Christmas light installation cost calculator

Holiday light installers price the roofline by the linear foot, the same way a gutter crew does. Measure along the eaves and up the gable edges you want lit, and you have the number they will use.

We read two public cost guides that give a per-foot price for installed lights, Fixr and Bob Vila, and combined them. The low and high are the averages of the two guides' lows and highs, and the typical price is the middle.

As whole jobs, Fixr puts the national range at $250 to $650 with $450 typical for a 1,500 sq ft home with LED lights. Bob Vila gives $218 to $663 with $437 typical. Very small jobs bottom out around those low figures; the calculator will not quote a full-service job under $218 to $250.

Both guides also publish prices by the size of the home, which is handy if you have not measured. Fixr's ranges by square feet and stories:

Bob Vila's table runs a little higher: $250 to $600 for a 1,000 sq ft home, $400 to $1,000 for a two-story 1,500 sq ft home, $500 to $1,200 for a two-story 2,500 sq ft home, and up to about $1,800 for a large multistory house. Notice how much the second story adds. Ladders get longer, the crew moves slower, and on a steep roof someone has to be tied off.

• Who supplies the lights. Most companies sell a package that includes commercial-grade lights, clips, cords and takedown. Some lease the lights to you each year and keep them in storage. If you have your own strands, you pay for labor only, but they need to work. Test every strand before the crew arrives; time spent finding a dead set is time you pay for.
• Height and pitch. Bob Vila puts hard-to-reach areas at about 20% more. Fixr gives $3.50 to $6 a foot for roofs about 16 ft high or more.
• Bulb type. LED strands cost more up front than incandescent but use far less power. Fixr's example is about $550 for 150 ft installed with LED lights against $375 with incandescent.
• Extras off the roof. Trees, bushes, railings, walkways and wreaths are priced separately, by the piece or by the hour.
• Power. If there is no outdoor outlet where the lights start, an electrician has to add one. Fixr puts that at $120 to $200 an outlet.
• When you book. The whole season is a few weeks long, so the best install dates go first. Late bookings get whatever slots are left.

Wrapping a tree takes a lot of lights and a lot of time, so it is priced by height. Fixr and Bob Vila give the same labor figures.

A timer is worth it. It turns the display on at dusk and off at bedtime, so you are not paying to light an empty street at 3 a.m. Both guides put the extra on the power bill at about $5 to $75 a month during the season, depending on how many lights and what kind.

The lights themselves vary as much as the labor. Fixr's materials-only prices per strand:

Renting is the middle path. Fixr puts light rental with installation at $200 to $600, and Bob Vila puts rental, installation and takedown at $200 to $550. You never store a tangle of lights in the garage, and the installer replaces failed bulbs. At the other end, permanent track lighting that stays up all year costs about $3,000 to $3,500 on average, according to Fixr.

A two-story home has 200 ft of roofline with a couple of steep gables. The owners want it done with the installer's lights, taken down in January, one 15 ft spruce in the front yard wrapped, and a timer.

• Roofline. $2.50 / $3.75 / $5 a foot × 1.2 for the height = $3 / $4.50 / $6, × 200 ft = $600 / $900 / $1,200.
• Takedown. 200 ft × $0.50 / $0.575 / $0.65 = $100 / $115 / $130.
• Tree. One medium tree, $125 / $188 / $250.
• Timer. $11 / $26 / $40.
• Total. $836 to $1,620, with about $1,228 typical at the US average.

If the same owners already had good LED strands, a labor-only install of the roofline would be $3 / $4.50 / $6 replaced by $1.80 / $3 / $4.20 a foot after the height uplift, or $360 / $600 / $840 for 200 ft. So the lights in the full-service price are worth about $300 typical on this house, $900 against $600. Owning your own strands saves money only if they last several seasons and you have somewhere dry to store them.

That sits inside Bob Vila's $400 to $1,000 range for a smaller two-story home and its $1,800 top for a large multistory one. Enter a ZIP to scale the labor part to your state.

A one-story home with an easy roofline is a fair weekend job. You will need clips that fit your gutters or shingles, outdoor-rated extension cords and lights, and a sound ladder. Fixr lists strands from about $5 to $60 each depending on the type, so a full roofline of good LED lights is not cheap either.

Hire it out when the roof is two stories, steep, icy or over a hard surface. A few safety rules either way:

• Plug outdoor lights only into GFCI-protected outdoor outlets, and use cords and lights rated for outdoor use.
• Do not overload a circuit. Follow the strand maker's limit on how many sets connect end to end.
• Never staple or nail through a wire. Use plastic clips.
• Keep ladders and lights well away from the overhead service line to the house.
• Work in dry weather and have someone foot the ladder.

Holiday lighting is a busy six to eight weeks for landscapers, pressure washers and window cleaners looking to fill the slow season. Your price should come from your crew hours, your lights and your risk.

• Price per foot, with a floor. Measure the roofline, price per foot by height, and set a minimum that covers the truck, two people and setup.
• Sell the package. Install, service calls and takedown in one price is easier to buy and protects your January.
• Lease, do not sell, the lights. Lights you own and reuse for three or four seasons pay for themselves and keep customers coming back.
• Book renewals early. Send last year's customers a renewal estimate in September.
• Know your margin. Our profit margin calculator shows what price hits the margin you want after lights, labor and insurance.

The "Save as an estimate" button above puts roofline, takedown and each extra on its own line. Send it from Koira and the customer can approve it and pay a deposit on their phone.