Can an HOA Hire Someone to Light the Neighborhood Entrance for Christmas?

Yes. A homeowners association can book Christmas light installation the same way a single homeowner does, and the entrance is almost always the first thing a board asks about. The monument sign at the front of the neighborhood is the one thing every resident drives past twice a day, so it is the place a display does the most work.

Here is how it goes when we light a community in New Castle County or southern Chester and Delaware County.

Can an HOA hire a company to decorate the neighborhood entrance?

Yes. Community entrances and HOA common areas are part of our commercial holiday lighting work, alongside storefronts and offices. That means monument signs, entry trees and the fencing or landscaping around them.

You do not need to be a business to book commercial work. An association, a management company or a board member acting for the community can all set it up.

What can actually be lit at a neighborhood entrance?

The monument sign, the entry trees and the fencing. Those three things are what most communities light, and together they are usually enough to change how the whole front of the neighborhood reads at night.

If the entrance has a brick wall, a pair of columns, a flagpole island or a clubhouse behind it, those can be worked in too. We see the entrance before anything is designed, so what gets lit is decided on site and not off a template.

Who decides what the display looks like?

The board does. It starts with a site visit on your schedule. We walk the entrance, take the measurements we need, and lay out a design that fits what is actually there. That is the same way our process runs on a house, just pointed at the front of a neighborhood instead.

Then you get a written proposal with the full scope in it, so there is nothing to interpret. A board can read it, vote on it and know exactly what is going in.

Does the neighborhood entrance need a power outlet?

It needs power, and working out what power is available is part of the site visit. Some entrances already have an outlet at the monument for landscape lighting or an irrigation controller. Others do not, and that is something to settle before a design is approved rather than after.

Tell us what you know about the power at your entrance when you call. If nobody on the board knows, we will look for it when we are there.

How far ahead does an HOA need to book Christmas lights?

By early fall. Prime installation dates fill up quickly, and installs run from October through early December.

Associations should start earlier than a homeowner would, because the decision has to clear a board. If your board votes once a month, count backward from early fall and start the conversation a couple of meetings ahead of that. There is more on when to book Christmas lights in Delaware, and the short version is that early bookings get first pick of dates.

Who actually installs the lights?

The owners. Christmas Bros is a father-and-son team, Chris and Chris, now in our seventh season. The people who quote the job are the people on the ladder.

That is also why the calendar has a hard limit. There is no second crew to hand your community off to, which is the reason booking early matters more here than it would with a bigger outfit.

Can you give our management company a certificate of insurance?

Yes. We are fully insured and a certificate of insurance is available on request for your property manager or landlord. Ask for it when you book and it can go in the vendor file before install day.

What happens if a section of the entrance goes dark in December?

We come fix it. Through the season, any outage is answered within 24 hours and repaired within 72, at no extra charge. Season-long maintenance is part of every lease.

Nobody on the board has to diagnose anything or send a resident out with a ladder. Tell us it looks wrong and we will come look at it.

Who takes the lights down in January?

We do. In January we take everything down, pack it, and store it until next year. Nothing goes into a clubhouse closet or a board member's garage, and no volunteer spends a Saturday in January pulling clips off a monument sign.

Can the community keep the same look year after year?

Yes. Multi-season agreements are available for properties that want the same look locked in year after year, which for a community means the design does not have to be re-approved every fall. The board votes once and the entrance looks the same each December.

Our lighting is a lease. The association never buys, untangles or stores a thing. Commercial-grade product, cut to the entrance, installed, maintained, taken down and stored.

Can a neighborhood entrance have lights that stay up all year?

Yes. Permanent InvisiLights are installed once and stay up, with a lifetime workmanship warranty on the work. They are app-controlled, so an entrance can run warm white most of the year and switch to red and green in December without anyone going back out to it.

For a community that wants the entrance lit for more than one holiday, permanent lighting usually makes more sense than a seasonal lease. Both are worth looking at before a board decides.

What does it cost to light a neighborhood entrance?

Every community is quoted after we have seen it, because no two entrances are the same size. The design visit and the quote are free and there is no obligation.

The price is all-inclusive. It covers the lights, the design, the installation, maintenance for the whole season, takedown and storage. Nothing gets added later, which is the part boards tend to care about most, since a surprise line item is harder to explain to residents than the original vote was.

How does a board get started?

Call (302) 290-6508 and we will set up a walkthrough of your entrance. We answer from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Bring whoever needs to see the proposal, and if it is easier, we will put it in writing for the next board meeting.

We light storefronts, offices and community properties across New Castle County and southern Chester and Delaware County. A lot of them are the newer developments south of the canal, where the rooflines and the entrances were both built big; there is more on Christmas light installation in Middletown if that is your end of the county.

Providing the cleanest, safest and brightest environment possible for your home or business