Parking Lot Lighting Cost Calculator

An LED retrofit on existing poles runs about $600 to $800 per fixture installed, so a 12-pole lot lands near $8,000 to $10,000 including mobilization and a bucket lift. This is the scenario most commercial properties are actually in: the poles are structurally fine, the fixtures are 400W metal halide or high pressure sodium, and the whole project is a fixture swap.

A new pole install is a different order of magnitude — roughly $2,300 to $3,000 per pole for material and labor, plus about $650 per concrete base and $28 per linear foot of trenching if circuits do not already reach. Twelve new poles with bases and modest trenching passes $40,000.

Full replacement adds demolition of the old pole at roughly $340 each. Before assuming replacement, have the poles inspected: a steel or aluminum pole with sound anchor bolts and no base corrosion often has decades of service left, and reusing it is the single largest cost lever in the project.

A 400W metal halide fixture draws about 458 watts once ballast losses are counted, and a 400W high pressure sodium about 465. A modern LED replacement delivering comparable light typically draws 150 watts. At 12 hours per night and $0.15 per kWh, that is roughly $206 saved per fixture per year — around $2,470 a year across 12 poles.

Against a retrofit cost near $9,300, that puts simple payback under four years, with the fixtures rated for 50,000 to 100,000 hours of service. Replacing 1000W metal halide is dramatically better: those draw about 1,080 watts, and payback often lands inside two years.

Simple payback understates the real return because it counts energy only. Metal halide lamps last 15,000 to 24,000 hours and lose significant output long before failure, so you are also paying for relamping, ballast replacement, and a bucket truck visit every few years. Many utilities offer prescriptive rebates for commercial LED conversions — check before you buy, since some require pre-approval.

Do not match wattage — match light output and distribution. Replacing a 400W metal halide with a 400W LED wildly overlights the lot and wastes the savings. Ask the supplier for a photometric layout showing footcandle levels across your lot; most manufacturers produce one free for a project of this size.

Check local lighting ordinances before ordering. Many US municipalities now regulate uplight and trespass, requiring full cutoff or dark-sky compliant fixtures and capping light at the property line. Fixtures that fail the ordinance have to come back down, and that is a second bucket lift you pay for.

Color temperature matters for both perception and compliance. 4000K reads as clean, neutral white and is the common commercial default; 5000K appears brighter and harsher and is increasingly restricted by ordinance. Add photocells or networked controls so the lights actually run dusk to dawn rather than around the clock, which is a surprisingly common finding on older lots.