Christmas Light Installation Business
Christmas isn’t just for kids and toy retailers – you can start your own christmas light installation business.
Sure, the Christmas light installation business is a seasonal business – unlike the year-round cosmetic manufacturing business we reviewed (and love!) here – but if you’re looking for extra work or extra cash for the holiday season, this is one of our most recommended innovative business ideas. We like it for several reasons – it doesn’t require previous experience, it could be added as a side business to other industries, overheads are low and it offers good profit margins.
We’re speaking from experience – one of the team here at SmallBusinessIdeas4u.com tried out this venture on a small scale last Christmas – and can’t wait to beef up their efforts for the next holiday season. This time they have the benefit of the Cashing In On Christmas program.
Click here to check out the program for yourself.
This program has been put together by Tanner Larsson, the owner of a large and successful christmas light installation business, Reno Christmas Lights. He claims to generate about $200,000 gross income each holiday season – and from our own initial experience, we think this is achievable. Of course, you’ll need to hire people to help you in order to achieve this level of sales, but the profit margins should make it more than worthwhile.
A four-person work crew can bring in between $1500-$3000 per day. In the US, most residential christmas light installations fetch a labor charge of about $600-$1000. Of course, with commercial jobs you can charge much more.
In this business, you will need to make every minute matter. There’s a short window of opportunity – two months – in which to make money in the christmas light installation business. You will need to be prepared to work 6 or 7 days a week. Then that’s it until the same time next year!
The earliest you can begin working in your christmas light installation business will be the day after Halloween. You should have all your christmas light installation contracts completed by December 23, at the latest.
You will need to be prepared for the occasional service call, and then the first two weeks of January will be spent taking down lights and packing them away for your customers for next year. Most people want them taken down fairly quickly after the Christmas period, so you need to be organized to get this done promptly.
Here are some important tips for starting your own christmas light installation business:
- Take advantage of your existing customer base. If you work in any industry where you have contact with potential customers, publicize your new venture – at any time of the year. Christmas lights are not the exclusive preserve of Christmas – they can be used for wedding parties, functions, etc. Lights wrapped in and around trees look beautiful at any time of year and can turn an ordinary location into something really spectacular.
- Surf the web to find Christmas lighting ideas. You need to learn the light “lingo” when you start your christmas light installation business. You need to know about C7 and C9 glass filament light bulbs. These are the brightest of the Christmas lights. You’ll probably purchase these in cases of 1000 with separate cords – this way you can configure them to your customers’ designs. The most popular are clear and multi bulbs. Commercial LED Christmas lights are easy to install and consume very low levels of power. You can connect up to 125 sets of lights in a single run. A single power adapter is used at the beginning of each run. Jumpers are available in varying lengths to jump between trees, door, windows, etc.
- Use good quality commercial clips. It’s not worth trying to save a few dollars by economizing with poor quality clips. In the Cashing In On Christmas program, there is valuable information about the types of clips and attachments to use for different surfaces. If you don’t know how to hang Christmas lights correctly, you may find yourself re-doing jobs – which eat profits and makes for unhappy customers. It’s also a good move to discuss with your customers prior to the Christmas light installation exactly what hardware you will be using, so they know know what they are getting.
- Order some sample lights. It’s impossible to explain in words exactly how different lights and colors look. Showing your customers samples will minimize disappointment.
- Light up your own home. Your house could be your best advertisement – and act as your practice pad. You can develop a feel for measuring and calculating the amounts of lighting you will need for particular areas. More importantly, you can begin to calculate how long an average installation will take – so you won’t sell yourself short when issuing quotes. This is especially important if you pay wages. Make a sign for your business, put it on your front fence – it will almost certainly bring you inquiries for your new Christmas light installation business.
- Aim to have as many orders as possible booked by October. Why? Because if you leave it much later than that to place your lighting and cable orders with suppliers, you run a very real risk of missing out – or paying inflated prices.
- Offer your first few customers a discount in return for some display signage. If you one of your first jobs is in a prominent location, a well-known street, or it’s high-budget and particularly outstanding, offer your customer a discount in return for space for your business sign. This is sure to bring you phone calls and orders.
- Don’t be afraid to say “No”. It’s a business, not a charity. If a customer doesn’t like your prices, let them go elsewhere. It’s not worth losing or breaking even.
- Extend your Christmas lighting ideas beyond Christmas. You’ll find some customers who love the look of lights in their trees so much, that they will order them at other times of years, for other occasions. Contact wedding planners and event management companies to provide specialized lighting. Depending on the country in which you live, there could be other annual occasions where special effect lighting is popular.
- Look before you leap into the Christmas light installation business. As with any business, you can save yourself a lot of time, stress and tears if you do your research first.
- Operations Manuals – it’s the A-Z of starting and running a Christmas light installation business
- Estimating Manual – discover correct bidding techniques for commercial and residential installations
- Complete Marketing System – promotion and attracting customers
- Installation Manual – step-by-step guides on the physical installation of all types of Christmas lights.
What we really like most about this program is that it’s been created by someone who runs a successful Christmas light installation business – it’s all practical hands-on advice that works, and saves you time, money and potential mistakes.
We think the Christmas light installation business is a fantastic add-on for many other small businesses – painters and decorators, landscapers, window cleaners, window treatments, roofers, pool services, construction companies, fencing companies, florists, property maintenance, household/office cleaning.
One thing to consider: You will be called upon to install lights in somewhat precarious locations – rooftops, high windows, trees, etc. If you plan on doing the bulk of the work yourself, you’ll need to be physically fit with good balance. But we think the profits here are such that it make sense to employ a team of workers. Get as many orders as you can, and go for broke!
Here’s some video footage of some of the program author’s projects. Always take photographs or videos of your projects so you can develop your own portfolio of Christmas lighting ideas.
httpv://youtu.be/bqfEWv7Y_vk
The cost of the Cashing In On Christmas program is $197. We think it’s great value at double this price.
The Cashing In On Christmas program wins the SmallBusinessIdeas4u.com Seal Of Approval.
It’s a comprehensive course created by an experienced industry professional – you can’t ask for better.
Click here to discover the secrets to starting your own Christmas light installation business.