Meet Dave Dolak: 30+ Years of Award-Winning Outdoor Lighting
Dave Dolak founded Awesome Outdoor Lighting to design every project in person. No subcontracted design, no template quotes. 30+ years and several industry awards later, that hasn’t changed.
30+ years in the field, and the awards to show for it.
Award-winning work. Dave receiving an industry award for his lighting design and installation.
Anyone can buy a transformer and a box of fixtures. What 30+ years in the field actually teach you is everything that happens after the truck leaves: the details a first-season installer usually hasn’t learned the hard way yet.
- 1 Voltage drop. Fixtures at the far end of a run going dim isn’t bad luck. It’s math we get right the first time, so every light on the property matches.
- 2 Aiming, not just placing. The difference between a lit yard and a designed one is beam angle, glare control, and knowing which fixtures to hide entirely.
- 3 Buried to survive. Wire depth, gauge, and connections that are actually sealed against freeze-thaw cycles, not just the ones that pass inspection today.
- 4 Built for the whole property. Load-balancing multiple transformers and zones so nothing overloads, flickers, or trips a breaker two summers from now.
Why Dave still designs every system himself.
“I design every project myself, walking the property after dark before we install a single fixture. Energy-efficient, professional-grade materials, built to last. That’s the whole approach.”
That on-site-first approach is the same one that shapes how we design every landscape lighting service we offer. See the full method on the Services page.
One person, start to finish.
- 1 No subcontracted design. Dave walks every property himself before a fixture is chosen.
- 2 The same person who quotes your project also designs it and installs it.
- 3 A direct line to the founder, not a call center or rotating crew.
- 4 30+ years of lighting designed personally, year after year, across Virginia, Maryland, DC and Pennsylvania.
Want Dave to walk your property?
Free, no-obligation design consultation, scheduled directly with the founder.