What to charge to replace light fixture like-for-like (customer-supplied fixture)
This is a lighting job, where fixture quality and ceiling access set the grade more than the wiring does. Figure about 45 minutes on a Normal run, with roughly $6 of material at contractor cost before markup. At a $120/hour shop rate - the worked example we use across this site - the flat-rate math for "replace light fixture like-for-like (customer-supplied fixture)" comes out like this:
| Easy | everything cooperates: good access, sound wiring, no surprises | $80 |
| Normal | the typical version of this job in an occupied home | $100 |
| Hard | poor access, aged or altered wiring, extra protection or staging | $130 |
Same math: hours x grade x your rate, plus material at 25% markup, rounded up to $5. Don't know your rate? Find it free in two minutes.
What makes this job Easy or Hard
Lighting grades on three things: the fixture, the height and the box. Easy is a like-for-like swap at reachable height onto a sound box with a fixture that assembles sanely. Normal covers most work: first-floor ceilings, a fixture with some assembly, minor box adjustment. Hard is tall foyers and stair wells that need staging or a tall ladder, heavy fixtures that need a brace box you have to install, customer-supplied fixtures that arrive half-engineered with instructions translated twice, and anything cut into an insulated ceiling without attic access. Recessed work swings on whether you are retrofitting an existing can or cutting new locations, and on what the attic looks like in August. Exterior fixtures add weather sealing and often rotted siding surprises. Quote customer-supplied fixtures with a line that says assembly problems are billable - a two-hour chandelier can hide inside a flat-pack box.
Don't forget
At these numbers this is a small-ticket task: apply your minimum job charge (most one-van shops use $100-150) or bundle it with other work on the same visit - the drive and setup cost the same either way.
Questions
Why is there a price range instead of one number?
Height, fixture weight and box condition move lighting jobs between grades. A swap at 8 feet onto a good box is Easy; the same swap at 18 feet with a brace box you install is Hard, at the same hourly rate.
The customer bought the fixture. Does that change the price?
The labor grade is the same, but quote customer-supplied fixtures with the condition that missing parts and assembly problems are billable time. You did not choose the fixture; you should not eat its problems.
Related lighting prices
- What to charge to install recessed led retrofit in existing can (each) - $125 Normal
- What to charge to install new recessed led light in new location (attic access) - $210 Normal
- What to charge to install chandelier or heavy fixture with brace box - $290 Normal
- All 75 flat-rate task prices
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