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.
Christmas lighting terminology for installers comes down to 90 terms, and this page defines each one in plain words and shows where it lands on a quote, with GlowBid's default rate card beside the pricing terms: $8 per foot of C9 roofline, $25 for track, 15 percent on peaks, a $1,500 minimum job. Installers set their own numbers. The terms are grouped the way a job runs: measuring, products, pricing, agreements, crew.
I run a permanent lighting company in Ottawa and built GlowBid. LightMaster's Holiday Lighting 101 is the page that ranks for this today; it defines four bulb types for homeowners, carries no prices, no author and no date, and never uses the words an installer uses on a ladder. This page is the vocabulary the crew, the quote and the software share. Every default price is GlowBid's and is labelled; every outside rule is linked. Photo measurements are estimates confirmed on site, and the measuring terms say so.
In the order the engine applies them: runs and premiums, add-ons, discount, minimum job, tax, deposit. The per-foot pricing guide works a full house through the same order.
Term
Plain definition
Where it shows up in a quote
Price per foot
The base rate for one lit foot of a run type on a product line
A bungalow, C9 seasonal, on GlowBid's default card. Four runs drawn on the installer's own photo, scaled from a 16 ft garage door, plus a timer.
Line (the term)
Footage and rate
Amount
Roofline (run type)
120 ft at $8 (price per foot)
$960.00
Peaks (run type), two gables
30 ft at $9, plus the 15% peak premium ($40.50)
$310.50
Jumps (run type), two of 4 ft
8 ft at $4; per-jump charge $0
$32.00
Ground run (run type), walkway
30 ft at $5
$150.00
Timer (add-on)
1 at $45
$45.00
Before the minimum check
$1,497.50
Minimum job adjustment
$1,500 minimum, $2.50 short
$2.50
Subtotal
$1,500.00
Tax line
0 by default; 13% HST in Ontario would add $195.00
$0.00
Deposit (30% of the taxed total)
Collected at e-signature
$450.00
The bill of materials behind it: 180 lit feet of C9 bulbs on 188 ft of socket cord (the jumps are cord with no bulbs), 198 bulbs and about 207 ft of cord with the 10 percent materials buffer, clips for 150 ft of roof edge, four vampire plugs, one timer. The scope block carries the insurance line and the measurement disclaimer, the customer signs on their phone, and the SHA-256 fingerprint sits under the signature. You can draw this bungalow in the free roofline tool and see the 180 lit feet before a rate is typed.
Roofline and ridge line. One is the eave, one is the top. Different ladder, different risk, and on many rate cards a different rate. Draw them as different run types.
Lit feet and run feet. A jump is run feet. Price it as a jump, not as roofline, or you are charging $8 for cord with no bulbs.
Peak premium and per-peak charge. The premium is a percent on the peak footage; the charge is a flat amount per peak. The default card uses the percent and leaves the charge at $0. Use one or both, but know which.
Minimum job and deposit. The minimum is a floor on the subtotal; the deposit is a percent of the taxed total. A $1,497.50 job becomes $1,500, and the deposit is 30 percent of that plus tax.
Estimate and quote. A photo estimate carries the disclaimer; the quote the customer signs still does, because the footage is confirmed on site.
Takedown and re-install. Two visits, two prices, two dates. A lease creates both jobs per season; a one-time permanent job has neither.
Track and no-track. Same nodes, different mount, different per-foot rate, and a different cold-weather cutoff for the adhesive.
Controller and timer. A timer switches a seasonal line on and off; a controller runs a permanent line's colours and patterns from an app. Both are add-ons; they are not the same line.
On one canvas. In GlowBid you draw the runs by type on a photo you own, set the scale from a reference length, and the footage, the bill of materials and the price all come from the same lines; every measurement carries its source tag and confidence level, and every quote carries the disclaimer. The rate card holds the pricing terms, the agreement holds the clause terms, and on Ultimate the work order holds the crew terms with no prices on it. Core is $299 a year at the founding price, with a 7-day trial and no card, and the free roofline tool draws the house with no login until you export.
FAQ
Questions installers ask
What is a jump in permanent lighting?
An unlit stretch of cord or wire that carries power between two lit runs: across a valley, around a dormer, over a gap between the garage and the house. It is run feet but not lit feet, so it gets its own run type and a lower rate. GlowBid's default card prices a jump at $12 per foot on the track line, $10 on no-track and $4 on C9 seasonal, with an optional flat per-jump charge on top.
What is the difference between a roofline, a ridge line and a peak?
Where the run sits on the roof. The roofline is the eave edge, where the gutter and fascia are, and it is ladder work. The ridge line is the top edge where two roof planes meet, and it is roof work. A peak is the triangle of a gable, run from the eave up to the point and back. Each is its own run type with its own per-foot rate, and peaks carry a premium for the rope work.
What are track, channel and node in permanent lighting?
Track and channel are the same thing: an aluminum extrusion screwed to the fascia that hides the wiring and holds the lights. A node is one LED point along the run, spaced 6 to 16 inches apart depending on the brand and line. A no-track line mounts the nodes with adhesive or clips and skips the channel. On GlowBid's default card track roofline is $25 per foot and no-track is $20.
What does price per foot mean on a Christmas light quote?
The base rate for one lit foot of one run type on one product line, before premiums and add-ons. A quote lists footage by run, multiplies each by its rate, adds the peak, storey and rush premiums, adds the add-ons such as a controller or timer, applies any discount, checks the minimum job, then adds tax and takes the deposit from the taxed total. Installers set their own rates on the rate card.
What is takedown, and why not call it something else?
Takedown is the trade word for taking seasonal lights down after the holidays, usually in January. On GlowBid's default C9 line it is inside the $8 per foot and the scope block says so; on customer-owned lights it is a visit on the seasonal service line. It is its own job because it has its own date, weather risk and ladder time, and a signed lease creates each season's install job and takedown job at once.
What is a lease escalator in a multi-year lighting agreement?
A percent the season price rises by each year on a multi-year seasonal lease, one of three price schedules alongside flat and declining rent-to-own. A 3 percent escalator on a $1,865.20 season makes year two $1,921.16 and year three $1,978.79, the schedule in our lease template. The schedule is printed season by season on the agreement so the customer signs the whole term once, and the sample clause wording ships with a plain notice that it is not legal advice.
