Who decides which light fitting ends up on your project?

The path from drawing to site

Zane Wylie works with consulting engineers in Townsville, Cairns and Brisbane. He describes the journey of a fitting like this:

1. The engineer selects the fitting for the design and puts it on the drawing.
2. The drawings go out to tender. Electrical contractors do their takeoffs: every item on the drawing, how many of each, and the cable and sundries to go with them.
3. The contractor asks a wholesaler to price the job. The wholesaler requests quotes from Raylinc and every other supplier on the drawing, then collects them into one price.
4. The contractor wins the job and places the order with the wholesaler.
5. The wholesaler orders from Raylinc, and Raylinc orders from the manufacturer.

“The wholesaler orders it from us. We order it from the supplier, and that’s it,” Zane says.

Each of those handovers is a point where the fitting on the drawing can be replaced with a different one.

What off spec means

Off spec means a product other than the one specified goes into the building. In Zane’s experience, the electrical contractor usually starts it. The contractor proposes a cheaper fitting and puts it forward as doing the same job.

The building owner, tenant or facilities team then lives with the result. They are rarely the ones who asked for the change. “The end client usually just gets a worse product,” Zane says.

Where wholesalers sit

Wholesalers mostly gather prices. Zane doesn’t see them recommending lighting products on their own initiative.

That changes when a contractor asks for a cheaper option. The wholesaler may then go to its regular suppliers for alternatives. It may also suggest a product it has seen replace that fitting on other jobs, or one it has a deal on.

Why a swap matters

A lighting design is calculated around the fittings on the drawing: their output, their optics and the spacing they allow. Change the fitting and you change the design. If the replacement can’t do what the original did, “you’re either going to need more of them,” Zane says, or the space ends up lit differently from the design.

Our next post covers what engineers, architects and clients can write into a project to protect a specification.

Frequently asked questions

Who chooses the light fittings on a commercial project?

The engineer or lighting designer specifies them on the drawings. The electrical contractor then buys them through a wholesaler once they have won the tender.

What does off spec mean in lighting?

It means a fitting other than the specified one is supplied or installed. On commercial jobs, the electrical contractor usually proposes it as a cheaper equivalent.

Do electrical wholesalers recommend light fittings?

Mostly they collect quotes from suppliers. They may suggest alternatives when a contractor asks them for a cheaper option.

Does a substituted fitting change the lighting design?

It can. If the new fitting has different optics or output, the spacing may no longer work, and more fittings may be needed to reach the design light levels.

Zane Wylie is a sales representative at Raylinc Lighting, working with engineers in Townsville, Cairns and Brisbane. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Lighting and is a member of the Illuminating Engineering Society.

Contact the Raylinc team to talk through a specification for your next project.