A commercial lighting brief is ready to price when it carries four layers of information: what each fixture type is and where it goes, how it performs photometrically, how it is controlled and powered, and which market certification it has to satisfy. Miss the control protocol or the destination market and you will get a price for a fixture that cannot be installed on your project. Lighting is the category where a quotation most often looks cheap for reasons the schedule never made visible.
The list below is what our team asks for before a lighting package goes to a factory. It applies whether you are buying 400 downlights for an office fit-out or a mixed decorative and functional package for a hotel.
Layer 1: The Fixture Schedule Itself
Every line needs a type code (L-01, L-02), a description, a mounting method, a room or zone reference, and a quantity. Mounting is the field most often assumed: recessed, surface, suspended, track, wall, or in-ground each imply different housings, different cut-outs and different installation kits.
- Cut-out dimension and recess depth — a 75 mm cut-out downlight and an 85 mm one are not interchangeable once the ceiling is set out; state both the aperture and the depth available above the ceiling
- Body finish — a RAL number or a stated powder-coat / anodised reference, not “white” or “black”
- Trim type — fixed, adjustable, gimbal, wall-wash, pinhole, trimless plaster-in
- Quantity per zone plus a spares allowance; 2–3% on high-count fixture types is normal so year-one replacements do not need a new shipment
Layer 2: How Should Photometric Performance Be Specified?
This is the layer that decides whether two quotations are comparable. Lumens alone are not a specification — a fixture can hit a lumen target with poor colour quality, poor glare control and poor consistency between units.
- Delivered lumens and circuit watts — specify delivered (fixture) lumens, not raw LED chip lumens, and state efficacy in lm/W so the two numbers are tied together
- CCT and colour consistency — 2700K, 3000K or 4000K, and a MacAdam ellipse tolerance of SDCM ≤3 (tighter than the 5-step tolerance many budget fixtures ship at). On a hotel corridor with 60 downlights, 5-step tolerance is visible as a colour mismatch from one fitting to the next
- CRI — Ra ≥80 as a commercial baseline, Ra ≥90 with R9 ≥50 where skin tones or finishes matter, such as guestrooms, retail and F&B
- Glare — UGR ≤19 is the standard requirement for office work areas under EN 12464-1, which also sets 500 lx as the maintained illuminance for office desks
- Beam angle and distribution — state the beam angle per type, and ask for photometric files (IES for North America, LDT for Europe) so your lighting designer can verify the layout rather than trust the datasheet
- Lumen maintenance — L70 or L80 at a stated hour count, supported by LM-80 test data and a TM-21 projection rather than a marketing figure
Sourcing this for a commercial project?
FBM Sourcing works with project owners, developers, main contractors and FF&E contractors on hotel, apartment, school, office and other commercial building projects. Send us your BOQ, drawings or product list — our team will review it and get back to you.
Layer 3: Control, Driver and Electrical Supply
The dimming protocol has to be on the schedule before quotation, because it changes the driver and therefore the price. State one of: mains dimming (TRIAC / leading edge), 1–10V or 0–10V, DALI-2, DMX for colour-changing, or a wireless system such as Casambi or Zigbee. “Dimmable” on its own is not a specification and is the single most common cause of a lighting package arriving incompatible with the control system already procured.
Alongside the protocol, the brief needs the supply voltage and frequency — 120V/60Hz for North America, 220–240V/50Hz for most of Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Africa — and the driver position, whether integral to the fixture or remote in the ceiling void. If a specific driver brand is required by the specification, name it; if an equivalent is acceptable, say what makes an equivalent acceptable so the factory does not substitute downward. Our page on voltage and electrical standards for China-sourced lighting covers the market-by-market detail.
Layer 4: Certification, Ingress Protection and Emergency
Certification is market-specific and non-negotiable for a project that has to pass inspection:
- North America — UL or ETL listing to the relevant UL standard; a CB report is not a substitute. See our guide to UL-listed lighting from China for US projects
- Australia and New Zealand — SAA / RCM, with an Australian responsible supplier registered on the EESS database. Our SAA certification guide sets out what the certificate must actually cover
- Europe and the UK — CE / UKCA with the supporting EMC and LVD test reports, and ENEC where the specification calls for it
- Ingress and impact — IP20 for dry interiors, IP44 for bathrooms and covered external areas, IP65 or above for exposed exterior and washdown areas; IK08 or above where vandal resistance is required in corridors, car parks and school circulation
- Emergency lighting — state the required duration: 90 minutes under NFPA 101 in the United States and under AS/NZS 2293 in Australia; UK projects following BS 5266-1 commonly require three hours in higher-risk premises. Also state whether fittings are maintained or non-maintained, and whether self-test is required
For California projects, Title 24 adds efficacy and control requirements on top of safety certification, which our Title 24 guide covers in detail.
What Turns a Brief Into a Comparable Quotation
A lighting brief that carries all four layers lets a factory price the fixture you actually specified, and lets you compare two or three quotations line by line. A brief missing the control protocol, the SDCM tolerance or the destination certification produces prices that differ by a wide margin for reasons that are invisible until installation.
Two practical additions are worth making before you send it out. First, mark which types are decorative and which are functional — decorative fittings usually come from a different factory than downlights and linear profiles, and separating them means each goes to a factory that actually makes that product. Second, state whether samples are required before bulk release and how many; on a hotel package, a lit sample of the guestroom downlight and the corridor fitting under the actual ceiling finish is worth the two weeks it adds.
How FBM Sourcing Prices a Lighting Package
When a lighting brief reaches our team, we check it against these four layers first and return the gaps as questions rather than filling them in for you. The package is then split by fixture type across the factories that genuinely produce each type, instead of pushing a mixed schedule through one supplier who subcontracts the rest without telling you.
As your sourcing partner, FBM Sourcing issues all quotations, invoices and shipping documents on our own documents, and inspection is carried out by our own team on the factory floor, with a full inspection and photo and video records before shipment. Commission is 5% on packages above USD 50,000 and 8% below, and orders are quoted on a full-container basis.
Sourcing this for a commercial project?
FBM Sourcing works with project owners, developers, main contractors and FF&E contractors on hotel, apartment, school, office and other commercial building projects. Send us your BOQ, drawings or product list — our team will review it and get back to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ‘dimmable’ enough to put on a lighting schedule?
No. The dimming protocol changes the driver and therefore the price and the compatibility. Specify TRIAC, 0–10V, DALI-2, DMX or a named wireless system, because a fixture that dims on one protocol will not dim on another.
What colour consistency tolerance should a commercial project specify?
SDCM ≤3 (a 3-step MacAdam ellipse). Many budget fixtures ship at 5-step tolerance, which is visible as a colour mismatch between adjacent fittings in a corridor or open-plan office.
Does a CB report replace UL listing for a US project?
No. A CB report supports certification in member schemes but is not a UL or ETL listing. For a US commercial project that has to pass inspection, the fixture needs a UL or ETL listing under the applicable standard.
How long should emergency lighting run for?
Ninety minutes is the requirement under NFPA 101 in the United States and under AS/NZS 2293 in Australia. UK projects following BS 5266-1 commonly require three hours in higher-risk premises, so the duration must be stated on the brief rather than assumed.
