Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP#342: From Brewery Fixes to Bright Futures: Adam Agee on Crafting Outdoor Lighting that Lasts With AVL Outdoor Lighting & Design

• Skip Mauney & Adam Agee • Episode 342

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A brewery’s dark corners turned into a bright idea. When we sat down with Adam Agee, owner-operator of AVL Outdoor Lighting and Design, we traced how a career in landscaping and facility maintenance evolved into a specialty: crafting low-voltage lighting that looks beautiful on night one and still performs years later. From diagnosing legacy issues at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company to building a local team in Arden, NC, Adam shares the field-tested methods behind reliable systems and the customer habits that keep trust front and center.

We dig into the real differences between DIY lighting kits and professional outdoor lighting design—fixture quality, beam control, color temperature, transformer sizing, and how to avoid glare while enhancing safety and curb appeal. Adam explains why smart controls, zoning, and dimming matter, and how outdoor audio and holiday lighting fit into a well-planned infrastructure. The theme running through it all is service: accurate estimates, clear designs clients can read, fast communication when scopes change, and “service after the sale” to keep every lens clean, aim true, and cable secure.

If you’re in Western North Carolina—Asheville, Arden, Mills River, and beyond—this conversation doubles as a guide to getting started. We outline how to prioritize entries, paths, and focal trees, choose durable fixtures, and design for seasons, not just a single reveal. You’ll also meet the person behind the brand: a mountain-loving dad who camps, plays disc golf, and believes nighttime should feel calm, intentional, and neighbor-friendly. Want your home to shine without shouting? Hear how AVL balances artistry and engineering so your property feels safe, inviting, and uniquely yours.

Enjoyed this conversation? Follow the show, share it with a neighbor who loves a good after-dark glow, and leave a review to help others find us.

SPEAKER_00:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Kit Marty.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So I'm very excited to have uh uh interesting guests with us here in the studio for the first time, and I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I am to learn all about him and his business because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Mr. Adam Agey, who is the owner-operator of AVL Outdoor Lighting and Design. Adam, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey, thanks for having me, Skip.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, like I said, super glad to have you here. Very excited to learn all about your business. If you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about AVL Outdoor Lighting and Design?

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, um, yeah, so we are an outdoor lighting installer and uh we do maintenance um to low voltage outdoor lighting systems. Um also uh install outdoor audio, uh event lighting rentals, and holiday lighting installs. Um we're located in Arden, North Carolina. Uh it's about 15 minutes south of downtown Asheville. Um service all of Western North Carolina, um, you know, typically willing to travel about an hour to an hour and a half uh from home base, you know, for the right size jobs. And um yeah, that's uh what we've been doing for um about three and a half going on four years. Uh we've been in business here in North Carolina.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, very cool. Congratulations on uh four years, nothing to sneeze at for sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Um so uh Adam, how did you get into this business?

SPEAKER_02:

Um so I I always um for my career kind of um starting in college, I started working doing uh landscape, um landscape construction, lawn care, and that sort of thing, uh, property maintenance. And um basically, you know, about a very young age, um, I was given the opportunity to work as like crew lead and um hopped into management pretty quickly um in that industry, um, worked, you know, for probably 15 years uh for several different size companies, uh starting in Ohio and then uh moving to North Carolina around 2013. Um about I would say about eight years ago, I started working for um Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. They have a location in Mills River, uh, North Carolina, and um basically kind of switched gears and started working for them as I was about to have um a child um when my my partner was pregnant with our daughter. Um I made that move for some benefits and healthcare and that sort of thing and uh get through that. And um while working for Sierra Nevada, I um started taking care of their outdoor lighting systems. Uh I worked in maintenance and noticed that there was a lot of issues from the uh original install uh when they built the place, and so I started kind of working my way through the systems and um taking care of issues, rebuilding uh different lighting systems around the exterior of the brewery. Um they were nice enough to put me through some electrical courses and OSHA trainings and things like that that I needed uh to work under the master electrician at the plant. And um, while I was doing it, I kind of started researching outdoor lighting for residential use and what uh that industry was like in the industry I'm in now. Um, and it just kind of evolved, you know. I I started um, you know, just digging into any resource I could get to teach myself more about the industry, um, you know, landscape lighting design, um, you know, trying to figure out what fixtures and um how people were doing this stuff out there. And uh kind of organically from that, I just um decided to go out and and I got a job working for a company locally that was uh doing exactly what I do now. Worked for them for a little bit to feel it out, and then um not long after that, I decided to break off on my own while still working full-time uh for Sierra Nevada and um started doing kind of side gigs, uh picking up work, doing lighting installs where I could get them, doing on the weekends and working then. And um about a year later, I launched my company while still full full-time employed by uh the brewery, and um, you know, got my LLC, started doing the branding, everything like that. And um, you know, that took about another year before uh I started getting enough work where I realized like this is an opportunity that that might really work out, and uh I split away and and started working uh full-time self-employment uh for myself and and working on AVL outdoor lighting and building the company. Um and so that was about three and a half years ago, and now we're um doing great. We have a couple employees. Um my partner is full-time uh in the office working administration and uh communication and that sort of thing. So it's it's going pretty well.

SPEAKER_01:

Awesome. Sounds like it. Great, great journey, actually. So, what are some myths or misconceptions in the uh outdoor lighting and design business?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, you know, thought about this a little bit, and you know, one one big one I think is that uh DIY, uh do-it-yourselfers, um, or you know, going out and buying a few uh light fixtures from the hardware store is gonna get you the same result as hiring a professional. Um, you know, I I won't lie and say it's the most difficult thing in the world to install. Uh, a lot of people can do it that are handy, um, but there is definitely a right and wrong way to go about it. And using a professional that is educated in design, educated uh in the industry and the products that people are using. Um, and now, you know, as technology advances, uh, these systems are advancing as well. So there's all kinds of cool stuff that you can do uh outside of just putting a light up against a tree at night, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Big difference between do it yourself and using a professional.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

I absolutely can agree more. So um outside of work, if there is time outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh well, you know, we live in a beautiful part of the country here in western North Carolina, uh living in the mountains. So uh, you know, I pretty much stay outside and uh camping, uh, throw a lot of disc golf is a huge hobby of mine. Um, and then you know, just trying to soak up all the time with my six-year-old daughter. So, you know, taking her out and experiencing as much as possible.

SPEAKER_01:

Awesome. Time with family, always the best answer, especially if you're absolutely significant others watching the podcast. Just kidding. Yeah, for sure. So um hi guys. If if yeah, if there's one thing, uh, if you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about you and about ADL outdoor lighting and design, what would that be, Adam?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, you know, I'd say that uh we're always trying to stand out in a world um where contractors in general are not easily trusted, uh, regardless of what field or industry they're in. Um, you know, so so one thing uh and working in these industries for so long has taught me is that you know, we we work to build a trusting relationship as quickly as possible with the folks that we're working with. Um, you know, and and to do that, uh I think initially, you know, having accurate estimates, um, so you're not coming back, you know, a week later and telling them it's gonna be, you know, a bunch more money to get this done, or you know, we we forgot this part or that, and so it's gonna cost you a thousand more, uh, you know, accurate estimates, um, a detailed plan from the very beginning that's easy to read and um easy for the customer to know exactly what they're gonna get, you know, when they hire us. Um those are very important, I think, uh build trust very quickly in my experience. Um, you know, and and so we set that standard early on, and I think any of our customers would vouch for us and say that you know it's it's the truth about our company and how I operate and uh the people around me how they operate when we're on uh a customer's property. So just uh communicating clearly the whole way if something does change, you know, if we have uh changes to the the price or what we're doing, we want to let the people know right away, and then uh you know it seems to go very smoothly from there. And then afterwards, uh one of my customers said one time uh service after the sale, uh, and he complimented me on that. And uh we always check in down the road and we always want to make sure that these lighting systems continue to work, it's very important to us uh what we do, and it's it's hard work. So I want to know a year, two years down the road that this stuff is working and looking exactly uh as it did on day one.

SPEAKER_01:

Awesome. Trust means a lot. I'm a I'm a big believer in that. So, for those of us who may be you know interested in uh putting you know, going uh a little crazy at Christmas with some outdoor lighting or or just to do you know some standard lighting around their house and they're intrigued and would like to learn more, how can they do that?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, so I always point people to our Google business page, uh AVL Outdoor Lighting and Design. Um, and then from there uh you can go to our website that's avlights.com. Um, and then uh social media. We're on a few things, uh, Facebook and Instagram, especially. Uh, we stay pretty active on. So Facebook, uh, you would probably just search AVL Outdoor Lighting and Design. Instagram is avl.outdoor.lighting.

SPEAKER_01:

Very good. All right, awesome. Well, Adam, thank you so much. Really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to hang with us and tell us all about what you do and your journey and uh moving forward wish you, your family, your six-year-old, uh, and and all your clients all the best.

SPEAKER_02:

Awesome. Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely thrilled to have you, and uh, we'd love to have you back sometime if you'd be willing.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, all right, we'll look forward to that.

SPEAKER_02:

Great. All right, well, you have a good day.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Cry Dash Cities.com. That's GNP Try Dash Cities dot com or call four two three seven one nine five eight seven three.