Leasing vs Buying Christmas Lights: What "All-Inclusive" Actually Means
The most common question we get on a quote in Greenville or Hockessin isn't about the price. It's "wait, I don't own the lights?" No. You lease them for the season, and that one detail is why the price looks the way it does. Here's what's inside it.
What you'd be buying at the store
A retail strand is built to sit on a seasonal endcap, light a porch rail for one December, and survive maybe three seasons. Most use a two-piece bulb and socket, so water works its way in and the strand dies at the socket. The wire is often 20 to 22 gauge, thin enough to overheat on a long run. When one section goes dark, the whole strand goes in the trash and you're back at the store.
What we hang on your house
Commercial-grade lights aren't sold at the big box stores. The bulb and socket are one sealed piece, so moisture stays out. They're rated for 25,000 to 75,000 hours, which works out to six or seven seasons and often more. And they're cut to your roofline and re-plugged for each run, so the string ends at the corner instead of dangling past it. Because we own the inventory, keeping it working is our problem. A bulb or a run goes dark, we come fix it, no charge. That's what a lease buys you.
Everything the price covers
Design first: we measure the house and decide where lights go and where they don't, so it reads clean from the street. Then the install, done by our own father and son crew with commercial-grade product and timers set so it's on when you pull in. Maintenance runs all season. Takedown happens in January, and the lights go into our storage, not your garage. Next fall you're already on the calendar. The step-by-step is on our how it works page, and the FAQ covers the rest.
The ladder part
The Consumer Product Safety Commission counted about 14,900 emergency room visits for holiday decorating injuries in the 2023 season, and more than 40 percent were falls. We own the ladders, the insurance and the cold, wet Saturdays. That's part of what you're paying for too.
If you'd rather install once and be done
Some homeowners don't want a seasonal lease at all. They want the roofline lit every night, colors changed for Halloween or game day, and no crew ever coming back. That's permanent lighting, and we compared the two head to head in permanent vs seasonal Christmas lights. If the yard is the bigger priority, start with landscape lighting. We'll walk you through any of them on the same visit.
The timing
The calendar fills backward from Thanksgiving, and we covered that in when to book Christmas light installation. Short version: call now. Get a free quote or call (302) 290-6508. Financing is available through Wisetack. Same crew on every install, providing the cleanest, safest and brightest environment possible for your home or business.