A permanent Christmas lights business starts with two questions: dealer or independent, and what it costs to put product on the truck. On the manufacturer pages we could read on September 7, 2026, Trimlight charges $5,000 or $10,000 one time, Gemstone charges no fee but wants $10,000 to $15,000 of starter stock, and Oelo's tier sheet starts at $0 for contractors. Below: the programs, the product line, the kit, and a first job priced to $3,390.
I run a permanent lighting company in Ottawa and I built GlowBid. The dealer terms below are the manufacturers' own words, linked; the prices in the worked example are GlowBid's default rate card, which every installer replaces with their own.
What the dealer programs say today#
Every line in this table was read on the brand's own page on September 7, 2026, except Oelo, whose site refused the request; that row comes from a mirror of Oelo's December 2023 tier sheet and may be out of date.
| Brand |
Entry cost |
Territory |
Training |
Product warranty |
Labour warranty |
| Trimlight |
$5,000 (30 zip codes or fewer) or $10,000 (31 or more), one time; includes a $499 demo kit, the rest is product credit; no royalties |
Protected; about one hour of driving edge to edge; owner must live in it; territory counts as abandoned below 10 percent of the yearly quota |
Required two-day session in Salt Lake City, travel at your cost |
50,000 hours on standard residential ("lifetime"); ridge lights one year; landscape ten years |
Minimum one year, from the dealer |
| JellyFish Lighting |
"Different opening purchase levels with no added franchise or territory fees"; no dollar figure on the page |
Page asks "Do you sell territories?" and gives no answer we could read |
"Guided training tailored to your needs" |
Three years on parts for holiday lighting |
One year |
| Gemstone Lights |
No fee; $10,000 to $15,000 starter inventory plus the first install's material; $2 million liability insurance |
No exclusive territories |
Mandatory online training; first job inspected and approved by a Gemstone rep before you sell to the public; 90-day onboarding |
Lights 50,000 hours; power kits, controllers, cables, connectors and tracks ten years |
One year |
| EverLights |
"Minimal startup costs"; no figure published |
"Secure a territory" in the ad copy; no terms published |
"Training and support program"; no details |
One to ten years by product; labour not covered by EverLights |
Not stated |
| Oelo (2023 sheet) |
Contractor $0 at 5 percent off list; Authorized $5,000 setup at 15 percent off; Preferred $5,000 plus $20,000 product credit at 25 percent off |
Not on the sheet |
Online for contractors; one on-site session for dealers |
Not on the sheet |
Not on the sheet |
Two things stand out. Only Trimlight publishes a real entry price and a real territory rule. And the labour warranty is yours everywhere, which matters more than any brand name when a node fails in February.
Dealer or independent: which one?#
Pick dealer if you want a brand the homeowner has already searched for, leads from the manufacturer's site, and a protected area where one exists. Pick independent if you already have a seasonal customer list and would rather buy track, nodes, controllers and power supplies from a supplier with no agreement, no quota and no training trip.
The dealer trade is money and freedom for name and leads. Trimlight's quota rule is the clearest example: sell less than 10 percent of your yearly number with little contact and the territory is treated as abandoned. Gemstone has no exclusive territory, so the brand name is the whole benefit, plus a dealer portal with leads. JellyFish and EverLights publish so little that you are signing on a phone call, so get the purchase levels and the territory answer in writing before you send money.
The independent route is what Thunder Lighting Supply's guide describes: buy from a distributor, take their free installer training, and carry the warranty yourself. You can change products the day a better channel comes out, and you explain to every homeowner who you are, because nobody typed your name into Google. With a seasonal book that is a small problem; starting cold, it is the whole problem.
Either way, do not pay a setup fee or buy a starter kit before the first job is sold and the deposit is in the bank. Product credit is not revenue.
Which product line do you pick?#
Choose the product line by how it mounts, how it is controlled and what the warranty actually says, not by the app demo. Three things to check on any line before you carry it.
Track or no-track. A track system runs an aluminum channel along the fascia with the nodes inside it. It hides the wire, it survives ice, and it takes longer because channel is cut, mitred and screwed before a node goes in. A no-track system clips or adheres the light line to the fascia or drip edge. Faster, cheaper in material, and the wire shows on light trim in daylight. Carry both if you can, because the price gap is a sales tool: GlowBid's default card prices track at $25 per foot of roofline and no-track at $20, and quoting the same drawing both ways is one tap.
Nodes and controllers. Ask the node spacing, whether nodes are replaceable one at a time, what the controller costs you, how many nodes one power supply drives, and whether the app is the manufacturer's or a white-label. The controller is its own line on every quote. So is the second power supply on a long house.
The warranty in hours, not adjectives. Trimlight's "lifetime" is defined on its warranty page as 50,000 hours of use, with the labour warranty coming from you for a minimum of one year and a 30-day registration window after install. Gemstone's is the same 50,000 hours on the lights, ten years on controllers, cables and track, and one year of labour. JellyFish says three years on parts and one on labour for holiday lighting. EverLights covers products for one to ten years and says plainly that labour is not included. Whatever you carry, the homeowner will hear "lifetime" and expect you on a ladder for free in year six. Write what is covered on the quote.
What goes in the starter kit?#
Enough to finish the first sold job with a buffer, and nothing more. For a track line: channel in the lengths your supplier ships, light line or nodes for the lit footage plus 10 percent, jump cable, connectors and end caps, a controller, a power supply sized for the node count, and screws suited to the fascia. Tools: a mitre saw or track cutter, crimpers, a node tester, a drill, a good ladder, and a roof harness if any run is above the second storey.
Two published startup figures, both for the whole business: Thunder Lighting Supply says $15,000 to $35,000; BUILD lists $5,000 to $15,000 of inventory, $1,500 to $4,000 of tools and $5,000 to $30,000 for a vehicle. Both assume you buy stock before you sell it. Sold first, ordered second, and the kit is whatever the first ten drawings add up to.
How do you price the first jobs?#
Per foot by run type, with the controller, the jumps and the peaks as their own lines. The published ranges from the pages we read today are $15 to $25 per foot for basic systems and $25 to $40 for premium smart systems on Strandr, $20 to $30 on Thunder Lighting Supply, and $12 to $25 on BUILD. None of the three says whether the controller is inside the number.
GlowBid's default rate card, which every installer replaces with their own costs, is $25 per foot of roofline and ridge line on the track line, $28 on peaks plus a 15 percent pitch premium, $12 per unlit foot of jump, 10 percent per extra storey, a $250 Wi-Fi controller add-on, a $1,500 minimum job and a 30 percent deposit. The full method, with track against no-track and kits against per foot, is in the permanent per-foot pricing guide. You can draw a house and see the footage come out in the free roofline tool before you have a rate card at all.
Worked example: the first job, a bungalow front#
A bungalow with a two-car garage, two small front gables and the controller by the garage outlet. One photo from across the street, the 16 ft garage door as the reference, front elevation only. Every number is a GlowBid default on the track line; nothing here is our own setting.
| Line |
Footage or count |
Rate |
Premium |
Line total |
| Roofline (storey 1) |
96 ft |
$25.00 |
none |
$2,400.00 |
| Peaks, 2 runs of 10 ft |
20 ft |
$28.00 |
pitch 15 percent: $84.00 |
$644.00 |
| Jumps, 2 runs (unlit) |
8 ft |
$12.00 |
none |
$96.00 |
| Run subtotal |
|
|
|
$3,140.00 |
| Wi-Fi controller (add-on) |
1 |
$250.00 |
|
$250.00 |
| Minimum job check ($1,500) |
|
|
met |
$0.00 |
| Total before tax |
|
|
|
$3,390.00 |
| Deposit at signing (30 percent) |
|
|
|
$1,017.00 |
Lit footage is 116 ft, so the materials list with the 10 percent buffer calls for 128 ft of channel and light line and about 9 ft of jump cable. The all-in price is $29.22 per lit foot, inside every range above. Ten jobs like this one bill $33,900 with $10,170 collected at signing, which is more than a Trimlight entry fee or a Gemstone starter order before a single house is finished. The footage came from a photo, so the quote says it is an estimate confirmed on site, and you tape it before the channel is cut.
How do you sell the first ten?#
To people who already trust you, with a mockup on their own house. Every seasonal customer is a permanent lead with the photo already on file: quote the permanent price beside their seasonal price and let the crossover do the talking. Starting cold, the first ten come from your own street, your trades network and one lit demo house people can drive past in the dark.
The sale happens at the door. The 20-minute on-site quoting method is photo, reference length, draw the runs, price, sign on their phone, deposit by card. Runs angled away from the camera read short, so the canvas warns you and you type the tape length in; every quote says photo measurements are estimates confirmed on site.
Mistakes that cost permanent installers money#
- Buying the kit before the job is sold. Product credit sits in a garage. Deposits sit in a bank account.
- Signing a territory agreement without reading the quota. Trimlight's abandonment rule is on the public page; other brands' rules are not, so ask.
- Burying the controller in the per-foot rate. A two-zone house with two power supplies loses the margin on the second one.
- Counting jumps as lit feet. Channel and nodes get ordered for cable that carries neither, and the customer pays for lights that do not exist.
- Missing the 30-day registration window. Trimlight and Gemstone both void the product warranty if it is not registered within 30 days of install. Register it the day you finish.
- Promising "lifetime" without saying whose. The product warranty is the manufacturer's. The labour is yours, for as long as your agreement says and not one day longer.
- Cold-weather adhesive. No-track lines that stick to the fascia are not meant to go up in a deep freeze. Cut the season off at the temperature the adhesive maker publishes, not when the calendar says.
The paperwork that makes it a business#
A permanent job is a one-time install agreement, and it has to say more than a seasonal contract: the product line, the node spacing, what the controller does, which warranty is whose and for how long, the deposit, the balance on completion, and the measurement clause. Our permanent lighting installation agreement template has all of it with sample wording and a plain notice that it is not legal advice; you edit the clauses to yours.
In GlowBid the agreement, the quote and the invoice come off the same drawing. You set the rate card once, per product line, with the premiums and add-ons above. The quote PDF prints the drawing, the footage by run with its measurement source, the line items and a scope block. The homeowner e-signs on their phone, the deposit goes through Stripe, and the invoice carries a payments ledger for the balance. Dealers and independents use the same permanent lighting dealer software; only the rate card differs. Founding pricing starts at $299 a year for Core on the pricing page, with a 7-day trial and no card.
