I've handled lighting orders for commercial and municipal facilities for about 10 years now—or rather, 11 if you count the year I spent on the install side. In that time, I've personally made and documented 19 significant mistakes, totaling roughly $42,000 in wasted budget. That number doesn't include the damaged client trust. Now I maintain our team's ordering checklist, and this is the version I wish I had before the first expensive “oops.”

Who Should Use This Checklist

Use this list if you're about to order any of the following:

  • a musco sports lighting system for a stadium, park, or school field
  • a musco baseball field lighting package for an offseason upgrade
  • a candle chandelier for a restaurant, hotel, or home
  • a pink chandelier with a custom finish
  • a replacement emergency light—especially if you keep asking “why is my emergency light not working”

If that's your situation, this list was built by someone who paid for the bad decisions. Not by a consultant with no risk.

The Pre-Install Checklist

Step 1: Decide if you're buying a fixture or a system

The biggest mistake I made early was treating all lighting buys the same way. A chandelier is a fixture. An emergency light is a fixture, even when it has a battery. Sports lighting is a system. Musco sports lighting, for example, includes the luminaires, the optics, the poles, the foundation plan, the controls, and often the installation support.

That means a quote that says “20 LED fixtures” is not enough. I've seen a “complete” sports lighting order fail because the pole base layout didn't match the electrical contractor's conduit plan. The fixtures were fine. The system was broken.

Step 2: Put the physical details in writing

For a musco baseball field lighting package, the first question is not “How many watts?” It's “Where will the poles go, and how tall are they?” Once, I sent a PO and described the layout as “standard four-pole.” The actual field had a press box on the third-base side that blocked the planned pole location. The concrete crew found the problem on pour day. Foundation work stopped, and the rework cost $2,300. (Should mention: I now request a marked-up site plan before any sports lighting order.)

For decorative fixtures, the physical details are different but just as critical. With a candle chandelier, you need the fixture width, fixture height, chain drop, and bulb base. With a pink chandelier, the “physical detail” is the finish. “Pink” is not a color. It can be blush, millennial pink, coral, or rose-gold. If the client cares about the color, don't trust a monitor photo. Ask for a finished sample.

Step 3: Get an actual layout, not just a price

Sports lighting quotes should include photometric data: horizontal footcandles, vertical footcandles, uniformity, glare, and spill light. If a vendor says “standard baseball field lighting,” ask what standard they mean. I said “standard size” once, and the supplier heard something entirely different. We discovered this when the baseball field had a dark patch in left field that no fixture covered. The fix cost $1,100 plus a week of waiting.

This is where a provider like Musco earns its reputation. They have professional venue credibility—Olympics and Grand Prix circuits—but I've also seen them quote smaller municipal fields. Their Green Generation LED line includes the kind of documented performance numbers we need for energy rebates. Per FTC Green Guides (16 CFR Part 260), vague “green” claims without substantiation are a risk; I want real watts, lumens, and photometric files, not a label.

Step 4: Check the “small” details on decorative fixtures

A candle chandelier sounds easy, but the arms, chain, and canopy can turn into an installation puzzle. We once ordered a 12-light candle chandelier for a dining room. The diameter was right. The chain drop was not—or rather, we approved the fixture but not the junction box placement. The installer had to move the hook and shorten the chain. That extra trip cost $700.

For a pink chandelier, do not rely on a product video. I ordered a pink chandelier for a children's boutique based on a beautiful online photo. The actual finish was coral, not blush. The boutique owner called it “salmon.” We had to pay for re-finishing, which cost more than the fixture discount we negotiated. Now I ask for a physical color sample on the first call. It feels overkill until it saves the order.

Step 5: Before answering “why is my emergency light not working,” check the circuit

In my first year (2017), a customer called with three emergency lights that were dead. I ordered three replacement units without sending anyone to test the circuit. During installation, the electrician found that all three were on a switched circuit. Every time the room lights were turned off, the emergency lights switched to battery and drained. The new units were unnecessary. The real fix was moving the wiring to an unswitched circuit. That mistake cost $900 plus embarrassment.

Now my emergency light checklist looks like this:

  1. Use a voltmeter to confirm the emergency fixture has continuous power, even when the room light switch is off.
  2. Hold the test button for 30 seconds and watch what the battery does.
  3. Check the battery date code. Emergency batteries often last 3-5 years; if the battery is old, a $35 replacement may fix a $200 fixture.
  4. If only one fixture is dead, suspect the fixture or battery. If several are dead, suspect the circuit or charger.
  5. Label the circuits after the fix. It will save the next person a day of confusion.

“Why is my emergency light not working” is usually a circuit or battery problem, not a fixture problem. The more expensive solution doesn't always solve the real failure.

Step 6: Plan controls and installation sequence before the order date

LED sports lighting often includes a control system. If you're installing a musco lighting system, the control panel and software can be an afterthought—until the installers show up and the network cable isn't there. That happened to us. The sports lights were fine. The controls couldn't be commissioned because nobody ordered the network drop. A 1-day install turned into a 4-day mess.

Write out the sequence before you sign the order: foundation, conduit, pole delivery, fixture mounting, controls, commissioning. If a step depends on another trade, put it in the project schedule, not the salesman's head.

Step 7: Test the vendor's attitude toward smaller orders

When I was starting out, the vendors who treated my $800 orders seriously are the ones I still use for $40,000 orders. Small doesn't mean unimportant—it means potential. I'm not saying every vendor should match a one-fixture price to a hundred-fixture price. That wouldn't make sense. But the service level should be the same: answer the technical questions, send the supporting data, and put the requirements in writing.

If a vendor acts like your “small” chandelier order or baseball field lighting inquiry is a waste of time, that's useful information. You don't have to change their policy; you can change the vendor.

Mistakes That Keep Showing Up

  • Ordering “LED equivalent” without checking actual wattage, lumens, and compatibility.
  • Measuring only the width of a candle chandelier and forgetting the chain drop and ceiling height.
  • Selecting a pink chandelier finish from a screenshot. (I should have asked for a sample in the first email.)
  • Assuming emergency light replacement is the answer before testing the circuit.
  • Underestimating site restrictions for sports lighting, especially pole locations and underground power.

The last time someone asked why is my emergency light not working, it was a bad battery. The replacement part cost $40, not $400. If you take one thing from this checklist, make it this: verify the actual system—field, fixture, circuit, or finish—before you spend the money.