On the two-storey from our seasonal contract template, a 3-season flat lease bills $5,640.60, a declining rent-to-own lease $5,099.69, an escalator lease $5,810.15, and buying the lights then paying for re-installs $3,329.80, all on GlowBid's default seasonal rate card. From season 2 the lease costs the homeowner $800 to $1,270 more a season. That gap is what storage, in-season repairs and takedown are worth; this page shows how to set it and when a lease turns cheaper.
The three-season table#
Same house for every column: 130 ft of roofline, 72 ft of peaks, three jumps, C9 LED, a $45 timer in season 1. Lease prices come from the schedules in our multi-year lease template. The buy column is season 1 with the lights included, then two seasons of labour only on the customer's own lights, from the same default card. Installers replace every one of these numbers with their own.
| Season |
Flat lease |
Declining 10% (rent-to-own) |
Escalator 3% |
Buy, then re-install |
| 1 |
$1,910.20 |
$1,910.20 |
$1,910.20 |
$1,910.20 |
| 2 |
$1,865.20 |
$1,678.68 |
$1,921.16 |
$709.80 |
| 3 |
$1,865.20 |
$1,510.81 |
$1,978.79 |
$709.80 |
| Three-season total |
$5,640.60 |
$5,099.69 |
$5,810.15 |
$3,329.80 |
| Who has the lights after season 3 |
Installer |
Homeowner |
Installer, or renew |
Homeowner |
| Storage, repairs, takedown |
Included |
Included |
Included |
Homeowner's problem |
The buy column is the one that surprises installers. It is low because a re-install on customer-owned lights prices from the service line: $3 per foot of roofline, $3.50 on peaks plus the 15 percent peak premium, $1.50 per foot of jump. Nothing for product, nothing for storage, nothing for the strand that dies on December 20.
What does a Christmas light lease include?#
A lease is a season price that covers the product, the install, in-season service, takedown and storage, with the installer owning the lights for a set term. Midas Holiday Lighting sells it as one all-in seasonal fee with storage and off-season maintenance. Christmas Décor Ottawa runs it from $1,500 a season, most homes $2,500 to $4,000, with January takedown and storage at their facility. Christmas Lights North Atlanta describes the same package and says buying only pays off once the gap has repaid the product.
Buying is the other shape. The homeowner pays for the lights once, then pays labour each season. Shack Shine Ottawa publishes it plainly: from about $1,100 in year one, then 45 to 55 percent of that for install and takedown in later years, and the lights are the customer's.
Both are legitimate. The mistake is running one and pricing it like the other.
How do the three lease schedules work?#
Season 1 is the full quote. Later seasons repeat only what recurs, then the schedule applies.
Flat. The same recurring price every season. On our house that is $1,865.20, because the $45 timer happened once. Ends in return, so the product goes to the next house. Simplest to explain, and the schedule to start with.
Declining, or rent-to-own. Each season a set percent lower than the last. Our default is 10 percent. Five Star Holiday Decor in Edmonton runs 20 percent off in year 2, another 10 in year 3, then the display is the homeowner's. Ends in keep or buyout. The homeowner is paying the product down, so say so in the disposition clause.
Escalator. Each season a set percent higher, 3 to 5 percent, to track labour and product costs. Suits five-season terms and commercial work. Ends in return or renewal.
Pick the schedule in clause 2 of the lease, and GlowBid computes every season's price from the signed quote.
Where is the crossover season?#
The homeowner's crossover is the season where buying has caught up with leasing, and it comes from three numbers: the lights-included price in year one (call it B), the labour-only re-install price (S) and the lease price per season (L). If the lease is priced the same every season, buying catches up at season (B minus S) divided by (L minus S).
Jason Geiman at Christmas Lights HQ publishes the only per-foot numbers I have found for both models: sell at $14 to $16 per foot in year one and $8 per foot to re-install after, or lease at $8 to $10 per foot a year. On 200 ft of roofline at the middle of each range:
| Season |
Buy at $15, then $8 |
Lease at $9 |
| 1 |
$3,000 |
$1,800 |
| 2 |
$4,600 |
$3,600 |
| 3 |
$6,200 |
$5,400 |
| 4 |
$7,800 |
$7,200 |
| 5 |
$9,400 |
$9,000 |
| 7 |
$12,600 |
$12,600 |
Season 7 is the crossover: (15 minus 8) divided by (9 minus 8). At the top of his lease range, $10 against $8, it is season 3.5, so the fourth season. At $8 against $8, buying never catches up, because the homeowner pays the product on top of the same labour every year.
On our default card the lease season 1 is the same $1,910.20 as buying, so there is no crossover at all; the lease is $1,155.40 more every season from season 2. That is not a flaw in the card, it is a choice: the lease line repeats the lights-included rate. If you want a Geiman-shaped lease, add a custom product line called Seasonal lease with a per-foot rate between your service rate and your lights-included rate, and quote the lease from that line. Our seasonal pricing guide walks through the base rates the line sits between.
What does the installer's side look like?#
Flip the table. Over three seasons on our house the flat lease brings in $5,640.60 and the product comes back for a fourth house. Buy-then-service brings in $3,329.80, and the product cost was recovered in season 1 with margin. The difference, $2,310.80, is what the installer earns for three winters of storage, two takedowns you would have done anyway, and the repair promise.
The costs against that difference are real: bin space, a labelled tote per customer, replacement strands and a crew that can answer a dark-run call in 48 hours. If your storage is a rented unit and your December crew is you, the lease premium can vanish. If you already have a shop and a second crew in January, the lease is the better business, and it is the only one that gives you next season's revenue in writing.
The declining schedule sits between: $5,099.69 in, the product gone at the end, and a homeowner who now owns a display you know how to service.
How do you set the lease rate on your rate card?#
Three rules, using GlowBid's default card as the example:
- Service rate first. Price a re-install on customer-owned lights honestly, because that is the number the homeowner compares your lease against. On the default card it is a bit over a third of the lights-included rate ($3 against $8 on roofline).
- Lease rate between service and lights-included. Closer to lights-included if you store and repair a lot of product; closer to service if the product is cheap and the storage is free.
- One-time items stay in season 1. Timers, controllers, rush, the minimum-job top-up. Later seasons carry only the runs, the premiums and the add-ons you marked as every season. Otherwise season 2 is a phone call.
One trap. GlowBid's default minimum job is $1,500, and a $709.80 re-install quote gets bumped to it, with the difference shown as its own line. That is right for a new install in November and wrong for a 40-minute re-install on a house you already know. Set your minimum where your truck actually leaves the yard for service work, or price the lease so the question does not come up.
A worked example the homeowner can read#
The same two-storey, quoted three ways in the words we use with the homeowner, before tax:
- Buy: $1,910.20 this season, you own the lights, then $709.80 a season to put them back up and take them down. Three seasons, $3,329.80. You store them, and a dead strand is a new strand.
- Lease, flat: $1,910.20, then $1,865.20 a season. Three seasons, $5,640.60. We own them, store them, fix them within 48 hours, take them down in January, and they come back to us at the end.
- Lease, declining: $1,910.20, then $1,678.68, then $1,510.81. Three seasons, $5,099.69, and the display is yours after the third takedown.
The storage line is what sells the lease; a garage shelf and a ladder sell the buy. Either way the drawing, the footage and the per-foot rates are identical, so the customer sees that the difference is service, not a different house. Price your own house in the free roofline tool and the numbers change; the shape of the conversation does not.
Mistakes we have made or watched others make#
- Leasing at the lights-included rate with no service line to compare against. The homeowner gets a quote from a buy-model competitor and your lease looks like a markup instead of a package.
- A declining schedule with no disposition clause. The homeowner has paid the product down and expects to keep it; if the lease says return, you have a fight in year three.
- Forgetting the one-time items in season 2. Season 1 carried a timer and a rush premium; season 2 repeats them, and the homeowner asks why the price did not drop.
- A flat schedule on a five-season term. Product and labour cost more in season 5 than season 1; use an escalator or a renewal bump.
- Storing leased lights in unlabelled bins. The storage cap in the lease only matters when you cannot find the display.
- Signing the lease and forgetting season 2. A signed lease in GlowBid creates each season's install job and takedown job on the day of signing, so season 2 is on the board before anyone forgets it. If your tool does not do that, put it in a calendar the same day.
- Calling it a lease when the homeowner owns the lights. That is a seasonal service agreement, and it needs the return clause, not the ownership clause.
The lease document itself, all thirteen clauses with sample wording, is in our multi-year lease template. It is not legal advice; have it checked for your province or state, especially auto-renewal and early termination. When you are ready to quote leases from the drawing, the founding price covers the lease chain on every plan.