What a holiday lighting proposal should include
Start with what goes on the house and how: the strand type, the color, and that it is custom cut to the roofline with clips rather than staples. Homeowners have all seen a sagging strand with a dark tail hanging off a gutter, and one sentence about custom cutting tells them yours will not look like that. Say which roofline is included and how many feet, so the extension is a clear add-on rather than an argument on the ladder.
Then the parts most bids leave off: takedown and storage. Put the January dates on the page and the storage as a line, because the question every homeowner asks in the driveway is what happens after New Year's. Add the timer, the service call promise for an outage, and who owns the lights. A short line about what you will not do, such as a third story or a metal roof in ice, saves a phone call on install day.
How to price holiday lighting
Most professional installers price the roofline by the linear foot with the lights included in the first season. In 2026 that runs about $6 to $10 per foot for commercial C9 LED, install, takedown, and storage bundled, so a front roofline of 100 to 150 feet lands between $800 and $1,500 in the first year. The sample charges $1,150 for up to 120 feet on the install line, then $250 for takedown and $95 for storage as their own lines, so the first-season total for the roofline alone is $1,495 and the renewal, which is install and takedown only, is visibly cheaper. Installing lights the homeowner already owns runs $3 to $5 a foot and is a different job; most installers stopped doing it because the strands fail and the phone rings.
Extensions of the roofline are priced per 50 feet at $300 to $500, and the sample uses $350. Tree wrapping runs $150 to $400 per tree depending on height and how tight the wrap is; the sample uses $275 per tree with two trees on by default, which is what most front yards have. Wreaths and garland at the entry run $150 to $300 lit; the sample lists $220. A minimum of $500 to $800 per stop keeps small jobs from eating the season, and it belongs in the terms.
Prices run higher in metro areas and for two-story rooflines with steep pitches, which add ladder and safety time. Multi-year customers often get a renewal discount of ten to fifteen percent, which is worth more than it costs because renewals are installed in half the time.
How to price the optional items
Tree wrapping is on by default with the quantity set to two, because most yards have a pair of front trees and the wrapped tree is the photo people post. The roofline extension is off, priced per 50 feet, so the homeowner adds the sides and gables themselves if they want the whole house done and sees exactly what that costs. The entry wreath and garland is off at its real price. This mix lifts the average stop by a few hundred dollars without a hard sell, and the total updates as they toggle.
Mistakes that lose holiday lighting jobs
Quoting before measuring. A guess from the street becomes a change of price on install day, and that is how you lose the review and the renewal. Measure the roofline, or ask for a photo of every side and use a satellite measurement, and put the footage on the page.
Leaving takedown off the proposal. The homeowner assumes it is included; you assumed it was extra. Put the date range and the price on the page. No install window. A proposal that says November leaves the client expecting the first week; a slot between Nov 1 and Nov 20, assigned in the order deposits arrive, gets deposits in early. Not saying who owns the lights. Half of the January complaints in this trade come from that sentence being missing.
Deposit and payment
Fifty percent at signing is normal, because the lights are cut and the slot is held before anyone climbs a ladder, and the sample collects it by card the moment they sign. The balance is due the day the lights go up, requested from the proposal so the client pays from the same page or you record the check.
Sending it and following up
Send the proposal within a day of measuring, and send the first batch in early October before the neighbors' lights go up and the calls start. Ten days is the right expiry: the season is short, and a proposal sitting in an inbox for three weeks costs you a slot. A reminder goes out on day three and day seven, and you can see whether they opened it and lingered on the tree line. When a client adds the back of the house after signing, a change order adds the footage with its own signature.
Questions
- Should I sell the lights or lease them?
- Lease them, meaning you own the strands and the first-season price includes them. It keeps the quality under your control, it makes the renewal a real thing because the client's lights live in your storage, and it ends the service calls that come from installing strands someone bought at a hardware store.
- How much should I charge per foot for Christmas lights?
- About $6 to $10 per linear foot in 2026 for commercial C9 LED with install, takedown, and storage included in the first season, and roughly half that for renewals. Two-story rooflines, steep pitches, and metro markets sit at the top of the range. Put the footage on the page so the client can compare bids on the same basis.
- When should I send holiday lighting proposals?
- The first week of October for renewals and new leads alike, with a ten-day expiry and install slots assigned in the order deposits arrive. The people who sign in October get the dates they want; the ones who call the week before Thanksgiving get whatever is left, and the proposal should say so.
- How do I handle takedown?
- As its own line with a date range on the page, usually the first three weeks of January. It answers the question every homeowner asks and keeps the renewal price honest, since next year is install and takedown without the lights. Add a line in the terms that lights left up past the end of January are the homeowner's to take down.
- What happens when a section goes dark?
- Promise a service call within 48 hours at no charge through the season and put it on the page, because it is the fear behind every hesitation. Commercial strands almost never fail, so the promise costs you a handful of visits a year and wins the jobs that a cheaper bid without it loses.
- Is a signed proposal necessary for holiday lights?
- Yes, mostly for the deposit and the dates. A signed proposal with the deposit paid is a held install slot, which is what the client is really buying in October. It also fixes the footage, the ownership of the lights, and the takedown window before anyone is on a ladder in the cold.
