, mechanical spaces, stairwells and garages are frequently specified to the same tier as the lobby out of habit. This is normally the largest single saving on a package and it is invisible to the client.
Quantity concentration. A schedule with sixty types spreads the volume so thin that nothing gets a real price. Consolidating three near-identical downlights into one type usually saves more than shopping any of them individually.
Trim and finish options. A custom finish on a stock fixture can add cost and weeks of lead time for a difference nobody will notice at ten feet.
Driver and control specification. Specifying a dimming protocol the project does not use, or a driver rated for a control system that was value-engineered out earlier, is a common leftover.
Lead time as a cost. A fixture that is four weeks cheaper is sometimes worth more than a fixture that is four percent cheaper, and that trade only shows up if somebody is tracking the schedule alongside the price.

How we approach a substitution

The test we apply is simple: would the person who specified this recognise the substitution as reasonable, or would they feel it had been done to them?

Match the performance, not the headline number. Delivered lumens, distribution, colour temperature, colour rendering and dimming behaviour. Two fixtures with the same nominal output can light a room very differently.
Match the aperture and the trim. If the ceiling has been coordinated around a four-inch aperture, a three-and-a-half-inch alternate is not a saving, it is a redraw.
Flag anything that changes appearance rather than burying it in a line item. If a substitution is visible, it should be a decision somebody makes on purpose.
Leave the specified fixture in the quote. You should be able to see the specified item and the alternate side by side with both prices and both lead times. If a supplier only shows you the alternate, ask why.
Say when there is no saving. Sometimes the specified fixture is already the right answer. Telling you that is more useful than manufacturing an alternate to look busy.

The thing we will not do. We will not quietly substitute. Everything alternate is marked as alternate, with the specified item priced alongside it. A substitution that arrives on site as a surprise is a change order and a bad relationship, and it costs everybody more than it saved.

When to bring us in

Earlier is better, and the reason is not the one you might expect. It is not that we need time. It is that once the ceilings are coordinated and the submittals are in, most of the available savings have been designed out of reach.

The most useful moment is when the fixture schedule exists but the ceiling plans are not yet final. At that point aperture and housing depth are still negotiable, which is where the meaningful savings live. The second most useful moment is when a bid has come in over budget and somebody needs a defensible way to take a number out of it without a fight with the design team.

Send the fixture schedule and the drawings through the quote form and say what the target is. You get the schedule priced as specified, plus alternates marked clearly where we think there is a real saving, usually within one business day.

Common questions

Do you charge for value engineering a schedule?

No. Pricing a schedule and proposing alternates is part of quoting the job. There is no takeoff fee.

Will you substitute without telling me?

No. Alternates are marked as alternates and the specified item is priced alongside them so you can see both. If you want the schedule priced exactly as specified with no alternates at all, say so and that is what you will get.

Can you work from a schedule that specifies lines you do not carry?

Yes, and that is the normal case. We carry a lot of lines and we can quote beyond them. Where a specified line is not something we can supply, we will say so plainly and either point you to the right representative or propose something comparable.

How much can be saved on a typical package?

It depends entirely on how the schedule was written, and anybody who gives you a percentage before seeing it is guessing. Schedules heavy on back-of-house specified at front-of-house tier have the most room. Tight, well-consolidated schedules have very little, and we will tell you that rather than inventing savings.