How to hire holiday light installation

Roofline is the per-LF anchor — eaves, gables, dormer trim, ridges, and any other run that gets lit. A typical 2,000 sqft colonial has 120–180 linear feet of primary roofline. Tree wraps, window frames, wreath hangs, and column wraps are priced separately because they are different SKUs of installation time. Most full-service quotes itemize roofline, trees (per tree, by trunk diameter and wrap height), and accent runs — ask for it broken down so you can scale up or down on what you actually want lit.

C9 LED (the large strawberry-shape bulb on commercial-grade wire) is the residential standard for roofline — visible from the street, rated for outdoor exposure, 50,000+ hour life. C7 is the same form factor smaller, used for window frames and detail work. Mini-lights are for tree wrapping and indoor displays. LED versus incandescent is not close anymore — same display draws roughly 90% less power, lasts 10x longer, and runs cool enough not to melt snow or warm shingles. The premium for commercial-grade LED over big-box retail strands is real, but if the installer owns the lights and re-fits them every year, the math works out fast.

A single-story ranch with a 4/12 pitch is a ladder-and-walk job — one installer, 2–3 hours. A two-story colonial with a 10/12 pitch needs two installers, harness anchors, and roughly twice the time. Three stories or anything with a steep slate or metal roof needs scaffolding or a lift, which is what pushes large Victorian or contemporary homes into the $2,000+ band. Ridges and gables that can only be reached from the roof itself (not the eaves) require fall protection regardless of how the rest of the house gets lit.

Tree wraps are priced by trunk diameter, wrap height, and bulb spacing. A 6-inch evergreen wrapped to 15 ft with mini-lights at 3-inch spacing takes 1,500+ bulbs and 90 minutes per tree. Wrapping the canopy of a mature deciduous (above the lowest branches) is a different conversation — usually quoted per hour or declined entirely because it requires a lift. Window candles, wreath lighting, garland with bows, pathway stake lights, and inflatables all add line items. Decide what story you want the house to tell, then ask the pro to scope to that.

A bare install is half the job. A full-service package includes: design consult, install before Thanksgiving, mid-season service call within 48 hours for outages or wind damage, takedown in the first two weeks of January, and off-season storage on labeled racks in a climate-controlled warehouse. The same lights re-fit your roofline next November — no measuring, no untangling, no buying replacements because the strands sat in a hot attic all year. The full-service package usually runs 1.4–1.7x the bare install number, and it is what makes the program sustainable year over year.

Trimlight, Jellyfish Lighting, Everlights, and Gemstone Lights are app-controlled RGB LED strips installed once into a custom-bent aluminum channel along your eaves and gables. They disappear into the trim during the day, run any color or animation at night, and work for holidays from Halloween through July 4th. Up-front cost is significant ($30–55 per linear foot installed) but there is no annual install or storage charge. The math breaks even against full-service C9 in roughly 5–7 years, and after that it is free year-round trim lighting. Worth a quote if you plan to be in the house long-term.

Most full-service installers in southern New England book their fall calendars by mid-November. New customers calling on Black Friday are usually offered a January install for next year or a stripped-down "lights only" package. Book by October for the full design conversation and your choice of install date. Existing customers get re-booked automatically each summer for the same week as the prior year — that is part of how full-service works.