The case for not doing it yourself
The job seems small in the driveway, then it eats a whole weekend. Add the second story, a roof with a real pitch to it, and weather that does not cooperate, and the math changes.
What a real installation service includes
The job breaks into a few pieces, and the last one is the one people forget. It starts with a design for the house: which lines get lit, what color, how it reads from the street. Then installation, which is the part you are really paying to skip. Then upkeep while the lights are up. And then takedown in January and storage until next year, so nothing comes back into your garage.
What happens in January
Everybody plans for putting them up. Almost nobody plans for taking them down. Takedown and off season storage are part of the service, which means nothing lives in your attic between seasons.
Homes and businesses
Home installs usually cover the roofline, the entry and a tree or two. Commercial holiday lighting has a different point: a lit building pulls attention in a season when everybody is competing for it. The install schedule is the part that takes planning, since most businesses want the ladders gone before the doors open.
What to agree on before you book
Agree on what gets lit specifically: which rooflines, which trees, which entries. Agree on whether the materials are yours or theirs, since that decides where they live after the season. Settle the takedown while you are still talking about the install.
What a good quote should tell you
A quote with one number and no detail is not enough to compare. It should say what gets lit specifically enough that nobody is guessing: rooflines, entries, trees, walkways. It should say whose lights these are, because that decides what happens in January. Takedown and off season storage need to be on the quote, not left to a handshake. And it should say who to call during the season if a section goes dark.What December looks like when somebody else does the work is worth describing. A crew shows up on a scheduled day, the lights go up,
https://juliusbuwe351.iamarrows.com/landscape-lighting-install-a-practical-guide-for-homeowners-planning-a-landscape-lighting-installation-and-what-it-should-cost-you-in-effort and you were at work. In January the same thing happens in reverse.
If you would rather stop repeating this
If you are booking this every December, it is worth asking about permanent lighting once. Permanent lighting is one install that covers December and every ordinary evening after it. EverCrest Lighting does both. The consultation is free. Based in Greenville, they cover Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina. Reach them at (864) 252-1732 or
[email protected].