Christmas Light Installation in Metro Detroit

Three things: the lights, the installation, and takedown in January. Takedown is the part people forget to compare when they look at quotes.

A few things are worth deciding before you ask for a quote: which rooflines you can see from the road, whether the entry or the peak should be the focal point, whether the front trees get wrapped or lit from below, warm white, cool white or color, and where the outdoor outlets are. A two-story colonial's upper peak can carry the display by itself. On a ranch, the entry and the landscaping do more of the work.

We measure everything and cut the runs to fit. That's why a professional install looks different from fifty feet away: the spacing is even, the runs end where the roof ends, and there's no extra cord doubled back off a corner.

Store-bought Christmas light strings are built to a price and a single season. Commercial-grade lights use heavier wire, sealed sockets, replaceable bulbs and connectors rated to stay outdoors through a Michigan winter. They hold up through an ice storm, and cheap strings often start failing within weeks.

If you're comparing, here's where cheap strings fail. Thin plastic insulation stiffens and cracks in the cold, which is why they quit after one Michigan season. Bulbs that can't be replaced mean one dead bulb is a dead section. And fixed lengths either fall short of the roofline or have to double back, which looks wrong from the street even when nobody can say why.

Cutting to length fixes that. Commercial lights come on a spool and get cut to the measured length of each run, with the bulb spacing you chose, so they start at one end of the fascia and stop at the other. LEDs draw a small fraction of the power, which matters when a whole roofline and four trees run off two outdoor outlets, and they stay cool against bark and evergreen branches.

Everything is held on with clips, never staples or nails. Each clip is matched to what it holds onto, with different clips for shingle edges, gutter lips and fascia boards. A staple through a light cord in November can mean a damaged wire and a hole in your roof edge.

Five things move the price: the length of roofline you want lit, how many stories up it goes, how steep and complicated the roof is, how many trees and shrubs are included, and whether walkway lights are part of it. Steep roofs and third-story access cost more because they take longer and need more equipment.

One thing to ask any installer, including us: does the price include taking the lights down? A quote for the install alone can't be compared with one that covers the takedown too.

October, and earlier is better. Installers around here are mostly booked by mid-October, and the reason is the weather: the install window in Michigan is short, and every installer is working the same few weeks.

Here's how the season runs. Installs start in late October and run into early December, and the dry-weather dates go first. We install well before you want the lights on, because they run on a timer and you choose the night they start. Takedown starts after New Year and runs through January.

We install in late October and early November for one reason: a roof is safe to work on when the shingles are dry, and dangerous when they're icy. Anyone still installing in mid-December is either working in unsafe conditions or rushing. If you're calling in December, ask whether the date is realistic.

One thing worth knowing: the gutter cleaning visit and the light install fall in the same few weeks, and the gutters need clearing before the clips go on. Booking them together saves a trip and gets the order right.

Takedown runs through January, and the roofline goes back to how it looked before we came.

Takedown in Michigan is harder work than installing. Clips freeze to the gutter, cords freeze in place, and there's snow on the roof. It's also the item most likely to be missing from a cheaper quote, so check it first when you compare numbers.

Doing it yourself costs less cash and more of everything else. You deal with the failures, and you do the work twice: once in the cold and once in the colder.

DIY makes sense on a one-story house with a simple roofline, lights along the front only, and an owner who doesn't mind a ladder. That's a reasonable Saturday. It stops making sense on two-story homes, steep roofs, rooflines with several gables, and anything that means getting onto the roof.

In Michigan, the roof surface is the problem. Late-season roof work means shingles that are frosted in the morning and wet in the afternoon, and gutters that aren't made to be leaned on. A fall from a roof edge isn't worth a light display, and December is when the risk is highest.

To get on the schedule, send your address and tell us roughly what you have in mind. If you're reading this before the end of October, you're in good time.