How much does it cost to replace all the potlights in my house with LED?

Replacing your existing potlights with LED units typically costs between $100 and $250 per light in the GTA, depending on whether you're doing a simple bulb swap or a full trim-and-driver retrofit. If your current potlights already accept standard bulbs, switching to LED bulbs is the cheapest route at $8 to $25 per bulb and something you can do yourself. However, many older potlights in GTA homes — especially those installed in the 1990s and early 2000s — use outdated housings that aren't compatible with modern LED retrofit kits, which means a full fixture replacement is the better long-term investment.

For a full retrofit where the electrician replaces the entire housing with a modern slim-profile LED potlight, expect to pay $150 to $300 per light installed. The fixture itself runs $30 to $80, and the labour covers disconnecting the old housing, fitting the new unit, and ensuring proper IC (insulation contact) rating where the fixture sits against attic insulation. In a typical GTA home with 15 to 25 potlights, a complete LED conversion runs $2,000 to $5,000 total. That sounds like a significant investment, but LED potlights use 75 to 85 percent less energy than the halogen PAR30 and PAR38 bulbs they replace, and they last 25,000 to 50,000 hours compared to 2,000 hours for halogens.

One thing GTA homeowners often overlook is the dimmer compatibility issue. Older dimmers designed for incandescent and halogen bulbs cause LED potlights to flicker, buzz, or fail to dim smoothly. If you're converting more than a few lights, budget an additional $150 to $250 per dimmer switch to upgrade to LED-compatible dimmers at the same time. Your electrician can handle this during the same visit, which saves on labour compared to doing it as a separate project later.

For homes in older Toronto neighbourhoods like the Danforth, East York, or Scarborough where the original wiring may be undersized or the panel is a 100A unit running near capacity, your electrician should do a quick load assessment before adding any new fixtures. Modern LED potlights draw so little power — typically 9 to 15 watts each — that they almost never cause capacity problems, but it's good practice to confirm. If you're in a condo, check with your property management before scheduling work, as many buildings restrict construction hours and require contractor insurance documentation. Toronto Electrical Repair can match you with a licensed electrician who handles LED retrofits across the GTA — get a free estimate to find out exactly what your conversion will cost.