Christmas light installation pricing guide (2026)
What installers charge per linear foot in 2026, how lease and purchase pricing compare, what to charge for takedown and storage, and how to set a minimum. For owners building or checking a holiday lighting price sheet before the rush.
What Christmas light installation costs.
HomeAdvisor, HomeGuide and Thumbtack all quote installation by the linear foot. They agree on the shape of the market and disagree on the edges.
Per foot, lights included
HomeAdvisor's 2025 guide: $2.50–$7 per linear foot including lights, setup, removal and sometimes mid-season maintenance. HomeGuide's 2026 guide is narrower, at $2.50–$5.
Per foot, labor only
Using the customer's lights: Thumbtack (April 2026) says $1.25–$3, HomeGuide $1.50–$3.50 and HomeAdvisor $2–$5.
Typical residential job
HomeAdvisor's normal range, with a $444 average. HomeGuide says $241–$645 (average $443) and Thumbtack $260–$661.
Hard-access surcharge
HomeAdvisor, HomeGuide and Thumbtack all describe about 20% more for high or hard-to-reach roofs. HomeGuide puts it at 20–25%, or $3.50–$6 per foot. Thumbtack says second stories run about twice the first-story rate.
Trees and landscape are priced separately. HomeGuide lists $10–$20 to wrap small trees and shrubs and from $1,500 per tree for trees up to 50 feet. HomeAdvisor puts a small tree at $75–$200 and says trees over 30 feet can reach $1,500 or more. Thumbtack's range is $60 for a small tree to $1,200 for a large one.
Jobber's holiday lighting guide cites Angi's 2025 data: a $442 average install, $150–$2,000 for roof lighting and $750–$5,000 for a full package of roof, windows, garage and shrubs.
Three ways to price the lights.
The lights themselves are the biggest pricing decision. Installers price them in one of three ways, and some offer more than one.
Lease (you own the lights)
You supply commercial-grade lights, install, take down and store them, and charge one season price. HomeGuide puts rental packages at $230–$600 with at least 150 linear feet, and $100–$200 more than a labor-only package. HomeAdvisor says $250–$600. Your light cost is spread across the seasons the lights last.
Purchase (customer owns the lights)
The customer pays for the lights up front, then pays labor each year. HomeGuide lists lights at $1–$1.50 per foot and HomeAdvisor at $0.40–$2. Year one costs the customer more; later years are labor, takedown and storage only.
Install-only (their lights)
You hang lights the customer already has. Cheapest per foot, but you inherit their broken strands and mismatched bulbs. Price in time for testing and replacing, or limit it to lights you've inspected.
Takedown is usually in the price. HomeAdvisor and HomeGuide both note it's often bundled into the per-foot or package price. When it's sold on its own, HomeAdvisor puts it at $100–$400 or about $0.50 a foot, HomeGuide at $100–$300 or $0.50–$0.60 a foot, and Thumbtack at about half the original install cost.
Storage is the gap in the published data. None of the four sources lists a separate storage fee. HomeGuide says takedown includes packing the lights away for next season. If you store customer-owned lights, decide whether it's built into the season price or a line item, and write it on the quote either way.
Minimums keep small jobs worth the ladder. HomeGuide cites a $150–$200 minimum for landscaping companies that hang lights, and notes packages typically start at 150 linear feet.
Price the whole season, not just the install.
A Christmas light job is two visits (up and down), a light inventory, and storage. Build the price from all of it.
Labor
Install and takedown hours for the crew, times a loaded hourly rate. Jobber's guide cites Fixr saying labor can be up to 65% of a holiday lighting job's cost.
Lights and clips
On leased lights, divide what you paid by the seasons they'll last, then add clips, extension cords and timers. Jobber suggests a 5–10% allowance for broken bulbs, extra clips and waste.
Storage
Your unit or warehouse, bins and labelling, spread across the jobs you store.
Vehicle
Two trips per job, plus any service calls for outages in between.
Overhead
Insurance, software, website, marketing and off-season costs. Jobber's overhead method: monthly overhead ÷ monthly sales gives an overhead rate to add to each job.
Card fees and margin
Price = cost ÷ (1 − margin), then cover card processing. Jobber's example targets a 30% margin, so $2,000 of cost becomes a $2,857 price.
Pricing one leased roofline.
Every number below is an example, chosen to show the math. Use your own.
The job (example)
150 feet of single-story roofline, C9 LEDs on your leased inventory, installed, taken down and stored.
Labor (example)
Two people × 2.5 hours to install, plus two people × 1.25 hours to take down: 7.5 hours × $28 loaded rate = $210.
Lights and clips (example)
$180 of commercial-grade line and bulbs spread over 3 seasons = $60, plus $15 for clips and a timer: $75.
Storage (example)
$10 per job as this job's share of the storage unit.
Vehicle (example)
2 trips × 15 miles × $0.70 per mile = $21.
Overhead (example)
$20 overhead per job hour × 7.5 hours = $150.
Total cost and margin (example)
$466 total cost. At a 25% margin: $466 ÷ 0.75 = $621.33.
Add card fees (example)
3% processing: $621.33 ÷ 0.97 = $640.55. Quote $640, about $4.27 a foot.
Check it against the market. $4.27 a foot all-in is inside HomeAdvisor's $2.50–$7 and HomeGuide's $2.50–$5 ranges for jobs that include lights. It's above HomeGuide's $230–$600 rental package range, which is a reason to look at how fast you can install 150 feet, and whether a two-person crew is needed on a single-story home.
Next season changes the math in your favor if the customer renews. You already know the roofline, the clips may still be on the gutters, and the job is quicker to quote and hang. That's why re-booking last year's customers early is worth more than chasing new ones in December.
Where holiday lighting prices leak.
Forgetting takedown in the price
Takedown is a second trip in January. If it isn't in the quote, you're doing it free or arguing about it later.
Charging nothing for storage
Bins, labels and a unit cost money all year. Price it in or list it, but don't absorb it by accident.
No minimum
A 40-foot porch still needs a truck, a ladder and two visits. HomeGuide's cited $150–$200 minimum is a sensible starting point to check against your own costs.
Flat per-foot pricing on every roof
Second stories and steep pitches take longer and carry more risk. The sources describe about 20% more for hard access; Thumbtack says second stories can run about twice the first-story rate.
Expensing leased lights in one year
Lights you'll reuse for several seasons should be spread across those seasons, or year-one jobs look unprofitable and later ones look better than they are.
Booking without a deposit
Your season is short and the calendar fills. Take a deposit when the customer books so a cancelled slot doesn't cost you a day.
A short season rewards fast quotes.
You can measure most rooflines from a satellite or street view and quote before a site visit. Ask for the address, which parts of the house they want lit, and whether they want you to supply the lights. Quote the season price with install window, takedown date and storage terms on the same page.
Offer two or three packages: roofline only, roofline plus trees and shrubs, and a full package. It's faster for the customer to choose than to describe what they want.
Follow up quickly, because December slots fill. A text the next day and another a few days later catch quotes that went quiet. Then put every finished job on a list to contact in late summer or early fall, so next season starts with last season's customers instead of an empty calendar.
Christmas light pricing questions.
How much should I charge per linear foot?
Published ranges are $2.50–$7 a foot with lights included (HomeAdvisor) or $2.50–$5 (HomeGuide), and $1.25–$5 a foot for labor only depending on the source. Build your own number from labor, lights, storage and overhead, then check it against those ranges.
Is leasing or selling the lights better?
Leasing gives the customer a reason to re-book with you each year, because you own the lights and already know the house. Selling lowers your inventory risk and storage. You can offer both and let the customer choose. Either way, put who owns the lights on the quote.
What should I charge for takedown?
HomeAdvisor and HomeGuide both say it's often included in the season price. Sold on its own, HomeAdvisor puts it at $100–$400 or about $0.50 a foot, HomeGuide at $100–$300, and Thumbtack at about half the install cost.
Do installers charge for storage?
Some build it into the season price and some list it separately. None of the guides we checked publish a typical storage fee, so set yours from what your storage actually costs per job.
What's a reasonable minimum?
HomeGuide cites $150–$200 for landscaping companies that hang lights, and packages that usually start at 150 linear feet. Check that against the cost of two trips and your shortest install.
Book the season early, then book it again.
Pricing works best when quote requests come in early and last year's customers re-book before the rush.
Where these numbers come from.
Prices checked October 2026. Ranges are national figures from the sources above; your local market, access and job mix will move them. Example numbers in the worked example are illustrations, not benchmarks.
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