GlowBid

Permanent lighting

Permanent Lighting Dealer Software: Quote, Sign, Collect

What Trimlight, JellyFish, Gemstone, EverLights and Oelo give dealers, the quoting gap they leave, and how dealers price track, jumps and peaks in GlowBid.

By Jack Seguin · · 10 min read

Trimlight lists 330+ authorized dealers, Gemstone Lights 308+ in Canada alone and JellyFish Lighting 400+ US locations, and as of September 2026 none of the five major permanent lighting manufacturers publishes quoting software for a dealer's own price list. What they give is real: territory, training, brochures, a portal to order product and, for some, leads. What they leave to you is the part that decides whether a lead becomes a job: turning a house into a per-foot price, getting it signed and taking the deposit. Here is what each manufacturer provides (checked on their own sites), the quoting gap, what a dealer should demand from software, and where GlowBid fits, including what it does not do yet.

What the manufacturers give dealers today

Manufacturer Cost to join (published) Territory Training and support Marketing and leads Software or portal
Trimlight $5,000 (30 zip codes or fewer) or $10,000 (31+), plus $499 demo kit; remainder converts to product credit Exclusive, from the zip code up, sized around a one-hour drive Two-day training in Salt Lake City; a dedicated success manager "Ready-to-deploy playbook," "marketing arsenal," manufacturer-referred leads routed by territory; get-a-quote form sends homeowners to the local dealer Dealer portal of videos and files; the Trimlight app for the lights
JellyFish Lighting "Startup costs are low," "different opening purchase levels with no added franchise or territory fees" No territory fees; territories not described "Guided training tailored to your needs," a dedicated lighting specialist Where-to-buy form contacts the closest location; 400+ US locations listed Dealer portal (dealerhub.jellyfishlighting.com)
Gemstone Lights Applicants show 5+ years in business and $2M+ revenue with sales and install staff and financing; first job reviewed and approved by a rep Dealer locator by province in Canada; 308+ Canadian dealers Required online modules, a dedicated rep on your first jobs, a marketing coordinator Advertising support, marketing materials, eligibility for website quote requests, a dealer tier program Portal with storefront ordering, order tracking, leads, service requests and an analytics dashboard
EverLights Not published on the pages we could reach Their dealer page describes securing a territory Training and support program Dealer co-op marketing program, marketing materials library, sales tools Dealer portal (portal.myEverLights.com); "find an Authorized Dealer" locator
Oelo Contractor: no fee, 10% off list. Authorized: $5,000 setup, 20% off, $5,000 to $24,999 a year. Preferred: $25,000 up front, 30% off. Platinum: 35% off at $70,000+ a year Tiered dealer program, not a franchise territory in the published tiers Online training videos; in-person options at higher tiers Ad match up to $2,500, $5,000 and $7,000 by tier; leads allocated through HubSpot to Authorized, Preferred and Platinum dealers, highest tier first; brochure kit HubSpot lead distribution; CLIPA member pricing of 10% to 35%

Read that table for what is not in it. There is a column for portal, and a column for leads, and no column for "prices the house," because nobody offers one. The Trimlight app runs the lights. Gemstone's portal takes your order. Oelo's HubSpot hands you the lead. The estimate in between is your problem, and most dealers solve it with a spreadsheet, a Word template or a general-purpose field app that thinks a roofline is a line item called "Lighting."

The quoting gap

Permanent lighting quotes are harder than seasonal ones, and generic software gets the hard parts wrong.

Track versus no-track. A dealer often carries a channel-mounted line and a lower-cost line with no track, and the two have different per-foot costs, different labour and different warranties. They need to be separate product lines with separate rate cards, not one price with a note.

Jumps. The unlit cord across a valley, over a door or between the garage and the house is cable and time, not nodes. If your software charges lit-footage rates for jumps you are overcharging and losing the bid; if it ignores them you are eating the labour.

Peaks. Gable edges are slower and higher than eaves. Every dealer we know prices them with a higher rate or a steep-pitch premium, and a second premium for the upper storey. Software that only knows total footage cannot do it.

Controllers. One controller drives so many feet or so many runs, and the count changes with the layout. It has to be a per-unit line that you set, not buried in the per-foot rate.

Per-foot pricing that the homeowner can read. The dealer price from your manufacturer sets your floor. The number on the quote is per foot by run type, and a homeowner comparing two dealers is comparing that number and what it includes. A quote without a scope block (product line, colour capability, node spacing, warranty, controller included) loses to the one with it.

Year-round selling. Permanent lighting sells in March for patio season and in August for the fall. Seasonal-first software, and the seasonal Word template, assumes an October rush and a January takedown. A dealer needs the quote, the follow-up and the signed agreement to work the same way in June.

What a dealer needs from software

Need Why What it looks like in practice
Measure from a photo, price from the measure The estimate should not be typed twice Draw the runs on the house photo; footage and price come from the drawn line
Product lines you name Track, no-track, commercial, whatever you carry A rate card per product line with per-foot rates by run type
Jumps and peaks as first-class items They price differently from the roofline Jump rate or per-jump amount; peak rate plus steep-pitch and storey premiums
Controllers, kits and add-ons Per-unit items with your prices Add-on lines and kits on the rate card
A scope block on the quote Ends the "I thought that was included" call Product, colour, spacing, includes, warranty and expiry printed on page one
E-signature and deposit Close in the driveway, not next week Homeowner signs on their phone, pays the deposit by card, you get the signed PDF
Invoices from the same numbers No retyping the total Invoice generated from the signed quote
Agreements that outlive the sale Warranty terms, and leases if you run seasonal too One-time permanent agreement; multi-year seasonal lease that creates each season's jobs
A pipeline you can work in July Permanent sells all year Customers, estimates and follow-ups in one place, not a seasonal spreadsheet

How GlowBid fits a dealer

GlowBid is built by a working permanent lighting installer in Ottawa, so the quoting model starts from how dealers actually price, not from a generic invoice.

Name your product lines and set your prices. Your rate card holds as many product lines as you carry. Name them what you sell (your track line, your no-track line, a commercial line), and for each one set the per-foot rate by run type (roofline, ridge line, peak, jump, ground, tree), the premiums for steep pitch, upper storeys and rush work, your kits, and your add-ons such as controllers and transformers. Your manufacturer's dealer pricing is your business; GlowBid only needs the number you charge.

Draw the house. Open the homeowner's photo or your site photo on one canvas, set the scale from the garage door, and draw each run as its type. The footage is the drawn line and the price is that footage times your rate. Move a corner and the total moves with it. There is no second place where the number lives, so the quote cannot disagree with the drawing. Our roofline measuring guide walks through the method, and the free tool lets you try it without an account.

Quote, sign, deposit, invoice. The quote PDF carries your logo, the scope block, the mockup, line items by run with the premiums and the jump and peak counts, add-ons, discount, minimum job, subtotal, tax, total and the deposit due to book. The homeowner e-signs on their phone and pays the deposit through Stripe; the signed copy prints with their name, the date and a document fingerprint. The invoice comes from the same numbers.

The lease chain, if you also do seasonal. Many permanent dealers started as, or still run, a seasonal crew. GlowBid's lease agreement type covers multi-year seasonal contracts, and a signed lease creates each season's install job, takedown job and renewal touchpoint on its own. A permanent one-time sale uses the permanent agreement type. Both live on the same customer record.

Price. Founding pricing is Core at $299, Pro at $499 and Ultimate at $699 a year, with a 7-day trial. There is no per-quote fee and no platform fee on your deposits beyond Stripe's own processing.

What is not there yet

  • No manufacturer preset library. There is no Trimlight, JellyFish, Gemstone, EverLights or Oelo product preset with part numbers. Today you name the product line yourself and set your own prices. Presets are coming; until then, setting up a line takes a few minutes with your dealer price sheet beside you.
  • No bill of materials in manufacturer SKUs. Footage and counts come out of the drawing in your product-line names, not in the manufacturer's part numbers.
  • No connection to a manufacturer's dealer portal or lead feed. Leads from Trimlight's routing, Gemstone's website quote requests or Oelo's HubSpot come to you the way they do today; you enter the customer in GlowBid.

Dealer by dealer

Everything below is from each manufacturer's own site, checked in September 2026. If your program has changed, tell us and we will update the page.

Trimlight dealers. Trimlight's dealer program is territory-based, "starting at the zip code level," with two entry packages ($5,000 for 30 zip codes or fewer, $10,000 for 31 or more) plus a $499 demo kit, and the remainder converting to product credit. Trimlight states "no royalties, no monthly fees, no renewal charges." Dealers get two days of training in Salt Lake City, a dedicated success manager, a playbook and marketing materials, and manufacturer-referred leads: the get-a-quote form tells homeowners that "your local, authorized, factory-trained Trimlight dealer will guide you through the estimate process." The dealer locator lists 330+ authorized dealers with a US or Canadian postal code search. The estimate itself is the dealer's to build. In GlowBid, a Trimlight dealer names a product line, sets per-foot rates for roofline, peaks and jumps, adds the controller as an add-on, and draws.

JellyFish Lighting dealers. JellyFish says "startup costs are low" with "different opening purchase levels with no added franchise or territory fees," and offers "guided training tailored to your needs" and "a dedicated lighting specialist who is focused on your success." Its where-to-buy page lists 400+ US locations and routes a homeowner's form to the closest one. Its dealer FAQ lists "How do I bid a project?" as a question, which is a fair summary of the gap. A JellyFish dealer sets up GlowBid the same way: a named product line, per-foot rates by run type, jump and peak pricing, controller add-on.

Gemstone Lights dealers. Gemstone's program page asks for 5+ years in business, $2M+ in annual revenue, sales and install staff and financing options, and every new dealer completes a first job approved by a Gemstone rep. The portal covers storefront ordering, order tracking, leads management, service requests and an analytics dashboard; dealers get advertising support, marketing materials, a marketing coordinator and eligibility for quote requests from the Gemstone website, with a tier program on top. Gemstone lists 308+ authorized dealers across Canada, found by province. The portal takes the order after the sale; GlowBid handles the drawing, the quote and the signature before it.

EverLights dealers. EverLights runs a dealer portal (portal.myEverLights.com) and a "find an Authorized Dealer in your area" locator, and its dealer recruitment page describes securing a territory, a dealer co-op marketing program, a training and support program, a marketing materials library and sales tools. Pricing and requirements were not published on the pages we could reach.

Oelo dealers. Oelo publishes four tiers. Contractor: no fee, 10 percent off list, no annual requirement. Authorized: $5,000 setup, 20 percent off, $5,000 to $24,999 in annual purchases. Preferred: $25,000 up front (including the $5,000 setup), 30 percent off. Platinum: 35 percent off at $70,000 or more a year. Ad match is up to $2,500, $5,000 and $7,000 by tier, leads go out through HubSpot to Authorized, Preferred and Platinum dealers with the highest tier served first, and the startup kit includes residential, commercial and municipal brochures and colour samples. CLIPA members get 10 to 35 percent pricing. Oelo hands you the lead in HubSpot; GlowBid turns it into a drawn, priced, signed quote.

Nobody sends you the estimate. GlowBid does that today from a drawing on one canvas, with your product lines and your prices, and the manufacturer presets are next.

Questions installers ask

Does Trimlight, JellyFish or Gemstone give dealers quoting software?
Not that any of them publishes. Trimlight lists a dealer portal, training, a marketing playbook and manufacturer-referred leads. Gemstone's portal handles orders, order tracking, leads, service requests and analytics. JellyFish gives dealers a portal and a dedicated lighting specialist. Oelo distributes leads through HubSpot. None of the five describes a tool that turns a house into a per-foot quote at the dealer's own prices, so dealers bring their own.
What does a permanent lighting dealer need in quoting software?
Per-foot pricing by run type (roofline, ridge line, peak), a separate rate for jumps, premiums for steep pitch and upper storeys, controllers and add-ons as their own lines, product lines that match what you actually install, a scope block on the quote, e-signature, a deposit and a contract that outlives the sale. Since a permanent dealer sells all year, it also needs to work in July, not just October.
Can I use GlowBid as a Trimlight or JellyFish dealer?
Yes. GlowBid does not ask which manufacturer you carry. You name your product lines (for example, your track line and your no-track line), set your own per-foot rates by run type, your jump and peak premiums, your controller and add-on prices, and draw the house. There is no manufacturer part-number preset library yet, so the bill of materials comes out in your names, not theirs.
How do dealers price jumps and peaks on permanent lighting?
Most dealers we know price lit runs per foot with the roofline as the base rate, give peaks their own higher rate or a steep-pitch premium because of the ladder time, and price jumps at a lower per-foot rate or a flat amount per jump since a jump is cord and labour, not nodes. Controllers are a per-unit line. Your manufacturer's dealer price sets your floor; the per-foot rate is yours.
Does a permanent lighting quote need a lease agreement?
Only if you are leasing. Most permanent installs are a one-time sale with a warranty, and that agreement type is built in. If you also run seasonal lighting on a multi-year lease, GlowBid's lease agreement creates each season's install job, takedown job and renewal touchpoint when it is signed, so the same customer record carries the permanent sale and the seasonal contract.
What is missing from GlowBid for dealers today?
Manufacturer product presets with part numbers, a bill of materials in the manufacturer's SKUs, and any connection to a manufacturer's dealer portal or lead feed. Those are on the list; presets come first. What is there today is the part dealers actually lose sleep over: a per-foot quote from a drawing that cannot disagree with itself, signed and deposited before you leave the driveway.

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