TL;DR
Professional Christmas light installation in 2026 runs about $700 to $800 for the front roofline of a typical home (roughly 150 feet) in year one with commercial-grade lights included, then $300 to $400 in following years when the installer is re-hanging lights you already own. Wrapped trees run $300 to $400 for a small one and $2,000+ for large ones. Turnkey means design, materials, install, takedown, storage, and mid-season repairs. That works out to roughly $4.70 to $5.30 per foot in year one and $2.00 to $2.70 per foot after. For homeowners: the year-two price is the real price, so ask for it up front. For operators: those same numbers are why this is the best-margin six weeks in home services, and the rest of this post shows the math from both sides.
This post serves two readers at once, on purpose. Homeowners searching this phrase want to know what's fair. The lawn care, window cleaning, gutter, and pressure washing crews we work with want to know what to charge, because holiday lighting is the best-margin seasonal add-on in the trades. Same numbers either way; honesty is cheaper than two separate posts that flatter each audience.
What installation costs in 2026
| Job | Year one (lights included) | Following years (labor only) |
|---|---|---|
| Front roofline, ~150 ft | $700 to $800 | $300 to $400 |
| Add sides and back | $1,400+ | $600+ |
| Small tree (7 to 9 ft) | $300 to $400 | $100 to $200 |
| Large tree (30 ft+) | $2,000 to five figures | Quoted per job |
| High-end full-property display | $10,000+ | Quoted per job |
| Verdict | Year one is buying the lights. The following years are the real annual price, so judge every quote on both numbers. | |
Those figures come from The Light Pros, a company that's done nothing but Christmas lighting for over 36 years and publishes its cost breakdowns in detail, and they line up with what our clients in the upper Midwest charge. A proper turnkey package includes design consultation, commercial-grade lights and materials, installation, off-season takedown, storage until next year, and mid-season repairs when a section goes dark in a storm. If a quote is dramatically cheaper, one of those pieces is missing, and the missing piece is usually takedown or repairs, the two you'll want in January.
Why year one costs double
Commercial-grade C9 LED strands, custom-cut to your roofline, are most of the first invoice. They're a different product from the box-store strings that fail mid-December: heavier gauge wire and replaceable bulbs, built for a realistic lifespan of six to seven seasons. That lifespan is the whole economics of the industry. Once the lights exist, every following year is labor only, which is why the year-two price drops to $300 to $400 while the installer's margin actually improves. Homeowners should ask two questions before signing anything: who owns the lights, and what does next year cost? A lease-style program at around $600 a year forever can beat ownership if you'll move soon, and loses to it if you'll stay five seasons.
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For operators: how to price it
The per-foot math from the table above is your benchmark: $4.50 to $5.50 per linear foot in year one with materials, $2.00 to $2.75 per foot for a relight. Set a job minimum of $500 to $600 or the drive time eats the margin on small rooflines. Price trees separately and generously, because wrapping is slower than everyone thinks and 30-foot trees need a lift. And structure every sale as a program, never a one-off: install plus takedown plus storage, invoiced annually. The relight visits in years two through seven are where the business actually lives, since a two-person crew can hang three to four stored-light jobs a day against one or two first-year builds.
The season is brutally short, which is the point. Sales start in September, installs run late October through the first two weeks of December, takedowns fill January. That's a 10 to 12 week revenue window that stacks on exactly the crews that are winding down: lawn care after final mows, window cleaners, gutter crews coming off fall cleanout season, and pressure washers. If you also plow, the same customer list buys both, and the pairing is the whole winter-revenue playbook alongside our snow removal pricing guide and snow removal contract template.
For operators: where the customers come from
Search volume for this exact phrase concentrates almost entirely in October and November, and most of it goes to whoever holds the map pack when the spike hits. That means your Google Business Profile needs the "Holiday lighting installation" service added, photos of last year's installs uploaded, and reviews mentioning Christmas lights requested, all by September, because rankings don't move in the week demand arrives. A service page on your site beats a Facebook post you re-share each fall: the page compounds every season, collects the searches year-round, and gives your ads somewhere to land if you run them. The playbook is the same one in our lawn care leads guide, compressed into one quarter, and if your site can't take a deposit or book an estimate in one visit, fix that first; our SEO for contractors guide covers the order of operations.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Christmas light installation cost?
For a typical home's front roofline (about 150 feet), expect $700 to $800 in year one with professional-grade lights included, and $300 to $400 in later years when the crew re-hangs lights you own. Whole-house wraps run $1,400+, tree wrapping $300 to $400 for small trees and $2,000+ for large ones. Elaborate full-property displays reach five figures.
Why is professional Christmas light installation so expensive?
Year one includes commercial-grade C9 LED strands custom-cut to your roofline, which are most of the invoice and last six to seven seasons. You're also paying for insured ladder work, takedown in January, storage, and mid-season repairs. The labor-only price in following years, roughly half of year one, is the true annual cost of the service.
How much should I charge for Christmas light installation?
Benchmark $4.50 to $5.50 per linear foot in year one with materials, $2.00 to $2.75 per foot for relights, with a $500+ job minimum. Quote trees separately. Sell install, takedown, and storage as one annual program: the stored-light relights in years two through seven are the margin, at three to four jobs a day for a two-person crew.
When should I book Christmas light installation?
October, both directions. Homeowners get the best schedule slots and sometimes early-bird pricing before the post-Halloween rush. Installers should have their Google Business Profile services, photos, and a dedicated service page live by September, because the search spike hits in late October and rankings don't move overnight.
Is Christmas light installation a good business?
As a seasonal add-on for an existing service company, it's one of the best: 10 to 12 weeks of five-figure revenue on crews that would otherwise wind down, customer relationships that renew for six or seven seasons of labor-only relights, and equipment you mostly already own. As a standalone startup it's harder; the season is short and year-one light inventory is a real cash outlay.
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