Parking Lot and Exterior Lighting
Poles, wall packs and canopies — the lights a customer sees before they see your door.
Exterior lighting is the part of a commercial building that runs every night of the year, in every kind of weather, mostly out of reach. ThreeCo replaces, repairs and redesigns it: pole-mounted parking lot lights, building-mounted wall packs, and canopy lighting over entries, drive-throughs and loading docks.
A lot of exterior lighting still in service is metal halide or high-pressure sodium. Those fixtures are often not dead — they are dim, orange, slow to come on and expensive to keep lamping, because every lamp change on a tall pole means a lift.
What this covers
- Parking lot poles — new LED heads on existing poles, or new poles and bases where the layout needs them.
- Wall packs — the building-mounted fixtures over doors, along walls and at the back of the building.
- Canopy lighting — covered entries, drive-throughs, fuel islands and loading docks.
- The controls that switch it all: photocells, time clocks and, where it makes sense, motion-based dimming.
- The underground and in-wall wiring that feeds the fixtures, when it is part of the problem.
Signs the exterior lighting needs work
A metal halide or high-pressure sodium lamp near the end of its life often cycles: it comes on, overheats, shuts off, cools down and tries again. A lot where one or two poles blink through the evening is usually a lot full of lamps the same age. Other signs are easier to miss because they arrive slowly — a pink or orange cast, dark patches between poles, yellowed lenses, and lights burning in the afternoon because a photocell has failed.
Dark spots matter more than they look. A parking lot is where customers and staff walk to their cars, and it is the first thing anyone sees of the building after dark.
How ThreeCo does it
- 1
Walk the site
We count and identify the existing fixtures, note where the light falls short, and look at how each pole and wall circuit is fed and switched.
- 2
Design the replacement
Our CEO, Bob DeFries, whose background is in electrical engineering and architectural design, specifies the fixtures and the controls. You get a written quote for the fixtures, the controls and the labor.
- 3
Install
A crew led by Master Electrician Jason Strange swaps the heads and wall packs, fits the controls and repairs any wiring the work uncovers. We schedule it with you.
- 4
Set the controls
Photocells and time clocks are set and tested so the lot lights at dusk and goes off when it should.
What affects the cost
We do not publish prices, because exterior jobs vary more than almost anything else we quote. What moves the number: how many poles and fixtures there are and how tall; whether the existing poles, bases and arms are sound enough to keep; an LED retrofit kit versus a complete new fixture; lift access and whether part of the lot has to be closed while the crew works; the controls you want; and the state of the buried wiring. A lot that has had a dead pole for a year often has a wiring fault underground, and finding it is part of the job.
Permits, inspection and rebates
New poles, new circuits and new controls generally need an electrical permit and an inspection, and some cities also have site-lighting rules in their zoning code about how much light may spill past the property line. Swapping a head on an existing pole is treated differently from city to city. We find out what your jurisdiction wants before the work starts.
Utility rebates for exterior LED depend on which Evergy account the building is on. Evergy's current Kansas brochure requires exterior fixtures to be on a photocell or time clock, running dusk to dawn, to qualify. When a program is open, ThreeCo files the paperwork as part of the project; our Evergy rebate guide explains where things stand today.
Recent work
Exterior lighting we worked on in 2026
Finished between August and early October 2026. We describe the work and the town; we do not name the customer.
- Lenexa, KS — Service on bollard lights.
- Lenexa, KS — Shields added to parking lot lights.
- Raytown, MO — High-bay LED lighting, exit signs, and a light pole added to the parking lot, all at one site.
- Shawnee, KS — Five LED wall packs.
FAQ
Questions about parking lot and exterior lighting
Can you keep our existing light poles?
Often, yes. If the pole, the base and the arm are sound, a new LED head goes on the existing pole. That gets checked at the walk-through, before anything is quoted.
Why do our parking lot lights turn off and back on at night?
On metal halide and high-pressure sodium fixtures that is usually a lamp at the end of its life cycling on and off. It can also be a failing ballast or photocell. A switch to LED ends the lamp changes.
Do LED parking lot lights qualify for an Evergy rebate?
It depends on the Evergy account the building is on and on what Evergy is offering when you apply. Evergy's current Kansas brochure lists exterior lighting incentives for fixtures on a photocell or time clock. When a program is open, ThreeCo files it for you; see our Evergy rebate guide for the current state.
One pole is out. Can you fix just that?
Yes. A single dark pole is a troubleshooting call: the fixture, the photocell, the breaker or the wire feeding it. We find which and fix it.
How do I get a quote?
Start with Watt, the chat button on this page: tell it the address, what kind of fixtures are up there and roughly how many. It goes straight to the team. You can also call (816) 730-9100. Estimates are free unless a site visit is needed to scope the job; where one is, there is a trip charge, waived if you move forward with the work.
Lot too dark, or tired of lamp changes?
Tell Watt the address and roughly how many poles and wall packs you have. We will come back with a real number.
New customers: start with Watt and get 10% off your first job.