Resources
Guides
How-to, process and business building, written from the ladder.
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Guides
Christmas Light Business for Sale: What It Is Really Worth
Live listings ask 1.2 to 1.6 times cash flow for a Christmas light customer book, 4.7 times at 86 percent repeat; our 40-job season valued three ways.
Guides
Christmas Light Installation Safety: Ladder and Roof Rules
Ladder and roof rules for lighting installers: 1 out for every 4 up, 1 m above the eave, harness at 3 m (CCOHS) or 6 ft (OSHA), Ontario training valid 3 years.
Guides
Christmas Light Business Off Season: A Month-by-Month Plan
The off season month by month, January takedown to August re-book: $5,688 of January costs, 7 months with no seasonal cash in, and the lease touchpoints.
Guides
Christmas Light Installation Troubleshooting: 12 Faults
12 Christmas light faults, symptom to cause to fix: half a run out, GFCI trips, flicker, a controller stuck on 5 GHz, ice on clips, and the truck kit.
Guides
Christmas Light Route Planning: Jobs Per Day by Cluster
Christmas light route planning for 2 to 5 crews: a scattered trip costs about $68 of drive time, a clustered crew fits 2 installs a day and 8 to 10 takedowns.
Guides
Google Ads for Christmas Light Installers: Budget Math
Google Ads for Christmas light installers: one Search campaign, four keyword groups, a negative list and budget math at $8.33 a click against $1,270 a job.
Guides
Google Business Profile for Christmas Light Installers
Christmas light installer Google Business Profile in 8 steps: Lighting contractor as primary (Google has no Christmas light category), photo and review rules.
Guides
Christmas Light Business Insurance: Coverage and Real Cost
Christmas light business insurance starts with general liability: 45% of Next Insurance customers pay $45 a month or less. Then tools, auto and workers comp.
Guides
Christmas Lighting Terminology: 90 Installer Terms, Priced
90 installer terms for Christmas and permanent lighting, from roofline and jump to track, node and escalator, each with where it lands on a quote and a price.
Guides
Good, Better, Best Christmas Light Packages With Prices
Three Christmas light packages priced on one two-storey from GlowBid's default card: Roofline $1,684, Roofline and Grounds $2,134, Full Display $2,665.
Guides
Christmas Light Business Mistakes: 14 Priced Per Job
14 Christmas light business mistakes, each with the fix and its cost on one $2,134 job: $156 for a flat rate, $150 for unpriced takedown, $62 in card fees.
Guides
Christmas Light Installation Equipment List, Priced
Christmas light installation equipment list priced from supplier pages: $1,688 for a one-person starter kit, $4,064 for a two-person crew truck, lights extra.
Guides
How to Get Christmas Light Customers: 7 Sourced Channels
Get Christmas light customers seven ways, each sourced: August re-books, a Google profile with 20-plus reviews, $10.99 yard signs, referrals and HOA lists.
Guides
Hiring Christmas Light Installers: Pay Per Hour or Per Foot
Pay Christmas light installers $18 to $30 an hour, $1 to $2 a foot or 12% plus 3%, worked on a $2,134 job, with Ontario minimum wage, WSIB and US rules.
Guides
Christmas Light Storage for Installers: The Asset Record
Store leased Christmas lights one customer per labelled bin, with an asset record: strands, bin, condition, buyout value, and a $500 storage liability cap.
Guides
How to Start a Permanent Christmas Lights Business
Trimlight dealers pay $5,000 to $10,000, Gemstone wants $10,000 to $15,000 of stock, per their pages. Dealer or independent, and a first job priced to $3,390.
Guides
How to Rebook Christmas Light Customers: Year-Two Pricing
Rebook Christmas light customers in August and price year two by run type: on GlowBid's default card a customer-owned re-install is $3 a foot, not half off.
Guides
Christmas Light Installation Deposit Policy and Schedules
30% at signature and the balance on install day for seasonal and permanent jobs, a deposit plus 14-day season invoices on a lease, 50/50 vs 40/40/20 on one job.
Guides
How to Start a Christmas Light Business: The Real Costs
Startup cash of $2,657 USD (about $3,678 CAD) priced from supplier pages, a 40-job first season that nets $48,369, and the setup order for Canada and the US.
Guides
Christmas Light Takedown Pricing, Scheduling and Storage
Takedown pricing three ways: in the per-foot rate (GlowBid's default), 20 to 30 percent of install (LightQuoter) or $100 to $400 flat (Jobber), on one house.
Guides
How to Make a Christmas Light Mockup From Your Own Photo
Shoot the house square-on in daylight, set the scale from a 16 ft garage door, draw the runs by type. Ten minutes, and the mockup carries footage and price.
Guides
Lease vs Buy Christmas Lights: Three-Season Crossover Table
Three lease schedules (flat, declining rent-to-own, escalator) against buying, over three seasons on one real house, plus the formula for the break-even season.
Guides
Christmas Light Quote Follow-Up Sequence: 21 Days of Texts
The 5-touch Christmas light quote follow-up sequence we run: texts and emails on days 0, 2, 5, 10 and 21, word for word, plus CASL and TCPA consent notes.
Guides
How to Quote Permanent Lighting On Site in 20 Minutes
A 20-minute on-site permanent lighting quote in job order: photo, reference length, draw the runs, price from the rate card, e-sign, deposit at the door.
Guides
How to Measure a Roofline for Christmas Lights From a Photo
An installer's method for measuring a roofline from one photo: pick a reference length, draw the runs, add jumps and peaks, and know which numbers to trust before you quote.
Guides
Measure a House From Google Street View? The Rules
Google's terms bar storing, tracing or building data from Street View and satellite imagery. What installers may do, and why a 10/12 peak reads 23% short.