Recessed spotlights and lighting design in Amsterdam from € 95 per spot including materials, drilling, wiring and connection. Work out how many your room actually needs, in which colour temperature, and what it costs.
Set the room area and choose what it is used for. We calculate the number of spots, advise colour temperature and give an indicative price — including drilling, wiring and connecting.
Indicative price for fitting, wiring and connecting. You buy the spots yourself or through us at no mark-up — allow €15 to €60 each, depending on quality and colour rendering.
The most common mistake is one row of spots down the middle of the ceiling, all on one switch. That gives flat light, hard shadows and no way to change the mood. Three layers solve that, and it barely costs more.
The base layer you need to use the room safely. Spots at regular intervals, or a ceiling luminaire. Dimmable, because you need more of it by day than in the evening. Allow one spot per one and a half square metres with a 2.60 m ceiling.
Light where you do something: above the worktop, by the reading chair, at the mirror, above the dining table. On its own switch so you can run only that part. This is the layer most often missed and most often used once it is there.
Een LED-strip in een nis, een spot op een schilderij, wandlampen. Deze laag doet het meeste voor hoe een ruimte aanvoelt en kost het minste — mits de leiding er ligt. Achteraf aanleggen betekent opnieuw hakken.
Place spots at least sixty centimetres from the wall, otherwise you get a light patch on the plaster instead of in the room. Spacing about one to one and a half metres apart at a 2.60-metre ceiling — with a higher ceiling spacing can be larger and the count smaller, because the beam widens. And do not put everything on one switch: two switch groups in a living room is the difference between “lights on” and a room you want to sit in in the evening.
This is by far the most common LED lighting complaint: spots flicker on a low setting, do not switch off fully, or glow faintly while the switch is off. Almost always the cause is the same: the dimmer does not match the LED driver.
There are two kinds of dimmers. Leading-edge dimmers are designed for incandescent lamps and wound transformers; trailing-edge for electronic drivers, as in almost every LED. Put an old dimmer from the filament era on new LED spots and the driver gets a waveform it does not expect — and you see that as flicker.
Many dimmers have a lower limit, for example ten watts. Replace five 50-watt halogen spots with 5-watt LEDs and you go from 250 to 25 watts — still just enough. With three spots you sit at fifteen watts and it works on the edge. That is why a dimmer that worked for years suddenly fails after the lamps are replaced.
A faint afterglow on a switched-off dimmer comes from the small current the dimmer itself needs to operate. With an incandescent you did not notice; an LED needs so little that it starts to glow. The fix is a dimmer with a neutral, or a small load resistor.
At the survey we ask which spots you choose, look at the wattage and the driver, and select the dimmer to match. If you choose the spots later, we fit first and set the dimmer at finishing. If it still flickers afterwards, we replace the dimmer free of charge — that is not a favour but an admission that we should have predicted the pairing.
The colour rendering index says how true colours look under that light. Cheap spots sit around CRI 80; then your timber floor looks dull and food colour is off. CRI 90 or higher costs a few euros more per spot and is the difference you see every day.
In a plasterboard suspended ceiling a spot is fitted in ten minutes. In a concrete ceiling in a post-war flat it is drilling, dust and a discussion about where the reinforcement sits. Below is what that means in practice.
| Plafondtype | Inbouwdiepte | Werkwijze | Meerprijs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verlaagd gipsplafond | ruim voldoende | Gatenzaag, spot klemt zichzelf vast, bedrading er los boven | no |
| Timber joists with boarding | usually enough | Drill between joists; position depends on joist spacing | no |
| Stucplafond op riet of gaas | wisselend | Drill carefully, risk of cracks; sometimes a surface fitting is better | € 12 per spot |
| Beton, massief | te ondiep | Suspended ceiling or surface spots; recessing usually not possible | € 22 per spot |
| Concrete with insulation underneath | often enough | Drill to the insulation layer, spot with limited recess depth | € 22 per spot |
| Monumentaal ornamentplafond | do not disturb | No recessed; track system, surface spots or wall lights | on quotation |
With a solid concrete ceiling you cannot recess without a drop ceiling. That costs more than spots alone, but it also gains you space to hide cables, better acoustics, and freedom to place spots where you want instead of where it happens to be possible. In a living room with a ceiling of 2.80 metres or higher those ten centimetres of loss are barely noticeable. We do that work ourselves, so you have one party for it.
Including installation materials, labour, drilling, wiring, connecting and testing. You buy luminaires and spots yourself or through us at cost.
| Fit and connect a recessed spot | per spot | € 95 |
|---|---|---|
| Inbouwspot in beton of stucplafond — meerprijs | per spot | € 22 |
| Set of 10 recessed spots with dimmer, complete | per set | € 1.150 |
| Opbouwspot of railsysteem monteren | per metre rail | € 115 |
| Install and connect a lighting point | per punt | € 125 |
| Hanglamp of plafonnière monteren | per luminaire | € 125 |
| Heavy luminaire with ceiling reinforcement | per luminaire | € 245 |
| Mount and connect a wall light | per luminaire | € 115 |
| LED-strip in nis of plint, incl. driver | per metre | € 68 |
| Bathroom mirror lighting, IPX4 | each | € 165 |
| Fit a dimmer, matched to LED load | per dimmer | € 135 |
|---|---|---|
| Draadloze dimmer of scèneschakelaar | each | € 175 |
| Extra schakelgroep aanleggen | per circuit | € 235 |
| Wisselschakeling aanleggen (2 punten) | per schakeling | € 235 |
| Kruisschakeling aanleggen (3+ punten) | per schakeling | € 345 |
| Bewegingsmelder of aanwezigheidsmelder | each | € 155 |
| Lighting plan with three layers of light | per home | € 395 |
| Lighting calculation with lux values per room | per room | € 145 |
| Keukenverlichting onder bovenkasten | per kitchen | € 295 |
|---|---|---|
| Stair lighting with motion detection | per trap | € 585 |
| Exterior wall light — fit luminaire | per luminaire | € 135 |
| Garden lighting complete with transformer and switching | per system | € 780 |
| Build a suspended ceiling for recessed spots | per m² | on quotation |
| Nieuwe leiding trekken in buis | per metre | € 44 |
| Close the chase, plaster-ready | per metre | € 14 |
All amounts include installation materials, labour and 21% VAT, valid in 2026 for Amsterdam and surroundings. Spots and luminaires are extra — allow € 15 to € 60 per spot, depending on quality and colour rendering. Full price list →
As a rule of thumb one spot per one and a half square metres at a 2.60-metre ceiling. For a 24 m² living room that is about sixteen spots — but in practice we often use twelve to fourteen on two switch groups, topped up with wall lights and an LED strip.
With a higher ceiling spacing can be larger and the count smaller, because the beam widens as it travels. Use the calculator at the top of this page: it accounts for area, ceiling height and what the room is for.
€ 95 per spot including 21% VAT. That covers drilling the hole, wiring, connecting, aligning and testing. In a concrete or old plaster ceiling add € 22 per spot for heavier drilling.
You buy the spots separately: allow €15 to €60 each. A complete set of ten spots with dimmer, fitted and connected, costs €1,150. A lighting plan for the whole home costs €395.
In living rooms 2,700 kelvin — warm light, pleasant to sit in. Above a worktop, in the bathroom and in the hall 3,000 kelvin: a little cooler, so you see more sharply and colours render better. In a study 3,000 to 4,000 kelvin can work.
Also watch the colour rendering index, CRI. Cheap spots sit around CRI 80, where a timber floor looks dull and food colour is off. CRI 90 or higher costs a few euros more per spot and is the difference you see every day.
Almost always because the dimmer does not match the LED driver. There are leading-edge dimmers, designed for incandescent lamps, and trailing-edge ones for electronic drivers such as in LED spots. The wrong pairing causes flicker, incomplete switch-off or a faint afterglow.
A second cause is minimum load: many dimmers have a lower limit of, for example, ten watts. Replace five 50-watt halogen spots with 5-watt LEDs and you go from 250 to 25 watts and sit on the edge. We choose the dimmer based on the spots you take, and replace it free of charge if it still flickers.
Usually not without a suspended ceiling. Solid concrete lacks recess depth, and drilling into reinforcement is not an option. If there is insulation under the concrete, it often works with shallow-recess spots.
Alternatives are surface spots, a track system or a suspended ceiling. The last costs more, but also gains you space to hide cables, better acoustics and freedom to place spots where you want. At a ceiling of 2.80 metres or higher you barely notice those ten centimetres.
At least sixty centimetres, otherwise you get a light patch on the plaster instead of light in the room. Roughly one to one and a half metres apart with a 2.60 m ceiling.
If you want to wash a wall — a bookcase or artwork, for example — that is a separate layer with its own spots closer to the wall and a narrower beam. Put those on their own switch, because you do not always want that light on.
Yes. Installing a recessed spotlight costs € 95 including 21% VAT — drilling, wiring, connecting, aligning and testing — plus € 22 per spot in concrete or old lath-and-plaster ceilings. The fittings themselves cost € 15 to € 60 each and you can buy them yourself or through us without a mark-up.
Rule of thumb: one spot per 1.5 m² with a 2.60 m ceiling, at least 60 cm from the wall, spread over two switched groups. We choose the dimmer to match the drivers of the spots you pick — that is what stops LED flicker.
Send a floor plan or a few photos of the room — we draw the spot plan and send a price within a day.
If you choose “as soon as possible”, we call within four hours during office hours. Outside those hours, the next morning.
You speak to someone who does the work and can already say on the phone what is going on and roughly what it costs.
Tell us which language you prefer and we will make sure the right colleague calls.
The home survey is free too, with no call-out fee. You are not committed to anything.
One photo of the open meter cupboard tells us more than ten minutes on the phone. We look at it free of charge and say honestly whether anything needs doing — even if the answer is “no”.
Send photo via WhatsAppA kitchen, a bathroom or a full rewire — those are the moments when a lighting plan pays off most.
The hub page with the price calculator, circuit check and the full price list of more than 180 rates.
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