Short answer
Price Christmas light installation from crew-hours: linear feet ÷ your install rate, plus setup, times loaded labour and overhead, plus lights and clips, ÷ (1 − margin). Example: 150 ft of single-storey roofline at an assumed 50 ft per crew-hour is 4 crew-hours with setup; with leased lights and clips it prices at $300.77. Quote takedown separately.
- Price per linear foot is an output: 150 ft installed prices at $300.77, about $2.01 a foot, on assumed inputs.
- Takedown is its own line: the same 150 ft prices at $115.87 at an assumed 100 ft per crew-hour.
- A two-storey roofline slows the install rate, so 150 ft takes 7 crew-hours and prices at $439.81.
- Each extra foot adds $1.70; the fixed setup adds $46.35, so per-foot price falls as footage grows.
- Adding 35% as a markup keeps 25.93% of the price, $36.84 short on one install.
On this page
- How to charge for putting up Christmas lights
- Christmas light installation pricing calculator
- Worked example: installing 150 ft of roofline
- Christmas light takedown pricing and storage as separate lines
- Two-storey and steep roofs: a slower rate, not a percentage
- Your lights, leased lights or the customer's lights
- How much to install 200 ft of Christmas lights? A price sheet by footage
- The common mistake: markup instead of margin
- Excel formulas for a holiday lighting price sheet
- Calculator, starter sheet or custom build: what to use, and what to put on your price sheet
- Step-by-step
- FAQ
How to charge for putting up Christmas lights
Charge from the crew-hours the job takes, plus the lights and clips, plus overhead, divided by one minus your margin. Quote install, takedown and storage as three separate lines so the customer sees what each one costs.
- Crew-hours = linear feet ÷ your install rate (feet per crew-hour) + setup crew-hours (drive, unloading, measuring runs, testing circuits).
- Labour = crew-hours × loaded rate (wage × (1 + burden %)).
- Overhead share = crew-hours × (yearly overhead ÷ sellable hours).
- Materials = lights (bought, or a per-season share of leased lights) + clips.
- Price = (labour + overhead + materials) ÷ (1 − margin).
The pages ranking for this question are mostly forum threads and homeowner cost guides. They report what someone paid somewhere. I'm not an installer; I build pricing math. This page derives a price from inputs you replace, and every figure shows its working.
Assumptions used throughout (replace each one): a crew of 2; $20 wage with a 30% burden for payroll tax, workers' comp, insurance and paid time off = $26.00 loaded; $14,520 of yearly overhead (truck, ladders, insurance, phone, software) over 2 people × 220 billable days × 8 hours = $4.13 per sellable hour; an install rate of 50 ft per crew-hour on a single-storey roofline; 1 crew-hour of setup per visit; 35% target margin. Quotes for the season go out in October and November, so build these numbers before the first call.
Christmas light installation pricing calculator
Enter hours on site, crew size, wage, lights and clips, and overhead to see break-even and the price to quote. It opens on the 150 ft install below, priced at $300.77.
One input needs care. "Hours on the job" is hours on site, and the calculator multiplies by workers. So convert crew-hours first: 4 crew-hours with a crew of 2 is 2 hours on site. The same math runs in the free job pricing calculator, with no signup, and your numbers stay in your browser.
Worked example: installing 150 ft of roofline
150 ft at an assumed 50 ft per crew-hour is 3 crew-hours; add 1 crew-hour of setup and the job is 4 crew-hours, or 2 hours on site for a crew of 2. With $75 of leased lights and clips, it breaks even at $195.50 and prices at $300.77.
Worked example: Install, 150 ft single-storey roofline: 3 crew-hours at 50 ft per crew-hour + 1 crew-hour setup = 2 hours for a crew of 2; leased lights $60 + clips $15 (assumed inputs)
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Workers (input) | 2 |
| Hourly wage paid (input) | $20.00 |
| Labour burden % (input) | 30% |
| Materials (input) | $75.00 |
| Overhead for the year (input) | $14,520.00 |
| People in the field (input) | 2 |
| Billable days a year (input) | 220 |
| Target margin % (input) | 35% |
| Jobs a week (input) | 10 |
| Hours on the job (input) | 2 |
| Loaded labour rate (per hour) | $26.00 |
| Crew-hours | 4 |
| Labour cost | $104.00 |
| Overhead per sellable hour | $4.13 |
| Overhead share | $16.50 |
| Break-even cost | $195.50 |
| Price to quote | $300.77 |
| Profit on the job | $105.27 |
| Price if you MARK UP instead | $263.93 |
| Margin you actually keep with markup | 25.93% |
| Lost per job by marking up | $36.84 |
| Lost per year by marking up | $19,159.00 |
Computed with the same formulas as the free calculators on this site. Change any input in the calculator above to see your own numbers.
Check it: labour 4 × $26.00 = $104.00. Overhead 4 × $4.13 = $16.50 (the unrounded rate is $14,520 ÷ 3,520 hours). Materials $60 of lights share + $15 of clips = $75.00. Break-even $104.00 + $16.50 + $75.00 = $195.50. Price $195.50 ÷ 0.65 = $300.77.
Divided by 150 ft, that is about $2.01 a foot. Notice the order: the per-foot figure came last, from the hours. Copy someone else's per-foot rate and you skip your own install speed, crew and overhead.
Christmas light takedown pricing and storage as separate lines
Price takedown from its own, faster rate, and storage from what your storage space costs per customer. On the assumptions here, taking down the same 150 ft prices at $115.87 and a season of storage at $23.08.
Takedown is quicker than install: no layout, no spacing clips by eye. This page assumes 100 ft per crew-hour, so 150 ft is 1.5 crew-hours plus the same 1 crew-hour of setup (drive, coiling, labelling each run by location so next year's install is faster).
Worked example: Takedown, same 150 ft: 1.5 crew-hours at 100 ft per crew-hour + 1 crew-hour setup = 1.25 hours for a crew of 2 (assumed inputs)
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Workers (input) | 2 |
| Hourly wage paid (input) | $20.00 |
| Labour burden % (input) | 30% |
| Materials (input) | $0.00 |
| Overhead for the year (input) | $14,520.00 |
| People in the field (input) | 2 |
| Billable days a year (input) | 220 |
| Target margin % (input) | 35% |
| Jobs a week (input) | 10 |
| Hours on the job (input) | 1.25 |
| Loaded labour rate (per hour) | $26.00 |
| Crew-hours | 2.5 |
| Labour cost | $65.00 |
| Overhead per sellable hour | $4.13 |
| Overhead share | $10.31 |
| Break-even cost | $75.31 |
| Price to quote | $115.87 |
| Profit on the job | $40.55 |
| Price if you MARK UP instead | $101.67 |
| Margin you actually keep with markup | 25.93% |
| Lost per job by marking up | $14.19 |
| Lost per year by marking up | $7,380.63 |
Computed with the same formulas as the free calculators on this site. Change any input in the calculator above to see your own numbers.
Storage: if you keep lights for customers, divide a year of your storage space by the customers using it. At an assumed $15 per customer per season, the price is $15 ÷ 0.65 = $23.08. If customers store their own lights, drop the line.
| Line | Crew-hours | Price at 35% margin |
|---|---|---|
| Install | 4 | $300.77 |
| Takedown | 2.5 | $115.87 |
| Storage | 0 | $23.08 |
| Season total | 6.5 | $439.72 |
Separate lines let a customer who owns and stores their own lights buy install and takedown only, and they show why the season costs more than the install alone. You can still offer one bundled season price; just build it from the lines.
Two-storey and steep roofs: a slower rate, not a percentage
Model a two-storey or steep roofline as a lower install rate, which means more crew-hours, rather than a percentage markup. At an assumed 25 ft per crew-hour, the same 150 ft takes 7 crew-hours and prices at $439.81.
Worked example: Install, 150 ft two-storey roofline: 6 crew-hours at 25 ft per crew-hour + 1 crew-hour setup = 3.5 hours for a crew of 2; leased lights and clips $75 (assumed inputs)
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Workers (input) | 2 |
| Hourly wage paid (input) | $20.00 |
| Labour burden % (input) | 30% |
| Materials (input) | $75.00 |
| Overhead for the year (input) | $14,520.00 |
| People in the field (input) | 2 |
| Billable days a year (input) | 220 |
| Target margin % (input) | 35% |
| Jobs a week (input) | 10 |
| Hours on the job (input) | 3.5 |
| Loaded labour rate (per hour) | $26.00 |
| Crew-hours | 7 |
| Labour cost | $182.00 |
| Overhead per sellable hour | $4.13 |
| Overhead share | $28.88 |
| Break-even cost | $285.88 |
| Price to quote | $439.81 |
| Profit on the job | $153.93 |
| Price if you MARK UP instead | $385.93 |
| Margin you actually keep with markup | 25.93% |
| Lost per job by marking up | $53.88 |
| Lost per year by marking up | $28,015.75 |
Computed with the same formulas as the free calculators on this site. Change any input in the calculator above to see your own numbers.
Why hours and not a flat 20% or 50% surcharge: the slow-down comes from longer ladder moves, more careful footing and more climbing per foot, which is time. Time is what you pay for. A percentage on the whole price also inflates the lights and clips, which cost the same at any height. Ladder and roof work also affects your insurance cost; put that in the yearly overhead so every hour carries it.
The 25 and 50 ft per crew-hour figures are placeholders. Time your first few installs by roof type and use those rates. If you send a third person for ladder work on tall houses, set workers to 3 and the crew-hours rise with it.
Try it with your numbers — free
The free calculator does this whole method in about a minute: loaded labour, overhead share, break-even and the price to quote at your margin. No signup, nothing to download, and your numbers stay in your browser.
Open the free job pricing calculator →Get the free spreadsheetWant it built around your own rates, services and branding? Done-for-you custom calculator ($497).
Your lights, leased lights or the customer's lights
Who owns the lights changes the materials line, not the labour. For 150 ft single-storey, the install prices at $208.46 with the customer's lights, $300.77 with leased lights and $485.38 when the customer buys the lights outright.
| Option | Materials per foot | Materials for 150 ft | Install price at 35% margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-owned lights (you supply clips) | $0.10 | $15 | $208.46 |
| Leased: your lights, reused over 3 seasons | $0.50 | $75 | $300.77 |
| Purchased: customer keeps the lights | $1.30 | $195 | $485.38 |
The material figures assume lights cost you $1.20 a foot and clips $0.10 a foot. Leased lights spread the $1.20 over an assumed 3 seasons, so each season carries $0.40 a foot plus clips. Replace the purchase price with your supplier's and the season count with how long your lights last in practice; if strands fail early, fewer seasons means a higher share per season.
Customer-owned lights bring their own risk: unknown strands, mixed plugs and dead bulbs. Add a test-and-replace allowance in minutes to the setup, and price any replacement strand as materials.
How much to install 200 ft of Christmas lights? A price sheet by footage
On this page's assumptions, installing 200 ft of single-storey roofline prices at $385.58 with leased lights, or $262.50 with the customer's lights. Takedown for 200 ft is $139.04, and a two-storey 200 ft install is $570.96.
| Linear feet | Install crew-hours | Install, customer's lights | Install, leased lights | Takedown | Install, two-storey, leased |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 ft | 3 | $154.42 | $215.96 | $92.69 | $308.65 |
| 150 ft | 4 | $208.46 | $300.77 | $115.87 | $439.81 |
| 200 ft | 5 | $262.50 | $385.58 | $139.04 | $570.96 |
| 300 ft | 7 | $370.58 | $555.19 | $185.38 | $833.27 |
Each cell is job(hours on site, materials) from the same math the calculator runs, with hours on site = crew-hours ÷ 2.
Why the price per foot falls as footage grows
With leased lights, each extra foot adds $1.70 (1/50 of a crew-hour at labour plus overhead, plus $0.50 of materials, divided by 0.65), and the setup crew-hour adds a fixed $46.35. Check: 150 × $1.70 + $46.35 = $301.35, against $300.77 computed directly; the difference is rounding in the $1.70. That fixed part is why 100 ft works out near $2.16 a foot and 300 ft near $1.85. On a two-storey roofline each extra foot adds $2.62.
How to measure linear feet
Measure the rooflines and edges you will light, not the house footprint. Pace them on site or measure on a satellite view, and record each run with its storey height, since each height has its own rate. Note outlets and how far each run is from power.
The common mistake: markup instead of margin
Adding 35% to your cost keeps 25.93% of the price, not 35%. On the 150 ft install, cost × 1.35 bills $263.93 instead of $300.77, which is $36.84 short.
Holiday lighting is seasonal, so ignore the calculator's yearly figure (it multiplies by 52 weeks) and multiply by your real season instead: at an assumed 40 installs, $36.84 × 40 = $1,473.60. The markup vs margin guide has the conversion chart. The other slip is pricing the $20 wage rather than the $26.00 loaded rate; the labor burden calculator builds that rate line by line.
Seasonal overhead if lights are your only work
The assumptions above treat lighting as a side line of a year-round exterior business, so the $14,520 spreads over 220 days. If lights are all you do, build a lighting-only budget and divide it by lighting days. At an assumed $4,000 over 2 people × 40 days, overhead is $6.25 per crew-hour and the 150 ft install rises to $313.85. Fewer sellable days means each hour carries more.
Excel formulas for a holiday lighting price sheet
Layout: B2 = linear feet, B3 = install rate (feet per crew-hour) for that roof type, B4 = setup crew-hours, B5 = wage, B6 = burden %, B7 = yearly overhead, B8 = people in the field, B9 = billable days, B10 = lights per foot, B11 = clips per foot, B12 = margin %, B13 = takedown rate (feet per crew-hour).
Install crew-hours
=B2/B3+B4B2 = linear feet, B3 = feet per crew-hour for that roof type, B4 = setup crew-hours. Divide by crew size for the calculator's hours on site.
Install price
=((B2/B3+B4)*(B5*(1+B6)+B7/(B8*B9*8))+B2*(B10+B11))/(1-B12)Crew-hours × (loaded rate + overhead per hour), plus lights and clips per foot × feet, ÷ (1 − margin). Enter B6 and B12 as decimals (0.30, 0.35).
Takedown price
=((B2/B13+B4)*(B5*(1+B6)+B7/(B8*B9*8)))/(1-B12)Same cost per crew-hour at the faster takedown rate in B13, with no materials.
Install price per linear foot (output)
=ROUND(((B2/B3+B4)*(B5*(1+B6)+B7/(B8*B9*8))+B2*(B10+B11))/(1-B12)/B2,2)The install price divided by feet. Build one row per footage to see the per-foot figure fall as setup spreads.
For the full method behind these cells, see how to price a contractor job.
Calculator, starter sheet or custom build: what to use, and what to put on your price sheet
For one quote, use the free calculator. For a price sheet you reuse all season, use a spreadsheet. There is no ready-made holiday lighting template in the store, so the options are free tools or a custom build.
| Option | Cost | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-guide or forum price | Free | A market sanity check only |
| Free job pricing calculator | Free, no signup | One quote at a time: install, takedown or storage |
| Free Job Pricing Starter | Free | Loaded labour, overhead, break-even and margin on one sheet, in Excel or Google Sheets |
| Field-service app (Jobber-type) | Monthly subscription | Scheduling, routes and invoicing |
| Done-for-you custom build | $497 one-time | Your own per-foot rows by roof type, lighting options and a branded client quote |
Put these on your sheet:
- Install rate in feet per crew-hour for each roof type, timed on your own jobs.
- Takedown rate, and setup crew-hours per visit.
- Light cost per foot, seasons you expect leased lights to last, and clips per foot.
- Loaded labour rate and overhead per sellable hour.
- Storage cost per customer per season.
- Target margin, applied by division.
- Separate install, takedown and storage lines, with a season total.
If you also clean gutters, the roofline work overlaps: how much to charge for gutter cleaning uses the same feet-per-hour method.
Step-by-step: How Much to Charge for Christmas Light Installation: Install, Takedown and Storage From Linear Feet
- Measure the linear feet. Measure each roofline or edge you will light, and record its storey height and distance from power.
- Convert feet to crew-hours. Divide each run's feet by your install rate for that roof type, add them, then add setup crew-hours.
- Cost the hours. Crew-hours × loaded rate plus crew-hours × overhead per sellable hour gives the labour and overhead cost.
- Add lights and clips. Add clips, plus lights at purchase cost or a per-season share of leased lights. Customer-owned lights add clips only.
- Apply your margin. Divide break-even by (1 − margin). For 35%, divide by 0.65, not multiply by 1.35.
- Quote takedown and storage separately. Price takedown at its own faster rate and storage from your storage cost per customer, then show a season total.
Run your own numbers — free
The free calculator does this whole method in about a minute: loaded labour, overhead share, break-even and the price to quote at your margin. No signup, nothing to download, and your numbers stay in your browser.
Open the free calculator →Get the free spreadsheetWant it built around your own rates, services and branding? Done-for-you custom calculator ($497).
Frequently asked questions
How much should I charge to put up Christmas lights?
Charge crew-hours at your loaded rate plus overhead, plus lights and clips, divided by one minus your margin. On this page's assumptions, 150 ft of single-storey roofline is 4 crew-hours and prices at $300.77 with leased lights, or $208.46 with the customer's own lights. Replace each input with yours.
How much to install 200 ft of Christmas lights?
On this page's assumptions, 200 ft of single-storey roofline is 5 crew-hours and prices at $385.58 with leased lights and clips, or $262.50 with the customer's lights. On a two-storey house it is $570.96, and takedown adds $139.04.
How do you charge for Christmas light installation per foot?
Derive the per-foot price from the job total rather than starting with one. The 150 ft example prices at $300.77, about $2.01 a foot. Each extra foot adds $1.70 on these assumptions, and setup adds a fixed $46.35, so longer runs price lower per foot.
How much should I charge for Christmas light takedown?
Price takedown as its own line at a faster rate. At an assumed 100 ft per crew-hour plus 1 crew-hour of setup, taking down 150 ft prices at $115.87. Storing the lights is a further line: $23.08 a season at an assumed $15 storage cost per customer.
Should the installer supply the Christmas lights?
Either works if the materials line is honest. Leased lights spread your purchase cost over the seasons they last; for 150 ft that gives $300.77. Selling the lights outright prices at $485.38, and using the customer's lights $208.46, on this page's assumptions.
How much more should I charge for a two-storey house?
Charge for the extra hours, not a fixed percentage. At an assumed 25 ft per crew-hour instead of 50, a 150 ft two-storey roofline takes 7 crew-hours and prices at $439.81, against $300.77 single-storey. Time your own installs to set the rate.
What is the average cost of professional Christmas light installation?
This page does not quote an average, because averages mix footage, roof height and whether lights are included. An installer's price should come from their own hours and costs. On this page's assumptions, a 150 ft single-storey season with leased lights, takedown and storage totals $439.72.
I'm not a contractor, landlord or accountant. I build the pricing maths, and every number on this page shows its working so you can check it instead of trusting it. Watch the breakdowns on YouTube →