Pricing
What holiday lighting costs.
Most homes land between $800 and $3,500 per season, all-in on a lease — lights, install, maintenance, takedown, and storage included. What you pay depends on your roofline, and the only exact number is a quote for your home.
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Estimated range
$800 – $1,200
A roofline-only install — commercial-grade strands sized to your eaves, on a lease.
Based on Curbstead’s published ranges. The only exact price is a free quote for your specific roofline.
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.
What would change this
- Adding trees or wreaths would move this to “Full 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 trees or wreaths is all that separates you from this band, so if that describes your project better, use $1,600 – $3,500 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.
Why it varies
Why two houses on the same block quote differently.
Holiday lighting is priced by the home, not by a flat rate, and a seasonal lease is priced on completely different terms from a permanent architectural system. Five things move the number more than anything else — the cost guide goes deeper on each, and the Holiday Lighting Cost Index publishes the modelled ranges town by town, with its assumptions and limits written out.
Roof material and pitch sit behind more of that spread than most homeowners expect — a slate or cedar roof rules out the fastest attachment methods, and some rooflines should not be walked at all. Holiday lights by roof type covers how lights attach to asphalt, metal, slate and tile, and which roofs are a hire-out rather than a weekend. If you are comparing two quotes with very different numbers, the six things that separate a professional install is what the higher one is usually buying.
- How much roofline you have — cost tracks linear footage more than square footage.
- Stories and roof pitch — a tall, steep, many-gabled two-story is slower and safer-to-reach than a wide ranch.
- Scope — roofline only, or trees, wreaths, shrubs, and garland too.
- Tree wrapping — a single mature parkway oak can take as much material and labor as a modest roofline, and tall canopies turn a ladder job into a bucket-truck job.
- Access — steep pitches, slate and cedar roofs, and tight lots all add time and the right equipment.
Budget bands
What each budget band actually buys.
The quote form asks your budget band so we can look for an installer whose work fits it. Here is roughly what each one covers.
- Under $800
- Below a typical roofline install — a modest single-story roofline or a few defined accents rather than a full outline.
- $800 – $1,500
- The roofline-only range for most one- and two-story homes: commercial-grade strands sized to your eaves, clips, timers, and takedown on a lease.
- $1,500 – $3,000
- A full display — roofline plus tree wrapping, wreaths, and shrubs. Most full installs land here.
- $3,000+
- Larger or full-property displays: tall and complex rooflines, several mature trees, or higher-end suburban homes lit end to end.
Scope
Roofline only vs. a full display.
Roofline only
≈ $800 – $1,200
For most homes, a roofline-only install on a two-story house starts around $800 and runs to roughly $1,200. The biggest driver at this tier is how much roofline you have and how many stories and steep pitches the crew has to reach safely.
Full display
≈ $1,600 – $3,500
Add tree wrapping, shrub lighting, garland, and wreaths and the ticket commonly moves into the $1,600–$3,500 range. Tree wrapping is the line item people underestimate; full-property displays in higher-end suburbs regularly land at the top of that band or beyond.
Lease pricing
One seasonal price, not a pile of line items.
Most installs booked through Curbstead are leased: the installer owns commercial-grade strands, sizes them to your roofline, and folds the lights, install, in-season maintenance, takedown, and off-season storage into one seasonal price. You are paying for a lit house on a schedule — nothing about storage, breakage, or re-measuring lands on you.
Read the quote
What a full-service quote should include.
Use this as a checklist. If a quote leaves something off, that is the question to ask before you sign — more in how it works.
- 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
The cheap quote
When a low number is hiding something.
A cheaper quote usually means something was left out or downgraded. Four things to check before you choose on price alone.
Retail-grade lights
Cheap strands rarely survive multiple Midwest winters. Commercial-grade LEDs cost more up front but hold color and keep working across seasons.
Takedown and storage billed later
A low sticker can hide that removal and off-season storage are extra. On a real lease they are part of one seasonal price — confirm before you sign.
No in-season maintenance
If a section goes dark in December, who fixes it? A quote without maintenance means a ladder and a call are back on you.
Uninsured crews or the wrong clips
Staples and screws — or an uninsured crew — on a slate or cedar roof can cost far more than the install. Ask whether the crew uses non-penetrating clips and carries insurance.
Timing
When to request a quote.
- Crews fill by mid-October. The installers worth hiring share a small pool of trained crews, and November calendars typically fill by the third week of October.
- Late September to early October is the sweet spot — first choice of install dates before Thanksgiving, and the earliest bookers often lock pricing before demand peaks.
- Requesting a quote is free and non-binding, so there is no cost to starting early — even a deposit in October holds a crew a late caller can't buy once the schedule is full.
- How much does professional holiday light installation cost?
- For most homes, expect roughly $800 to $3,500 per season on a lease. A roofline-only install on a two-story starts around $800; adding tree wrapping and wreaths for a full display commonly runs $1,600 to $3,500. Your quote is priced for your specific roofline.
- Why can't you show me an exact price online?
- Cost tracks your linear footage, story count, roof pitch, and how many trees you want wrapped — so an honest number needs your actual home. That's what the quote is for, and requesting one is free.
- Does it cost anything to get a quote?
- No. Requesting a quote is free, with no account and no obligation. Curbstead is a marketplace and does not install lights — installers pay for the introduction, homeowners don't, and any installer who contacts you quotes and contracts with you directly.
- Are takedown and storage included in the price?
- On a lease, yes — takedown and off-season storage are part of the seasonal price. If a quote looks unusually cheap, confirm they're included and not billed separately in January.
- What's the difference between a $900 quote and a $2,500 quote?
- Usually scope: roofline-only versus a full display with tree wrapping and wreaths. Sometimes it's the grade of lights or what's bundled — ask what each quote includes before comparing the numbers.
- Why is tree wrapping so expensive?
- Material and labor scale with trunk and branch surface area, and tall trees require a lift. A single mature tree can rival a small roofline in cost.
- Should I buy my own lights to save money?
- Buying lowers the year-over-year cost but shifts storage, failures, and re-hanging onto you, and retail strands rarely survive multiple Midwest winters. Most homeowners lease once they price in storage and the value of never touching a ladder.
- When should I request a quote?
- Early. The best crews fill by mid-October, so booking in late September or early October gets you first choice of install dates and often better pricing before demand peaks.