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Holiday Lighting Quote Calculator

Price a Christmas lights job from the work, not the footage. Every hour gets counted: building and testing strands, ladder moves, the clip day, takedown, labelling, travel and the service calls you'll get in December.

1. The job

Customer Building height Who owns the lights

2. What you're lighting

Each area becomes its own line on the quote, so they can drop one without you discounting the rest.

3. Materials

Bulb type Bulb spacing Cost per bulb $ Socket wire per ft $ Clip per ft $ Cords, timers, glue, spares % of materials

4. Labour, access and overhead

Crew on site Billed labour rate $/hr per person Drive time each way hrs Service calls included Hours per service call incl. driving Lift or equipment rental $ total Storage per season $ Materials markup % Contingency % on labour Commercial premium % on total Insurance / permits / extras $ Deposit up front %

Production rates (change these to your own logged numbers)

Feet per hour, per person, on a one-storey house. Height multiplies the time. The best numbers here are your own from last season's jobs.

Build and test strands ft/hr Takedown % of install time Label and pack min per run Height: 2 storey × Height: 3+ / lift × Setup + cleanup per visit hrs

Put these in writing before you hang a single strand

Who owns the lights after the season, and who stores them.
The takedown date, and what happens if snow or ice pushes it back.
Service calls: how many are included, and the price of each one after that.
Insurance: commercial clients often want higher liability limits or to be named as additional insured. Ask before you price.
Access and power: working hours, outlets, timers, lift access, and how clips attach to the surface.
Deposit: take enough up front that you aren't floating the materials until January.
Options as separate lines: roofline and windows priced on their own, so they can cut scope without you cutting your rate.

Built by TradeBrain with a holiday lighting crew we work with in Whistler, BC, and tuned on what installers told us about pricing their first commercial jobs. The defaults are starting points. Your own logged hours beat any calculator. Something off? Tell us and we'll fix it.