The case for handing it off
Hanging Christmas lights sounds simple until you are on the ladder in a cold wind. Add the steep pitch, gutters you would rather not lean on, and weather that does not cooperate, and a lot of people decide it is worth hiring out.
What the service includes
The job has four parts, and the last one is the one people forget. First a design, drawn for your house rather than pulled off a shelf. Then installation, which is where the ladders stop being your problem. Then upkeep while the lights are up. And then takedown in January and storage until next year, which is the part that keeps your attic empty.
The part nobody asks about
Everybody plans for putting them up. Almost nobody plans for taking them down. EverCrest Lighting takes it down at the end of the season and stores it off season, so it comes back out ready the following year.
Residential and commercial Christmas lighting
Home installs are about the front of the house and the yard. 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 usually the negotiation, because the work has to fit around open hours.
Worth putting in writing
Agree on the scope in plain terms: the roof edge, the porch, the trees, the walk. Agree on whether the materials are yours or theirs, because it changes what happens in January. And agree on takedown and storage before anything goes up.
What should be on the page
A quote that is just a number is not a quote. Scope should be written down: which rooflines, which trees,
https://penzu.com/p/2fe56ec9f328a2a1 which entryways. Material ownership should be in writing. It should say whether takedown is included and where the lights live until next year. And it should say who to call during the season if a section goes dark.What December looks like once you hire it out is worth describing. A crew shows up on a scheduled day, the display goes in, and you did not touch a ladder. After the season they come back and take it down, and the boxes do not come back to your garage.
Worth knowing about
For anyone who does this annually, a permanent system is a fair question to raise. A permanent LED system is installed once and left in place, does the holiday colors from your phone, and doubles as everyday lighting the other eleven months. EverCrest Lighting does both. The consultation is free. They serve Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina from Greenville. Call (864) 252-1732 or email
[email protected].