Experiences with an online lighting consultation?

If you only start planning on site during the shell construction, then you have already lost.

Yes, that is too late!

Unless you just put a lamp in the middle of the room.

In the bedrooms and the basement, that is completely sufficient.

I don't think you can do a proper lighting plan after just a few hours of online research.

Yes, you can, if you know beforehand what you want.

In the bedrooms and the basement that is completely sufficient

I see it differently. Especially in the bedrooms, you don't want to use just basic lighting. For example, wall lamps or hanging lamps above the bed or above the nightstands. Makeup mirror lighting or decorative lighting definitely creates a cozier light than a lamp in the middle of the room.

Basement rooms are often used as hobby and workrooms. Especially there, you should think about proper lighting. For example, lighting above the work areas and not behind them. Depending on the furniture, a lamp in the middle of the room can also be out of place.

Don't forget to plan outdoor lighting. Driveway, house, terrace lighting.

I see it differently.
Especially in the bedrooms, you don’t want to use just basic lighting.
For example, wall lamps or pendant lamps above the bed or above the nightstands.
Makeup mirror lighting or decorative lighting definitely creates cozier light than a lamp in the middle of the room.

The basement rooms are often used as hobby and work rooms.
Especially there, you should think about proper lighting.
For example, lighting above the work areas and not behind them.
Depending on the furniture, a lamp in the middle of the room can also be out of place.


Don’t forget to plan outdoor lighting.
Driveway, house, terrace lighting.

Again, this is not rocket science. If someone can’t choose a lamp themselves, they have completely different problems when building a house, and if they can’t or won’t research, they just have to pay for publicly available knowledge.

what I don't find easy to imagine is, for example, with built-in LED spots to determine a) how many need to be installed in the hallway/entrance area, b) how many lumens with c) what beam angle. So that you don't feel like you're on a football field in the hallway (absolutely overlit) or that it's planned too dark. The same problem could arise in the bathroom: not too dark and not overlit in the end.

Especially c) the beam angle in combination with the ceiling height and b) the light unit lumen is not so simple in my opinion.

Much easier and really available on all websites, for example, is the color temperature (around 4k Kelvin for workspaces, around 3k for cozy and rather yellowish light, and thus living spaces). Also clear that for the bathroom mirror it's best to have bright light (4k Kelvin) from the front and not from above. The same applies to the kitchen, so you don't have to chop in your own shadow.

I find it much easier to install the lighting afterward using the URail system than to know at the time of the concrete ceiling where which spots will be placed and how they will actually appear in the finished, furnished, and painted larger/smaller room.

True, but at night I sleep. Just kidding. I have a lot of U-Rail from Paulmann on the ground floor and in the bathrooms; it is indeed possible to make mistakes (especially in the kitchen) but they also offer online assistance on how to position things. Everything else is common sense and a few hours of online research.

However, if you have no clue at all, in my opinion, an on-site planning would be preferable.

I looked at the U-Rail track and individual components at the hardware store. Everything looked good. I then planned and purchased extensive components for a larger track-lighting system for our new kitchen. During the test assembly before installation, I was surprised/very disappointed by the poor quality of the parts in assembly. Strong color deviations of the parts, inaccurate fit/distortions of the parts do NOT look like quality, only noticeable during assembly. And wherever there is a connector or branch part, the "technical" parts (screws, springs, etc.) are openly visible for over 3 cm on each side. This CANNOT be covered by the cover strip. I did not want to install this poor visual quality and returned all Paulmann parts. By the way, Paulmann does not refund the price for cut U-rail tracks. My conclusion: if you are looking for good visual quality, you should not choose Paulmann U-Rail.