Measure the roofline for the coverage
Christmas lights are priced by the foot of roofline. Start with how much of the house the customer wants lit. Offer three choices: the front only, the front and sides, or all the way around. The front is the side that faces the street.
Peaks are the sloped edges that run from the eave up to the ridge at each gable. Lighting them outlines the roof, and it adds footage. Hip roofs have no gable peaks.
| Coverage | Without peaks | With peaks |
|---|---|---|
| Front | 49 ft | 67 ft |
| Front and sides | 89 ft | 116 ft |
| All the way around | 118 ft | 153 ft |
Coverage moves the price more than anything else. All the way around with peaks is 153 ft on this house, 3.1 times the front alone. Quote the coverage the customer asked for, and show the bigger coverage as its own price so they can pick the one that fits the budget.
Walk the roofline before you quote. Look at what the clips will hold on to: gutters, shingles, tile or fascia. Note loose gutters, satellite dishes and spots with no safe ladder footing. A photo of each side helps the crew plan the runs.
Build a per-foot rate
The rate has to cover the lights, the crew's time to hang them and take them down, your overhead and your profit.
Lights per foot is what the lights, clips and cords cost you, spread over the seasons they last. Most companies lease the lights to the customer for the season and reuse them the next year, so each job carries part of their cost.
Labor per foot covers two trips: the install and the takedown. Time a few jobs from arrival to cleanup, both ways.
Those example inputs land on $6.00 a foot, the one-story rate Measured Bid uses as a sample. Swap in your own light cost and your crew's pace, and the rate will move.
What the price covers
Say on every quote what the per-foot price covers. HomeAdvisor says a typical price covers the lights, setup, removal and sometimes mid-season maintenance. Most installers include:
- The lights, leased for the season
- Clips, extension cords and timers
- The install
- Fixing strands that go out during the season
- Takedown after the holidays, and storage until next year
Service calls are easy to leave off. If a strand goes out the week before Christmas, the customer will call. Decide ahead of time how fast you go back and whether the visit is free.
Add a rate for each story, and for steep roofs
Taller homes take longer. The crew needs taller ladders, more moves and more time tied off. OSHA requires fall protection for residential construction work 6 feet or more above a lower level, so plan the setup time into the rate.
HomeAdvisor says to plan on 20% more for hard-to-reach roofs and eaves, and QuoteIQ puts two-story and steep rooflines about 25% higher. Measured Bid's sample rates are $6.00, $7.50 and $9.00 a foot for 1, 2 and 3+ stories. At the two-story rate, the sample house's roofline and peaks come to $1,148.00 instead of $918.00.
On a two-story house with a porch or garage roof, split the footage. Price the upper roofline at the two-story rate and the lower roofline at the one-story rate.
Steep roofs slow the crew down too. Measured Bid's sample adds 20% to the feet on roof planes steeper than 8/12, and only to those feet. The rest of the roofline stays at the plain rate.
Price the peaks
Peaks are footage like the eaves, so price them at the same story rate. On the sample house, the peaks add 35 ft all the way around, or $210.00 at the sample rate. This house has several roof sections, so its peak lengths are estimated.
Peaks often take longer than eaves. The crew works up a slope instead of along a gutter, and the clips go on shingles. If your crew is slower on peaks, give them a higher rate or a line of their own.
Takedown as its own line
Many companies include takedown in the per-foot price. Some bill it on its own, so the install price reads lower or because they take down lights they didn't hang. HomeAdvisor lists $100 to $400 for removal when it isn't included.
Measured Bid's sample takedown fee is $200.00 a job. When you set one, it shows on the estimate as its own line. Leave it blank and the per-foot rate covers takedown.
Put the takedown window on the quote, such as the first two weeks of January. Taking lights down in the order they went up saves drive time.
Customer-supplied lights
Some customers already own lights and want someone else on the ladder. Price this as labor only, from the same labor math with the lights left out. In the example that's $2.75 of labor a foot, or $4.25 after overhead and profit.
QuoteIQ lists $2 to $5 a foot for labor only. Measured Bid's sample labor-only rates are $3.00, $4.00 and $5.00 a foot. A new widget leaves them blank until you set them. At the sample rate, the sample house all the way around with peaks is $459.00 before takedown.
Customer strands are often older, mixed or short. Test them before the install day. Say on the quote what you charge to replace a strand that fails.
Trees, bushes and wreaths
Price extras by the piece. A tree is priced by its height, a bush by its size, and wreaths and windows by the count.
| Item | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Small tree, wrapped | $75 to $200 | HomeAdvisor |
| Bush | $25 to $75 each | QuoteIQ |
| Window outline | $20 to $50 each | QuoteIQ |
In Measured Bid, add each one as an add-on priced each. The job minimum applies to the whole job, extras included.
Set a minimum
A small job costs almost as much to run as a big one: the drive, the setup, the ladder moves and a second trip for takedown. A minimum keeps small jobs worth doing.
One installer quoted in Jobber's guide sets a $495 minimum, with an average job around $1,000. Set yours near the price of the smallest job you would take in your busiest week. The install season is short, so every slot has to pay.
Worked example
Here is the sample house quoted all the way around with peaks, one story, at the sample rates, with takedown on its own line.
Sierra Christmas Lights Co.
(916) 555-0100
Christmas lights estimate
No. 1042
- Stories
- 1 story
- Coverage
- Full perimeter
- Include roof peaks
- Yes
- Customer supplies lights
- No
| Item | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roofline lights | 118 ft | $6.00 / ft | $708.00 |
| Roof peaks | 35 ft | $6.00 / ft | $210.00 |
| Takedown after the season | 1 each | $200.00 / each | $200.00 |
The lines come to $1,118.00, above the $600.00 minimum. In Measured Bid the homeowner sees $950 to $1,300 for this house, and your team sees the line items.
When to sell and book
The install season is short, and a crew can only hang a few houses a day. Count your install days, multiply by the houses a crew hangs in a day, and you know how many jobs you can sell.
Quote early, while the calendar has room. Jobber's guide suggests starting to market in late October, or as soon as the weather turns cold. Returning customers are the easiest to book, so offer next year's date when you take the lights down.
Take a deposit to hold an install date. Put the install date and the takedown window on the quote.
Show homeowners a range
A homeowner shopping for Christmas lights wants a number before booking a visit. A price range for their own roofline, on your website, gives them one.
Measured Bid's Christmas lights widget asks where the homeowner wants lights and whether to include the peaks. It finds the street side from the address and prices the roofline with your rates. If you set labor-only rates, it also asks whether they have their own lights.
Quote by hand with the free Christmas light estimate template, or measure and price a house with the Christmas light installation cost calculator.