Lumenworks Lighting Design - Oakland, California

Gary Miguel

I hired Lumenworks to design the lighting for a remodel of a 2 bed, 2 bath house. They basically produced two products:
1. A schematic design, specifying location and type of light fixtures.
2. Specific make and model information for each light fixture.

I am very satisfied with #1. They laid out the lights very well, in a way that improved significantly over what our architect had initially drawn. They also made some good suggestions on improving the non-lighting aspects of the design.

However, #2 was quite bad. The problems:
* The fixtures they chose were quite expensive, but the prices weren't included in the documents Lumenworks provided. For all the surface-mounted fixtures, I ended up discovering months later that they'd specified very expensive fixtures, and then spending lots of time researching cheaper options.
* For the recessed fixtures, I just went with what they'd suggested rather than researching on my own, but...
* The recessed lights they picked for our master bedroom had to be special ordered. They were very expensive, and they took a really long time to get. So much that our entire remodel was held up waiting for them to be delivered.
* The recessed lights they picked for our master bedroom can be ordered with many different drivers. On the sheet specifying which options to order for this particular fixture, Lumenworks didn't specify an option for the driver. Instead they wrote that the general contractor should specify the driver option.
* My general contractor just went with the default, standard driver for that light fixture. He sent the order to Lumenworks before finalizing it, and Lumenworks said it looked good. However the default driver option for these lights is not compatible with residential dimmer switches! Fixing this mistake cost me thousands of dollars and many hours of grief, and it all could have been avoided if Lumenworks would have specified a driver option that worked with normal dimmer switches, or warned my contractor that they were making a risky choice. Since I was paying them to choose fixtures that would actually work for my project, I view this as Lumenworks' responsibility.

Nancy Friedman

I recently engaged Lumenworks to redesign the lighting in my one-bedroom Adams Point condo. This was a small job for the firm, which has handled major corporate and residential commissions, but you wouldn't have known it from the dedicated attention I received. Thomas Skradski, the firm's principal, came to my building, did detailed drawings, and explained his choices in language I could understand. He also connected me with an excellent electrician, who did the installation in a single day. Thomas also focused the installed fixtures (LED track) and installed tiny louvers to filter and soften the light. The results have exceeded my expectations: I have light exactly where I want it (highlighting art on the walls; focused on my reading material instead of on my face), and the whole condo looks brighter and ... well, classier. The lights are much more energy-efficient than what I had before in this 1980s building, so that's another plus. A skilled lighting designer makes a huge difference, and Thomas is a real pro!

Jonathan Franco