Become a Permanent Lighting Dealer: 6 Programs Compared

What do you pay before the first job?#

The entry cost, plus whatever the program makes you stock, plus the trip. Almost none of it is a fee you never see again. Trimlight turns everything past the $499 demo kit into material credit. Oelo's Platinum $75,000 carries $70,000 of product credit. Gemstone's starter stock is lights, controllers, power kits, extensions and wire, and its page says the kit does not include track, so budget track on top.

What none of them can do is turn credit into revenue. Product credit is inventory in your garage until a homeowner signs. That is why the order of operations matters more than the brand: sell the first jobs, take the deposits, then place the order. The start a permanent lighting business guide covers the dealer or independent decision and the starter kit; this page assumes you have decided to be a dealer and are choosing whose.

Two costs are not in any table. Trimlight's training is two days in Salt Lake City at your own travel cost, which from Ottawa or Calgary means a flight and hotel nights. Gemstone's $2 million liability requirement may mean a higher policy than a seasonal crew carries today. Price both before you apply.

How do territories and leads work?#

Territory is the biggest difference between the programs, and only Trimlight explains its rules in public. Its territories start at your zip code and grow to about a one-hour drive edge to edge. You must take every zip code in a city, you cannot lease a whole metro area, and growth means adding zip codes that touch yours. You may not market inside a neighbour dealer's area. Its package lists "Manufacturer-Referred Sales Leads" without saying how they are routed, says a customer who asks for a bid should have the lead go "to a responsible party," and forwards would-be dealers inside your territory to you. A lead you get outside your area is yours to take. Miss the quota and the territory is resized; fall under 10 percent of the yearly quota with little contact and it can be reopened to someone else.

Gemstone is the opposite: no exclusive territories, so the brand name and the portal are the benefit. Its dealer program page lists leads management in the portal, and its dealer FAQ says dealers can become eligible to receive quote requests from Gemstone's own website. Haven's 2024 launch said its X Series dealer network would be limited by region and continuous performance, which reads like a territory without the word. JellyFish's dealer FAQ asks "Do you sell territories?" and gives no public answer.

What training and onboarding should you plan for?#

Plan for weeks, not days. Trimlight's two-day session covers installation, the app, sales, marketing and troubleshooting, and a success manager is assigned from day one. Gemstone runs the longest published onboarding, inside 90 days of approval: vetting, paperwork, a design consultation, the starter kit, online training, then a first install that a Gemstone rep works beside you and approves before you may sell to the public. An application that goes quiet can be put on hold or closed.

Licensing is the step new dealers skip. Gemstone's page says requirements vary by state and province, some regions need a licensed electrician or a low-voltage licence, and it asks if you can pull an electrical permit where needed. Its dealer page says its products carry ETL certification for installation in both Canada and the United States. Whatever brand you pick, call your provincial electrical authority before the first sale.

What does the independent route look like?#

You buy from a wholesale supplier with no dealer agreement and carry the warranty story yourself. Thunder Lighting Supply's guide, dated February 23, 2026, describes commercial-grade systems built for professional installers, including OMNI, with free installer training on install, setup, quoting and operations. It puts startup at $15,000 to $35,000 and pricing at $20 to $30 per linear foot in many US markets. Its page does not mention a dealer fee or agreement.

There is also a middle step. Trimlight's dealer page says you can buy material for your own home before you buy a dealership. A lit demo house on your own street, quoted and installed by you, tells you more about the product and the ladder time than any sales call.

Questions to ask before you sign#

JellyFish's own dealer FAQ lists the right questions. It just does not answer them in public. Ask every manufacturer all of them, and keep the answers in an email:

• What does it cost to become a dealer, and what is in the dealer kit?
• Do you sell territories, and am I buying a franchise?
• What do you expect from dealers each year, in dollars or jobs?
• Can I sell competing brands?
• Can I use your brand name in my business name?
• How do I bid a project, and who sets the price per foot?
• Who carries the labour warranty after year one, and what does a service call pay?
• Do you run corporate locations near me, and how are leads split?

The last one matters with JellyFish in particular. Its where-to-buy page lists seven corporate locations, in Salt Lake City, Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio, Central Florida and South Florida, beside 400 or more US locations. Trimlight lists 330 or more authorized dealers across the US and Canada.

Worked example: how many deposits pay back the buy-in?#

Price one ordinary house, then divide the entry cost by it. The house: a bungalow with 140 ft of roofline, two gables with 30 ft of peaks, three jumps totalling 12 ft, and one controller. Measured from an owned photo with the 16 ft garage door as the reference; you can price this house in the free roofline tool. GlowBid's default track line, US dollars before tax. Installers set their own rates.

That is $28.59 per lit foot over 170 lit feet, inside Trimlight's published $18 to $35. Now the buy-in against it:

Read the last column as cash timing. Four signed bungalows with a 30 percent deposit cover a small Trimlight entry before you install one. Fifty-two cover Oelo Platinum. The footage came from a photo, so the quote says it is an estimate confirmed on site before track is cut.

Which program fits which installer?#

Trimlight if you want a protected area with written rules and manufacturer-referred leads, and you can fund $5,499 or $10,499 plus the Salt Lake City trip.

Gemstone if you already run an established exterior business with 5 years and $2 million of revenue, staff and financing, and you can live without exclusivity. Calgary-designed, certified for Canada and the US.

Oelo if you want to start small at the Contractor tier and climb tiers for a bigger discount. Confirm every figure by phone; its pages disagree with each other and its site would not load for us.

JellyFish or EverLights if the name already sells in your market and you are happy to sign on a phone call. Get the cost, territory and quota answers in writing first.

Haven if you are an experienced roofline or landscape installer and want one brand for both. Its dealer network is selective, and the terms are not public.

Independent if you already have a seasonal customer list and would rather keep your freedom than buy a name.

Mistakes new dealers make#

• Paying the entry before the first job is sold. Credit sits in a garage; deposits sit in a bank. Sell first.
• Forgetting track in the Gemstone budget. The starter kit page says it does not include track.
• Skipping the licence call. Gemstone flags permits and licences by region. A stop-work order costs more than a phone call.
• Promising the manufacturer's warranty as your own. Trimlight says labour comes from you, a minimum of one year. Gemstone's warranty does not cover labour at all.
• Missing the registration window. Gemstone's warranty is not honoured if it is not registered within 30 days of install. Put it on the install checklist.
• Pricing from the manufacturer's range. Trimlight's $18 to $35 is a range across markets. Your rate card comes from your cost and your ladder time; our permanent lighting profit margin guide has the arithmetic.

For homeowners: what does a dealer badge mean?#

It means the installer bought into a manufacturer's program and the product warranty runs through them. Ask three things: who covers labour after the first year, whether the warranty has been registered, and what a service call costs if a part turns out fine (Trimlight's page allows a minimum $75 fee in that case). A dealer badge says nothing about price. Trimlight and JellyFish both say local dealers set their own prices.

What software does a new dealer need?#

No program on this page publishes a tool that turns your own price list into a quote. The portals take orders and pass leads; the estimate is yours. Our permanent lighting dealer software page lists what each portal does and what a dealer should demand from quoting software.

GlowBid does not ask which brand you carry. You name a product line, set per-foot rates by run type, add the peak and storey premiums, put the controller in as an add-on, and draw the house on a photo you own. Footage, bill of materials and price come from the same drawing, with an optional materials buffer (default 10 percent). Each measurement carries a source tag and a confidence level, and the quote says photo measurements are estimates confirmed on site. The homeowner e-signs on their phone and pays the deposit through Stripe; GlowBid's platform margin on deposits is under 1 percent on top of Stripe processing, shown before you connect. Founding pricing is $299 a year for Core, $499 for Pro and $699 for Ultimate, with a 7-day trial, no card, and a 30-day money-back guarantee, on the pricing page. Start by drawing your demo house in the free roofline measuring tool.