The reason homeowners call
The job seems small in the driveway, then it eats a whole weekend. Add the second story, gutters you would rather not lean on, and weather that does not cooperate, and the math changes.
What you should be getting
The job has four parts, and the last one is the one people forget. It starts with a design for the house: what gets outlined, which trees get wrapped, how it looks from the road. Then the install, done by a crew with the right ladders and the right hardware. Then upkeep through December. And then takedown, then off season storage, so nothing comes back into your garage.
The part nobody asks about
Everybody thinks about the install. Almost nobody plans for taking them down. Takedown and off season storage are part of how they work, which means nothing lives in your attic between seasons.
Residential and commercial holiday lighting
At a house, the work is the roofline, the porch and the landscaping. 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 settle before you book
Agree on what gets lit specifically: which rooflines, which trees, which entries. Sort out ownership of the materials up front. Settle the end of season while you are still talking about the install.
What a good quote should tell you
One line
https://pastelink.net/830e2cca and a price is not something you can weigh against another company. It should say which parts of the property are included in specific terms: rooflines, entries, trees, walkways. Material ownership belongs on the page. It should say whether takedown is included and where they are stored between seasons. And it should say what happens if something quits in the middle of December.What December looks like when somebody else does the work is worth describing. You come home and it is done, without having climbed anything. After the season they come back and take it down, and nothing lands in your attic.
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 installs both. Consultations are free. Based in Greenville, they cover Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina. Reach them at (864) 252-1732 or
[email protected].