Planning tool
Plan your holiday lighting.
Answer a few questions and see what your project looks like — its size, a typical budget range, when it gets installed, and when to book. It updates as you go, asks for nothing personal, and it’s an estimate, not a quote.
Estimated project size
Roofline accent
A two-story home with the roofline outlined, in warm white.
Typical range
$800 – $1,200
Commercial-grade strands sized to your eaves — a clean outline, on a lease.
Your budget expectation lines up with a typical roofline accent.
Estimate, not a quote · published ranges
Why this recommendation?Medium confidence · 5 cited points
Why this fits what you told us
You asked for the roofline only, with no wrapped trees, wreaths or garland. That is the exact condition this band covers — nothing in your answers adds work beyond the eaves.
Contractor judgment
$800 – $1,200 is Curbstead's published range for a roofline accent. It is an anchor we publish, not a figure calculated for your address.
Industry best practice
Above a single storey, access equipment and fall protection start to drive the labour, which is part of why the bands step up rather than scale smoothly.
Safety guidance
Installers open books around September and are busiest late October, wrapping up by mid-December. When you book inside that window affects both availability and where you land in the range.
Seasonal consideration
The installer assigned to your area confirms the roofline on site — or from photos — before quoting. Their number, not this one, is the quote.
Contractor judgment
When this would not be the right call
- The roofline has more levels, dormers or returns than a single description captures — measured line length is what actually prices the job.
- You add trees, wreaths or garland later. Any one of those moves the project into a higher band.
- The roof is steep or fragile enough that access, not line length, becomes the main cost.
What we assumed
- Nobody has measured your roofline. This reads your description of the house, not the house.
- The ranges assume a standard install on a lease, with commercial-grade strands sized to the eaves.
- These answers did not affect which band you were placed in: roofline width (average), bulb colour (warm), your budget expectation. They matter to the quote, not to the band.
What would change this
- Adding even one wrapped tree, wreaths or garland would move this to “Full display”.
- Lighting more than the roofline would move this to “Large / full-property display”.
- A photo of the front of the house, which is usually enough for an installer to correct the band.
- The measured length of line the roofline actually needs.
- Whether the roof can be worked from ladders or needs a lift.
Other reasonable readings
Full display
Adding even one wrapped tree, wreaths or garland is all that separates you from this band, so if that describes your project better, use $1,600 – $3,500 instead.
Large / full-property display
Lighting more than the roofline is all that separates you from this band, so if that describes your project better, use $3,000+ instead.
What we can't cite yet
- Local operating experience: We have not completed enough jobs in this area to cite our own results yet. When we have, this is where they will appear.
- Manufacturer guidance: We do not hold a manufacturer specification for this recommendation, so nothing here is attributed to one.
Installation window
Most installs run late October through mid-November, so your display is lit before Thanksgiving.
Book by
Late September to early October for first choice of dates — the best crews fill by mid-October.
Normally included on a lease
- Commercial-grade lights, sized to your actual eaves and rooflines
- Professional clip work and timers — installed, not improvised
- In-season maintenance: failures replaced during the season, not left dark
- Takedown after the season
- Off-season storage of the lights
- One seasonal price for your specific home — not a generic per-foot rate
We’ll start your quote from this plan — free, no account, and you can change anything.
Want the full breakdown of what drives the number? See the pricing page, or compare your town against the Cost Index.
Before you ask for a price
What turns this range into a quote.
An installer cannot price a roofline they have not seen, so the range above stops being useful at exactly the point your own house starts to matter. Four things close most of that gap, and all four are things you already know: your town, roughly how many storeys the lit sections reach, how much of the property you want covered — roofline only, or trees and entryways as well — and roughly when you want it up.
Photographs do more than any description. A single wide shot from the street tells an installer about pitch, access and attachment points at once, which is why the roof-type guide spends so long on those three things. If you are still deciding between a seasonal install and a permanent system, the permanent lighting guide is the comparison to read first — the two are priced on completely different terms.
Curbstead does not install anything. It passes a scoped request to an independent installer who quotes and contracts with you directly, which is why nothing here is a quote and why what happens after you submit is worth two minutes before you do.
How this works
Where these numbers come from.
The estimator maps your answers to Curbstead’s published ranges: a roofline-only install runs about $800–$1,200, a full display with tree wrapping and wreaths commonly runs $1,600–$3,500, and large or full-property displays land at the top of that range or beyond. Timing follows how crews actually book — most installs happen late October through mid-November, and the best crews fill by mid-October. It doesn’t guess a to-the-dollar figure, because an honest one needs your actual home — that’s what the free quote is for.
Questions
About the estimate.
- How accurate is this estimate?
- It maps your answers to Curbstead's published price ranges, so it's a reliable ballpark — not a bid. The exact price comes from a free quote for your specific roofline.
- Why can't you give me an exact number here?
- Cost tracks your linear footage, roof pitch, and how many trees you want wrapped — details that need your actual home. The estimator narrows the range; the quote sets the price.
- Does using the estimator cost anything or share my information?
- No. It runs entirely in your browser, asks for nothing personal, and sends nothing anywhere. You only share details if you choose to request a quote.