Four cost lines, not one
The unit price is the smallest line in most outdoor logo projector light budgets and the only one anybody quotes. Hardware, custom artwork, installation and the replacement cycle are the other three, and on a five-year view they routinely exceed the cost of the fixture. Price all four or you will be surprised twice.
- Hardware — the fixture, lens and bracket
- Custom artwork — the gobo, and every re-cut after it
- Installation — access, power and making good
- Running cost — cleaning, power and replacement cycles
What you pay for the fixture
Hardware scales with output and rating. an outdoor logo projector light at the bottom of the 50–250 W range for a sheltered indoor position is a different product from one at the top of the range rated IP67 for an exposed facade — same category, very different bill. The jump is driven by the LED, the driver, the thermal design and the housing, in that order.
- Output, which sets the LED, driver and heatsink size
- Ingress rating, which sets the sealing and housing design
- Lens quality, which sets how much output reaches the wall
- Finish and hardware, which set how it survives the site
| Specification | Lower cost | Higher cost |
|---|---|---|
| Output | 50 W class | 250 W and above |
| Ingress rating | Indoor rated | IP67 for exposed positions |
| Optics | Fixed lens | Zoom with lockable focus |
| Artwork | Metal gobo | glass gobo with fine detail |
The recurring line
Budget for artwork as a subscription, not a purchase. A single outdoor logo projector light might need one gobo in five years; a twenty-site rollout will need dozens, and every one of them is a small project with artwork, proofing and shipping. Standardising the file and the size is the single biggest saving available.
- Engraving per unit, and any minimum quantity
- Artwork preparation if the supplied file needs work
- Shipping, especially on small reorders
- Lead time, and the cost of waiting
Installation, power and access
Installation is where budgets break, because it depends on the site rather than the product. Access equipment, a new power run, out-of-hours working and making good afterwards are all variable and none of them appear in an outdoor logo projector light quote. Survey before you commit, and price the access separately.
Total cost of ownership
Total cost is dominated by whatever you have to do most often. If the outdoor logo projector light is easy to reach, cleaning is trivial and cheap; if it needs scaffolding, it gets deferred, output declines, and eventually somebody replaces a unit that only needed a wipe. Design for access and the running cost halves.
- Hardware, once
- Artwork reorders, every rebrand or new site
- Cleaning, twice a year
- Power, continuously
| Cost line | Frequency | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Once | Output and ingress rating |
| Artwork | Every rebrand or new site | Number of sites and change frequency |
| Cleaning | Twice a year | Access method, mostly |
| Power | Continuously | Wattage and daily run hours |
Cuts that cost you later
Spend on the survey and the artwork, save on the headline wattage. A correctly sized outdoor logo projector light, aimed at a well-chosen surface, beats an over-specified one pointed at the wrong wall — and costs less to buy and to run.
