Do you want to keep your crews busy and make some extra income well into December? Then, you need to consider holiday lighting installation.
While your busiest time will be November through December, you’ll still have holiday light installations from early summer through fall, making your lawn care company a four-season business.
Many landscape and lawn care companies have found success by adding Christmas light installation to their menu.
How to Start a Christmas Light Installation Business
You have two ways of starting a Christmas light installation business:
- You can invest in a franchise
- You can experiment with installing holiday lighting on your own.
Both a franchise and starting from scratch have their pros and cons. Joining a franchise allows you and your crews to learn quickly how to splice wires, install lights, and how to do the job safely. The training also enables you to avoid rookie mistakes.
A franchise helps you get the business up and running. You can proudly announce to your customers and others that your lawn care residential business is also a Christmas light installation pro service.
Other perks with buying a franchise:
- You can network with other contractors as you learn the ropes of the Christmas lighting business.
- Other contractors can help you if you run into a situation that requires expert advice.
- The franchise will teach you how to run your holiday light business, guide you and your crew through safety protocols, and teach you design techniques to meet your customers’ outdoor decorating needs.
However, you may want to start your holiday lighting business on your own. Going it alone with holiday lighting may be the only way into the business if there are no franchise territories available to you.
You’ll need to invest in quality lights and décor, as well as knowing about basic wiring and safety training.
Read more: How to Keep Your Lawn Care Business Open All Year
How to Sell Your Outdoor Lighting Service to Homeowners and Commercial Properties
If you provide lawn services to residential and commercial customers, you know that you need to market to each type differently. The same is true when selling your Christmas light installation business.
For residential customers, you can put up door hangers and announce on your company’s Facebook page that you’re now providing holiday light installation services. Don’t forget to put in a link on every digital marketing piece that goes to your holiday light web page.
You can also send email blasts and create a page on your website featuring holiday light installation for both your commercial and residential clients.
On your web page, include photos of homes that you decorated for the winter holidays. Your Christmas light installation web page also needs contact links and details about the design and installation process.
When reaching out to property managers and HOAs, send social media blasts on LinkedIn and Twitter. You may also need to make cold calls and send sales letters to property managers, HOAs, and retail property owners.
One lawn care business owner stated in a trade magazine article that you should make sure all holiday lights are installed on time, so you have a week or two for service calls before December 25.
You and your crews will start taking down Christmas lights as soon as the holiday season is over. You’ll need to take down all lights and décor to store them for next year’s holiday season.
Watch more: New Spyker Ergo-Pro™ Winter Spreader
Word of Warning Before You Install Any Holiday Lights on Roofs and Other High Spots
Hopefully, you already carry general liability and worker’s compensation insurance. If you don’t have those two insurance types, you need to talk to your insurance agent as soon as possible.
As you know, putting up holiday lights includes climbing on ladders, working on roofs, and other high spots that put your crews and the homeowners at risk.
What would you do if one of your crew members fell off the roof and broke their leg? What would you do if a ladder fell and hit the siding of your next door neighbor’s house?
You’re taking a serious financial risk if you won’t invest in general liability and worker’s compensation.
If you carry worker’s compensation and general liability insurance, you know that you have financial protection through your insurance policies. And these insurance policies are necessary even during the growing season.
Holiday Lighting Installation Allows You to be a Four-Season Lawn Service
If you’re hoping to increase your business profits, then holiday light installation can be another moneymaker for you. It also keeps your crews busy well into January.
If you provide snow services, you may need to limit how many residential and commercial customers you take on because your plowing and rock salt spreading services take priority.
You can also market your lawn care services to homeowners that you gain through your Christmas lighting services.
Spyker’s Winter Spreader Keeps Your Residential and Commercial Snow Customers Happy
Do you need a winter spreader that’ll make putting down ice melt and rock salt more efficient?
Then, you need Spyker’s Ergo-Pro™ Winter Spreader. It removes ice quickly and can hold up 100 lbs. of rock salt or ice melt.
Our salt spreader’s stainless steel curving blade slices through ice melt and rock salt. And, our Ergo-Pro™ Winter Spreader reflective frame provides visibility in poor weather conditions.
Spyker’s innovative design eliminates bridging but allows the material to flow until the hopper is empty. No more shaking or bouncing to get the remainder of ice melt out of the hopper.
If your lawn care company needs new spreaders, you can’t go wrong with a Spyker Ergo-Pro 100# Ice Melt Winter Spreader. You can find your Spyker winter spreader at your local dealer or through these fine online retailers.
Have questions about Spyker’s winter spreader? Then, call our customer service at (877) 728–8224 or fill out our contact form.
Sources:
Igin.com, “Holiday Lighting Brightens Your Business.”
Magazine.LawnandLandscape.com, “A Bright Business.”
