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Exterior Lighting in Ontario: Entries, Garage, Soffit Pot Lights, Path Lights, Motion and Dusk-to-Dawn, Wet Ratings, GFCI Receptacles, ICF and Stone Walls
Electrical & Lighting
Outside Lights: The Entry, the Garage, the Soffits, and the Neighbours Who Get a Vote
Outdoor lighting is the part of the electrical where the neighbours have an opinion and the weather has the final word. A light that is wrong inside is annoying; a light that is wrong outside fills with water, trips the GFCI every rainstorm, or lights the bedroom across the road. This page covers what goes where outside, what it costs in Ontario, the ratings to look for, the outdoor receptacles, and how lights get fastened to ICF, stone and siding. It is part of the home lighting guide.
The numbers
$200 to $400a soffit pot light, installed
$100 to $300to replace a fixture on its box
2.5 mof grade: outdoor receptacles need GFCI
$150 to $400a core-drilled hole for a forgotten ICF sleeve
| Job | Range | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Replace an outdoor fixture on an existing box | $100 to $300 | your fixture |
| New outdoor fixture needing a new circuit from the panel | $300 to $600 | more for long runs |
| Soffit pot light | $200 to $400 each | damp or wet rated |
| Dimmer | $40 to $80 labour | plus a $25 to $100 device |
| Smart switch with a timer schedule, installed | $120 to $250 | soffits and floods |
| Core drill through an ICF wall for a missed sleeve | $150 to $400 a hole | allowance, plus the patch |
| Low-voltage path lights | no published Ontario price | quoted after a site visit |
| ESA fee, renovation, 1 to 10 outlets | $46 / $64 | contractor / homeowner |
On a new house, the exterior receptacles and a basic exterior light rough-in are normally inside the whole-house wiring price; the fixtures themselves are not. HST is 13 percent on top.
Why Ontario prices are all over the map: the contractors and price guides we checked for this page quoted very different prices for the same pot light. A North York contractor said $75 to $95 a light and another GTA contractor $100 to $150, while a Guelph contractor said $150 to $250 in an open ceiling, $200 to $350 retrofit, and $200 to $400 for one in a soffit. Outside, the gap grows: whether the soffit is open, how far the wire has to go, the rating of the light, and whether it is supplied. Budget $300 a soffit light in an existing house, and get two or three quotes on the same written scope.
What Goes Where
These are placement habits builders and electricians start from. They are not code, and a house in the trees on a dark concession road needs less than you think.
- Entry lights at about eye height. Centre the fixture about 66 in. above the threshold, on the latch side or both sides, with the fixture about a quarter to a third of the door height. Too small reads as an afterthought from the road.
- Garage lights about 6 to 7 ft up. One each side of a single door, or one between a pair. Add a motion flood on the driveway side if you back in at night.
- Soffit pot lights about a foot out from the wall. That washes light down the siding or stone. Space them to the windows and doors, not to a tape measure; 6 to 8 ft apart is a common start.
- A light on every set of steps. Deck stairs, the walk to the side door, the basement walkout. Steps are where people fall in the dark.
- Path lights about 6 to 10 ft apart, staggered. Not two straight rows. You want a path, not an airport.
- Switches inside, by the door. Plus a timer or photocell for the soffits, so they are not on at noon in July.
Damp, Wet and the Receptacle by the Door
Every outdoor fixture box says damp location or wet location. Damp is for a sheltered spot, under a porch roof or a deep soffit, where rain does not hit it directly. Wet is for anywhere rain, snow or the hose can reach it. A damp-rated light on an open wall facing the lake fills with water by the second fall, and the inspector reads the labels. When in doubt, buy wet.
Outdoor receptacles within 2.5 m of finished grade need GFCI protection under Rule 26-704 of the Ontario Electrical Safety Code, 2024 edition (29th), in force since May 1, 2025. The 2024 edition also added outdoor receptacle requirements for single dwellings; your electrician places those. Ask for an in-use cover, the deep bubble kind that closes with a cord plugged in, on any receptacle that will run Christmas lights or a block heater.
If an outdoor receptacle is hot, discoloured, or smells like burning, turn its breaker off and call a Licensed Electrical Contractor today. A GFCI that trips every rain is telling you water is getting in somewhere; it is not the GFCI that is broken, and nobody should bypass it.
Motion, Dusk-to-Dawn and the Neighbours
A 5000K floodlight on a motion sensor aimed at the road is how you meet your neighbours, once. Good outdoor light points down. Look for fixtures shielded so the bulb cannot be seen from the side, often sold as full cutoff or dark-sky friendly, and keep outdoor colour at 3000K or warmer. On Georgian Bay a bare bulb on a boathouse shines a mile across the water, and the people on the other shore see it all night.
Use dusk-to-dawn photocells for the few lights that should stay on, motion sensors for floods and the garage, and a timer to switch the soffits off at bedtime. Some LED fixtures and older sensors do not get along, so buy the fixture with the sensor built in. Ask your township whether it has any outdoor lighting rules before you buy floods for a new house; rules, where they exist, differ from one municipality to the next.
Mounting Lights on ICF, Stone and Siding
An ICF wall is foam on both faces with a concrete core. The electrician fastens the outdoor box to the plastic webs moulded into the forms, at the depth that suits the finish, and runs the cable in a channel cut in the foam. Anything that has to go through the concrete, an exterior light fed from inside, a receptacle, the soffit circuit, needs a sleeve set in the form before the pour. We walk the house with the electrician before every pour with a list of every penetration. Forget one and it is a core drill, $150 to $400 a hole as an allowance, plus the patch. The ICF wiring page has the full list, and ICFPro.ca covers the walls and foundations themselves.
On siding, the light goes on a mounting block installed with the siding so the fixture sits flat and the water sheds around it. On stone veneer, the box gets set out to the finished face of the stone before the mason starts, and the mason works around it. Get the height right first; moving a box later means cutting stone, and masons have opinions about that.
On a frame wall every outdoor box is a hole in the air barrier, so it gets an airtight box or is sealed to the barrier. Soffit pot lights on a new house need blocking before the soffit goes up. The lighting and outlet planning page covers getting those decisions made at rough-in.
Two Jobs Worked Out
An existing two-storey in Barrie, soffits and entries. Six soffit pot lights at $300, the middle of $200 to $400, $1,800. Two entry fixtures replaced at $200, your fixtures, $400. A smart timer switch for the soffits, $185. ESA for 1 to 10 outlets at the contractor rate, $46. Total $2,431, HST $316.03, about $2,747. The pot light page has the inside prices.
A new ICF bungalow near Tiny. The exterior receptacles and the basic light rough-in are in the wiring package. The extras are eight soffit pot lights, which in an open soffit on a new house should sit toward the low end of the range, so budget about $250, $2,000 for eight, and the sleeves, which cost nothing if they are in the forms before the pour. On our builds that work is done by the licensed electrical contractors we hire, under their licence and their ESA notification. Anyone you hire for outdoor wiring must be an ESA Licensed Electrical Contractor; a homeowner working on their own home files the notification first. The ESA permit page has the details.
Questions people ask
Do outdoor lights need to be wet rated?
Anywhere rain, snow or a hose can reach them, buy wet-rated. Damp-rated fixtures are for sheltered spots under a porch roof or a deep soffit. The rating is printed on the box and the fixture label.
Do outdoor receptacles need GFCI in Ontario?
Yes, within 2.5 m of finished grade, under Rule 26-704 of the 2024 Ontario Electrical Safety Code. Add an in-use cover on any receptacle that will have something plugged in through the winter.
How much do soffit pot lights cost in Ontario?
About $200 to $400 each installed, before HST, as of October 2026. Budget about $300 in an existing house. Long runs, a closed soffit and the light you pick move it.
How far apart should soffit lights be?
As a rule of thumb, about 6 to 8 ft apart and about a foot out from the wall, lined up on the windows and doors. It is a layout habit, not a code rule.
What colour temperature should outdoor lights be?
3000K or warmer, shielded so the bulb does not show from the side, and pointed down. It is easier on the neighbours, the night sky and anyone across the water.
Put the outside in the whole-house number
The whole-house electrical cost calculator prices a new house or a rewire by the square foot and lets you add extra pot lights without counting them twice. If you have an electrical quote already, the $99 review reads up to three of them and marks the ratings, the receptacles and the exterior work each one left out.
Sources and further reading
- ESA Bulletin 26-18-15: AFCI and GFCI in a dwelling unit: where arc-fault and ground-fault protection is required in a house.
- Ontario Electrical Safety Code: ESA on the 2024 (29th) edition in force since May 1, 2025, and what changed for houses, EV loads and energy storage.
- ICFPro.ca: ICF walls and foundations, including planning the sleeves and penetrations before the pour.
