Plenty of people hang their own Christmas lights and enjoy it. If that’s you, keep doing it. This post is for everyone who does it because they think they have to, or who’s tired of the result. Here’s the honest comparison.
The safety question comes first
The Consumer Product Safety Commission tracks holiday-decorating injuries every season, and the numbers run into the thousands of emergency room visits, with ladder falls near the top of the list. Roof edges in late November are often wet or icy, the light is fading by 4:30, and the job involves leaning off a ladder with both hands busy. Our crews do it with standoff ladders, roof-rated footwear, spotters and training. Most homeowners do it alone with a ladder from the garage.
That’s not a sales pitch. It’s the main reason people call us the year after a close call.
What DIY actually costs
The store price of a box of lights is not the cost of DIY. Add it up honestly:
- Lights. Enough strands to outline a full roofline, plus extras for the inevitable dead strand.
- Clips, cords, timers, splitters. Usually a second trip to the store.
- Replacement strands. Box-store LED strands often last two or three seasons before sections go dark.
- A ladder tall enough for second-story gables, if you don’t have one.
- Your time. A full day to install, another to take down, plus the trip to the attic in between.
- The risk. See above.
Over three to five seasons, DIY on a mid-size home is not as cheap as it looks, and the result still has the limitations below.
What a professional does differently
Custom-cut lines. We measure each run and cut the line to that length. Bulbs are evenly spaced from corner to corner with no gaps, no overlaps and no bunching at the ends. Store strands come in fixed lengths that never match your house.
Commercial-grade bulbs. LED C9 bulbs in weather-sealed sockets on heavy-gauge wire, individually replaceable, rated for years. Read C9 LED vs. incandescent for the details.
Proper attachment. Clips made for your roof edge: shingle, gutter, ridge, metal. No staples, no nails, nothing that leaves a mark.
Design. A layout that follows the architecture: every gable, the right returns, trees chosen to balance the roofline. See how we design.
Everything after install. Free maintenance all season, takedown in January, storage until next year.
When DIY makes sense
- You enjoy it, you’re comfortable on a ladder, and your roofline is single-story and simple.
- You want a modest display: a porch, some shrubs, a wreath.
- You’re renting or moving soon and don’t want to invest.
When hiring makes sense
- Your home has second-story gables or a complex roofline.
- You want the display to look like the best house on the street.
- You don’t want to spend two weekends on it or climb a ladder in December.
- You’d rather have someone else fix the dark section on December 20th.
- You want the lights to last and be stored properly.
A third option
If the annual install is the problem regardless of who does it, permanent lighting ends the cycle: one install, year-round use, no ladder ever again. Our permanent vs. seasonal comparison covers the trade-offs.
Whichever you choose, the goal is the same: a lit house you enjoy looking at, without a December trip to the emergency room. If you’d like a number for the professional option, a quote is free.