How to bid Christmas light installation without losing money on takedown

Count takedown and both drives before you set the price for the roofline. To bid Christmas light installation, measure the eaves first. Price trees and tall-ladder work separately. Add the hours for taking everything down in January. Set a minimum charge for small jobs. Before you send the quote, agree on who owns and stores the lights.

Choose a price you can check against your hours

For straight eaves, set a price per foot based on how long your crew takes. Time a finished job and note the feet installed. Keep separate times for ground-floor and upper-story work. Quote trees and tall sections separately.

Use a job you’ve already finished to set a starting rate:

1. Feet installed ÷ minutes on the roof = feet per minute for that crew and roof type.
2. People on the crew × hourly cost per person ÷ (60 × feet per minute) = labor per foot.
3. Add materials per foot if you supply the lights. Include trip costs, takedown, overhead and profit in the full bid.

Time load-out and takedown on that job too. If this is your first season, estimate those hours separately on each quote, then replace the estimates with your crew’s times as jobs finish.

Estimate roofline before you drive out

For a first estimate, open the address in Google Maps on a computer. Use Measure distance to trace the eaves the owner wants lit. Ask which parts they want first. Measuring the whole house wastes time if they only want the front.

The satellite view looks straight down, so it measures horizontal run only. That’s right for eaves and short for the sloped rake edges on each gable. Multiply each rake’s run by the factor for its pitch:

• 4/12: × 1.05
• 6/12: × 1.12
• 8/12: × 1.20
• 12/12: × 1.41

You can’t read pitch reliably from above. Ask for a front photo or check Street View before estimating a gable. If you don’t know the pitch, give a range and check it at the house.

For a 32-foot-wide gable at 8/12 pitch, each half spans 16 feet horizontally. Multiply 16 feet by 1.20 to estimate the length of each sloped edge, or rake. The two rakes need about 38 feet of lights, not the 32 feet across the base. That’s roughly 6 more feet for this gable, before counting clips or ladder moves.

Check the gutters, outlets and ladder footing on site before setting the final price. If you can’t reach a section safely, don’t include it in a quick phone number.

RouteLeads gives a rough roofline length for each home in your area, which is enough to choose the houses worth a measuring trip.

Count the work after install day

If your price only covers installation, January can eat it. Put these costs on your estimate sheet:

• Takedown. Allow crew hours for removal and another load-out. After the first job, compare its removal time with installation and use your own ratio on similar houses.
• Drive time. Count both the installation and takedown trips, multiplied by everyone riding in the truck.
• Callbacks. Price what a return trip would cost your crew, then set an allowance on the quote. Next season, replace that allowance with the share of your jobs that needed a visit.
• Storage. If you own the lights, allow space for a labeled bin for each house. If the owner owns them, agree on who stores them.
• Quotes that don’t book. Include the time spent measuring and writing bids in your overhead.

Work out the trip cost with your own numbers:

Trip cost = round-trip hours × people on the crew × hourly cost per person

With sample inputs of a one-hour round trip, two people and $30 per person-hour, each visit costs $60 in crew time. Install and takedown together cost $120 in driving alone. Swap in your actual trip, wages and vehicle cost.

To allow for callbacks, multiply the cost of a service visit by the share of jobs that needed one last season. If you don’t have that number yet, keep a separate allowance you can revise.

Set a minimum you can actually charge

Price the smallest job you’d take. Count crew hours for installing and removing lights, two round trips, materials and other business costs. Add time for loading the truck and possible callbacks, then add the profit you need. That total is your minimum charge. Don’t base it on footage alone: a short roofline can still be awkward to reach.

If your usual per-foot calculation comes in below that charge, quote the minimum or pass. If the owner wants a lower total, remove a tree or shorten the run and price the revised scope. Don’t offer less work for the same promised result.

Bid the next house without giving away the drive

Once a job books, price the neighbor’s roofline at your usual rate. Check whether both homes can share the install trip and the January takedown trip. Only then take the saved drive cost off the neighbor’s total. If they need another date, the full trip cost goes back in.

In the example, one round trip costs the crew $60. Installing and taking down one house on separate dates means two trips, or $120 in driving time. If three houses share those same install and takedown dates, the two trips cost $120 in all. That’s $40 per house before vehicle costs, saving up to $80 per house in crew driving. Check both dates before you offer that price.

Put the condition on the quote: “Street-day price applies if we install and take down the houses on the same dates.” Give the existing customer the same treatment if their dates allow it. The guide to getting Christmas light customers has hanger copy for the neighbors.

Hold a date only when the numbers work

Count the days your crew has open before offering an early-booking price. If an earlier booking lets you fill a week that would otherwise sit open, set a deadline for the signed quote and deposit. Don’t discount a full week just to call it an early-bird offer.

Set the deposit against the lights you’ll need to buy. Write down when the balance is due and what happens if the job is canceled. If you include a payment after takedown, put its date and scope on the quote.

The FTC cooling-off rule generally covers consumer purchases of $25 or more when you agree to the sale at the buyer’s home. This includes a visit the buyer requested, but there are exceptions. For covered sales, explain the three-business-day cancellation right aloud. Give the buyer a contract or receipt and two completed cancellation notices when they sign. Check your state’s rules too. Wait until the cancellation period has passed before ordering materials you can’t return with the deposit.

On the written quote, list:

• the install window and the takedown window;
• whether you own the lights and put them up each year, or the owner buys them;
• which service calls are included;
• the early-bird deadline, if you use one;
• any cancellation paperwork required for a covered sale at the owner’s home.

Quote extras for the time they take

If the owner asks for a shrub or path lights, list the work and its price on the quote. Check the cord run and where the crew can stand before calling anything a quick add-on. A wreath at the front door may fit the same visit; a tree across the yard may need another setup and more wire.

Keep any item that needs a lift or another visit on its own line. Say whether you’ll come back for failed lights during the season and whether removal is included. If a December repair visit isn’t included, price it at the trip cost you worked out above plus the time on the roof.