Parking lot lighting is the pole-mounted and wall-mounted fixture system that lights a commercial property's parking areas, drive aisles, and walkways after dark. It runs longer than any other system on the property, costs the most to power, and gets noticed only when it stops working.
Pro-Care Sign repairs, maintains, retrofits, and installs commercial parking lot lighting across the Chicago area. As a licensed Illinois electrical contractor, we keep the wiring, the pole work, and the fixtures with one team instead of splitting the job between a lighting supplier and an outside electrician. Because we also handle commercial sign installation, a property can have its signage and its lot lighting serviced by the same contractor.
Dark spots in your lot, or fixtures that keep failing? Tell us the property and roughly how many poles you have, and we will scope the work.
We work on every part of a commercial lot lighting system, from the foundation to the controls.
| Component | What We Do |
|---|---|
| Poles and bases | Install new poles and foundations, and replace damaged ones. |
| Fixture heads | Install new LED fixtures and replace failed or outdated heads. |
| Drivers and ballasts | Replace failed units, one of the most common causes of a single dark fixture. |
| Photocells and controllers | Install, replace, and set dusk-to-dawn or scheduled controls. |
| Underground feed | Run new conduit and conductors, and repair faults in existing feeds. |
| Wall packs and bollards | Install and repair perimeter, entry, and walkway fixtures. |
Because one team covers every component, the repair goes to the part that actually failed.
Most commercial lot lighting work falls into one of three jobs. They differ in scope, cost, and how long they take to complete.
| Scope | When It Applies | Typical Lead Time |
|---|---|---|
| Repair | An existing system with one or more fixtures out, usually from a lamp, driver, ballast, photocell, or wiring fault. | About 1 to 5 business days, depending on the fault, parts availability, and lift scheduling. Simple lamp, driver, ballast, or photocell problems are often fixed on the first service visit. |
| LED retrofit | Poles and underground feed in good condition, carrying outdated metal halide, high-pressure sodium, or other HID fixtures. The fixture heads are replaced and the poles stay. | About 1 to 3 weeks from approval, depending on fixture availability, pole count, permitting, and scheduling. |
| New installation | New construction, a lot expansion, or a property with no existing lighting infrastructure. | About 4 to 8 weeks or longer. The work can involve engineering, municipal permits, concrete foundations, trenching, underground feeds, new poles, and utility coordination. |
A retrofit is often the best value on an older property. The expensive parts of a lighting system are the foundation, the pole, and the buried feed, and those usually outlast the fixtures mounted on them.
Most service calls start with a dark pole. Our licensed electricians diagnose the fault on site, whether it is a driver, a photocell, a circuit, or the pole itself, and carry the job through to repair.
On properties with illuminated signs, our sign repair and maintenance service covers the signage on the same site.
Parking lot fixtures run 10 to 14 hours every night, all year, which makes lighting one of the largest controllable line items on a commercial property's energy bill. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that lighting upgrades in parking facilities can cut energy use by up to 70 percent.
| Benefit | Detail |
|---|---|
| Lower energy use | A 400W metal halide fixture is commonly replaced by a 120W to 150W LED producing equal or better light output. |
| Longer service life | Quality LED fixtures are typically rated at 50,000 hours or more. HID lamps are generally rated between 6,000 and 20,000 hours. |
| Fewer lift visits | Longer lamp life means fewer bucket truck call-outs, which is where much of the maintenance cost on a pole-mounted system sits. |
| Better light quality | Higher color rendering makes vehicles, faces, and signage easier to identify, which matters for safety and for security camera footage. |
| Standardized parts | A retrofit brings every pole onto the same fixture, so replacement parts stay consistent instead of spanning several generations of equipment. |
The retrofit pays back through two lines on the operating budget at once: the power bill and the maintenance bill.
We walk the property, after dark where possible, to find dark areas, inspect poles and fixtures, and check the condition of the electrical feed.
We recommend fixture type, wattage, and mounting height for the coverage the lot needs, and confirm whether existing poles can be reused.
Electrical work on a commercial property requires permitting. As a licensed Illinois electrical contractor, Pro-Care Sign handles the applications.
Foundations, poles, conduit, fixtures, and connections are installed by our own licensed electricians.
The system is tested through a full on and off cycle, and photocells or controllers are set.
Repairs usually skip straight from assessment to installation. Permitting applies mainly to retrofits and new installations.
Managing more than one property? One contractor covering signage and lot lighting across every site means one call instead of two.
Lot lighting calls come from single retail sites and from managers responsible for several properties across the region. We serve commercial properties in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, including Skokie, Niles, Palatine, Northbrook, Schaumburg, Downers Grove, Arlington Heights, Wheaton, Elmhurst, Glenview, Hinsdale, Elk Grove Village, Oak Brook, Streamwood, Des Plaines, Mt Prospect, Berwyn, Hoffman Estates, and Morton Grove.
Routine parking lot light repairs are typically scheduled and completed within 1 to 5 business days, depending on the fault, parts availability, and lift scheduling. Simple lamp, driver, ballast, or photocell problems are often fixed during the first service visit.
A new installation typically takes about 4 to 8 weeks or longer. It involves more coordination than a repair or retrofit, because it can require engineering, municipal permits, concrete foundations, trenching, underground electrical feeds, new poles, and utility coordination.
In most cases, yes. If the poles and foundations are structurally sound and the underground feed is in good condition, we replace the fixture heads without disturbing the rest of the system. A typical LED retrofit takes about 1 to 3 weeks from approval, depending on fixture availability, pole count, permitting, and scheduling.
Yes. Pro-Care Sign handles commercial sign installation and repair as well as parking lot lighting, so one licensed electrical contractor can cover both on the same property.
Yes. Commercial electrical work generally requires a permit, and requirements vary by municipality. As a licensed Illinois electrical contractor, Pro-Care Sign handles the permitting as part of the project.
The property address, a rough pole count, and a short description of the goal, such as fixtures out, a planned LED retrofit, or a new lot. From there we schedule a site assessment, after dark where possible, and follow up with a scope.
Send us the property address and a rough pole count. We will follow up with a scope and a site visit date.
"Great company to work with. Very detailed, friendly, keeps their customer updated on all process. Great completion photos and willing to go above an beyond to get the job done. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication. Look forward to working with you all again in the future."
Dwayne Sowell"One of the best companies I've worked with. Always on time completion and over the top service. Highly recommend."
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