Landscape lighting estimator

Your project

mft

1Size and shape10 · 100 ft

Number of path lights

Home run cable length

= 30.48 m

2Region and siteQuebec (province) · Existing outdoor GFCI receptacle · Plug-in · 1

Region

Outdoor receptacle

Transformer connection

Crossings under paving

Near a pool or hot tub

3OptionsDaisy chain, evenly spaced

Run layout

More options

Power per fixture

Cable gauge (AWG)

Customize the assumptions

Replace our values with yours (a supplier quote, the rental time you plan). The estimate is recomputed and the link keeps your choices.

Turn on JavaScript to change these values.

Price: Low voltage LED path light

$ / each

Default: 31 $ / each · allowed 7.75 to 124

The unit price before tax your supplier quoted you.

Amounts before taxes. GST (5%) and QST (9.975%) are added and shown separately.

Do it yourself, beginner: $2,000*; * Includes your time: 33.6 h × $35.05/h (beginner). Money spent only: $775
Money spent only: $770; doing it yourself, before taxes
Contractor, typical: $1,700; $1,400 to $2,100
Break-even, beginner: $27/h; At $35/h: hiring costs less.

OverviewOverview MaterialsMaterials and rentals HoursHours by step ContractorHire a contractor SourcesAssumptions and sources

Before you digEven a shallow slit is digging: file a free Info-Excavation request before opening the ground.

Even a shallow slit is digging: file a free Info-Excavation request before opening the ground.

Source: Régie du bâtiment du Québec, Travaux d'excavation · APSAM (Association paritaire pour la santé et la sécurité du travail, secteur affaires municipales), Fiche technique 34, Protéger les services publics souterrains

Other notes from the calculation (4)

Burial depth of 12 V cable not verified: follow the maker's instructions and the electrical code.
Transformer, cable and fixtures certified for Canada (CSA, cUL or cETL mark).
No machine within 1 m of the locate marks: expose utilities by hand.
RBQ licence: subcategory none for this kind of excavation (licence required: false).

Where the money goes

Before taxes, one scale for both bars.

Do it yourself, money spent

$775

Materials$775

Contractor, typical price

$1,666

Materials$717
Labour$333
Overhead$450
Margin$167

True cost: money and time

Before tax, one scale for every bar.

People

Value of one hour$35.05/h

By default, the average hourly wage in Quebec:

Money spentYour time ($35/h)Contractor's rangeTypical price ($1,700)

Do-it-yourself true cost and a contractor's price, before tax
Money, do it yourself	$775
True cost, beginner	$1,952
True cost, intermediate	$1,589
Contractor	$1,400 to $2,100 ($1,700)

Your time

Money, hours, days, value of the time and true cost, beginner and intermediate
Measure	Beginner	Intermediate
Money spent	$775	$775
Person-hours	34 h	23 h
Days of 8 h, 2 people	2.5 days	1.5 days
Your time at $35/h	$1,177	$814
True cost	$1,952	$1,589

Working days only: add rain days and waiting times (curing, deliveries).

Hiring costs less if your time is worth more than:

$27/h

Based on beginner hours.

At $35/h: hiring costs less.

Break-even = (the contractor's typical price minus the money spent doing it yourself) divided by your person-hours. Before tax on both sides: GST and QST apply to both.

Actions

Estimates are computed in your browser: no account, and your projects stay on your device. The page link holds your choices: copy it to come back or to share it. "Save this project" keeps it in this browser only, nothing is sent. My projects

Step-by-step guide

Phases, "done when" checks, safety, common mistakes and sources, with your project's quantities.

Read the guide

Do it yourself

What you buy, rent and pay for

Quantities in orderable units, retail prices before taxes, with the source, date and region of every price.

Do-it-yourself cost detail
Item	Quantity	Unit price	Amount
Materials
LED path light	10 units	$31.00/unit	$310.00$31.00/unit
12 AWG low-voltage cable	2 rolls200 ft · 60.96 m	$84.00/roll	$168.00$84.00/roll
Connectors	10 pieces	$4.98/piece	$49.80$4.98/piece
Photocell and timer	1 unit	$19.99/unit	$19.99$19.99/unit
150 VA multi-tap transformer	1 unit	$166.85/unit	$166.85$166.85/unit
4 in PVC SDR-35 sleeve	1 length	$59.99/length	$59.99$59.99/length

Tools to buy (2)

Untick the ones you already own.

Wire stripper$13.99
Multimeter$28.49

Total before taxes: $774.63
GST (5%): $38.73
QST (9.975%): $77.27
Total with taxes: $890.63

GST and QST are computed on purchases and rentals; your own work is not taxed.

Your time

How many hours, at what pace

Person-hours (p-h): a professional's hours times a documented factor for your experience, rework and machine learning included, plus the guide's planning and checks (planning, locate request, permits). The factors are in the assumptions.

Beginner

34 h

about 2.5 days of 8 h with 2 people

Work: 19.9 h
Rework: 2 h
Learning the machines: 0 h
Planning and checks: 11.7 h

Beginner: has never compacted a base or cut pavers.

Intermediate

23 h

about 1.5 days of 8 h with 2 people

Work: 14.5 h
Rework: 0.7 h
Learning the machines: 0 h
Planning and checks: 8.1 h

Intermediate: has done at least one similar project.

For comparison, a professional: 7.5 h of work, about 0.5 crew days.

Step by step, from the guide

Each guide step, timed by the same calculation as the total: each task's hours at your level's pace, rework included. Hover a value to see the range.

Hours per guide step, beginner and intermediate
Step	Beginner	Intermediate
1Draw the lighting planguide rate	2.9	2
Add up the load and choose the transformerguide rate	1.5	1
Check voltage drop and choose the gaugeguide rate	1.5	1
2Check the outdoor outlet and call an electrician if neededguide rate	0.7	0.5
Request a locate before opening the groundguide rate	0.7	0.5
3Open the slits and run the cableweather	4.4	3.1
Run sleeves under hard surfacesguide rate	1.5	1
4Mount the transformer and connect the runs	2.9	2
5Fit the fixtures and make the connections	14.6	10.1
Measure the voltage at the last fixtureguide rate	1.5	1
Aim, schedule and close the slitsguide rate	1.4	1
Total (p-h)	33.6	23.2

The rows add up to the total: 21.9 h of work calculated by the engine, plus 11.7 h of planning and checks at the guide's rate (beginner). One step depends on the weather. Read the full guide

Detail by calculation task(3)

Detail by calculation task
Task	Pro	Beginner	Intermediate
Fixture installation	5	14.6	10.1
Low-voltage cable laying	1.5	4.4	3.1
Transformer installation	1	2.9	2
Learning the machines	-	0	0
Total	7.5	33.6	23.2

Person-hours per task. Beginner and intermediate hours include rework.

Hire a contractor

What a contractor would charge

Range before taxes for the same project built by a crew: labour, equipment, materials, overhead and margin.

Low

$1,400

Typical

$1,700

High

$2,100

Before taxes

Where the money goes (typical price before taxes, $1,666)

Breakdown of the typical price before taxes
Materials	43%	$717
Labour	20%	$333
Overhead(estimate)	27%	$450
Margin(estimate)	10%	$167
Typical price before taxes		$1,666
GST (5%)		$83.28
QST (9.975%)		$166.15
Typical price with taxes		$1,915

What moves the total

1Contractor overhead
Typical price from $1,499 to $1,908 with this factor
2Price: Low voltage LED path light
Typical price from $1,592 to $1,907 with this factor
3Contractor profit
Typical price from $1,499 to $1,809 with this factor

Each factor is pushed alone to its low, then high value; the others stay at their typical value.

The range shows the effect of documented price and productivity spreads. It is not a probability.

Every price, production rate and parameter has a documented low, typical and high value. The range shown starts from the typical cost and combines the swing of each factor taken one at a time, by the root of the sum of squares (independent spreads rarely all land at their extreme together). The stacked extremes stay in the detail. It is not a probability.

Range with taxes: $1,600 to $2,400.

Contractor crew: 7.5 h of work, about 0.5 days.

Rules in Quebec

Permits, licences and neighbours

What applies to this kind of work, with the source of every rule.

RBQ licence
Electrical installation work, lighting with its wires and devices included, is reserved to CMEQ members when done for others. A homeowner may not do their own electrical work, even at home: a new outlet, a circuit or a hard-wired transformer needs an electrician.
Source: Gouvernement du Québec (LégisQuébec), Loi sur les maîtres électriciens, RLRQ c. M-3 · Régie du bâtiment du Québec, Travaux que vous pouvez faire vous-même
RBQ licence
For a contractor installing only the 12 V side of a plug-in kit at a client's home, our sources do not settle the licence question. Ask the business whether it is a CMEQ member and check its licences before signing.
Source: Gouvernement du Québec (LégisQuébec), Loi sur les maîtres électriciens, RLRQ c. M-3 · Régie du bâtiment du Québec, Vérifier la licence d'un entrepreneur
Safety
The Electricity chapter of the Construction Code adopts the Canadian Electrical Code with Quebec amendments. Choose equipment certified for Canada and plug the transformer into a GFCI-protected outdoor outlet.
Source: LégisQuébec, Éditeur officiel du Québec, Code de construction, RLRQ c. B-1.1, r. 2
Utility locate
Before opening the ground for a cable or a spiked fixture, file a free Info-Excavation request.
Source: Régie du bâtiment du Québec, Travaux d'excavation · Hydro-Québec, What to do before you dig (underground lines)
Consumer protection
Ask for a written contract detailing the fixtures, transformer, cable, the electrician's share, the total price and the warranty.
Source: Office de la protection du consommateur, Request a contract (before hiring a renovation contractor)

Assumptions

Calculation parameters

Typical value (low to high), source, date, region and confidence grade of every parameter in the calculation.

See the assumptions(22)

Calculation parameters
Assumption	Value	Source, date, region	Grade
Contractor overhead (share of price)	27% (20% to 35%)
Net profit (share of price)	10% (3% to 15%)
Contractor discount on retail prices	7.5% (15% to 0%)
Crew round trip to the site	1 h	fixed rule	-
Non-productive time per person per day	0.5 p-h (0.25 p-h to 1 p-h)
Job Bank median wages, no CCQ rates	Job Bank medians, no CCQ rates	fixed rule	-
GST	5%	fixed rule	-
QST	9.975%	fixed rule	-
Base hourly wage: foreman	$28.00/h ($22.00/h to $40.03/h)
Base hourly wage: heavy equipment operator	$36.00/h ($24.00/h to $43.40/h)
Base hourly wage: labourer	$21.89/h ($17.36/h to $28.50/h)
Base hourly wage: operator	$36.00/h ($24.00/h to $43.40/h)
Base hourly wage: paver installer	$27.00/h ($20.00/h to $38.00/h)
Time multiplier, beginner	2.65 x (1.88 x to 3.81 x)
Time multiplier, intermediate	1.92 x (1.52 x to 2.44 x)
Rework, beginner	0.1 x
Rework, intermediate	0.05 x
Learning time per machine, beginner	1.5 h (1 h to 2 h)
Learning time per machine, intermediate	0.5 h
People working (do it yourself)	2
Productive hours per day (do it yourself)	6 h
Fuel price	$1.51/L

Region: Quebec · prices as of October 13, 2026 · engine 1.2.0. These three values are enough to reproduce this calculation.

Sources

Where the numbers come from

Every price and parameter on this page points to one of these sources.

1.paysagement (research), Costs: equipment rentals, labour, production rates and contractor sell prices (Quebec, 2025 to 2026)October 10, 2026 · Amérique du Nord · 10 values
2.paysagement (engine plan), Engine parameter registry seed list (estimates with no external source)October 10, 2026 · Québec · 3 values
3.Job Bank (Guichet-Emplois), wage report, EI survey data 2023-2024, updated 2025-11-19November 19, 2025 · Québec · 2 values
4.Home Depot Canada product page (price read from the search engine's copy of the page; direct fetch refused)October 10, 2026 · Québec · 1 value
5.Home Depot Canada product page (price read from the search engine's copy of the page; direct fetch refused)October 10, 2026 · Québec · 1 value
6.Home Depot Canada product page (price read from the search engine's copy of the page; direct fetch refused)October 10, 2026 · Québec · 1 value
7.Home Depot Canada product page (price read from the search engine's copy of the page; direct fetch refused)October 10, 2026 · Québec · 1 value
8.Job Bank (Guichet-Emplois), wage report, EI survey data 2023-2024, updated 2025-11-19November 19, 2025 · Québec · 1 value
9.Job Bank (Guichet-Emplois), wage report, EI survey data 2023-2024, updated 2025-11-19November 19, 2025 · Québec · 1 value
10.Job Bank (Guichet-Emplois), wage report, EI survey data 2023-2024, updated 2025-11-19November 19, 2025 · Québec · 1 value
11.Patrick Morin, Minuterie exterieure cordon photoelectronique, 24 heures (Woods)October 10, 2026 · Québec · 1 value
12.Patrick Morin, Multimetre numerique, manuel (Gardner Bender)October 10, 2026 · Québec · 1 value
13.Patrick Morin, Pince a denuder multi-outil, sertissage/denudage (Gardner Bender)October 10, 2026 · Québec · 1 value
14.Patrick Morin, Tuyau d'egout en PVC 4 po x 13 pi (EGOUSDR35)October 10, 2026 · Québec · 1 value

Yourself$2,000*Money spent$770Contractor$1,700Break-even$27/hbefore taxes, estimate

Good to know before you start

Where the money goes

Do it yourself, money spent

Contractor, typical price

True cost: money and time

Your time

Hiring costs less if your time is worth more than:

Actions

Tools to buy (2)

Step by step, from the guide

Where the money goes (typical price before taxes, $1,666)