One of the coolest hustles I’ve seen and done personally has to be hanging Christmas lights during the holiday season.
It’s a high-demand service people love and also can make you alot of money very fast.
Recently, my business was even featured on CNBC explaining how to start a christmas light business, and right now I’ll dive into how you can make $500, $1,000, or even $2,000+ per day simply by putting up lights on people’s houses.
How to Start with Christmas Lights
1. Understanding the Market
First thing to know, 90% of people don’t have the time, skills, or equipment to hang their own lights. They’re more than willing to pay a premium to have it done for them. Your target customers are often:
- Busy professionals
- Elderly homeowners
- Families with large homes looking to create a magical display
Christmas lights remind people of what it was like to be a kid again. We’re selling the joy of that emotion.
Its a want not a need (something like gutter cleaning for example) so you can sell it for much more.
Also its a very short season, typically some of October and then November through the first 1 or 2 weeks of December.
As such demand exponentially spikes as the holiday season approaches, so being prepared ahead of time is crucial.
2. Basic Tools and Setup You will need to start your christmas light business
Starting this business you don’t need much. Basics include:
- Ladders: An extension ladder and step ladder will cover most jobs. (I usually run a 24 and a 32 foot ladder and a little 5 foot step one)
- Lights and Accessories: 99% of your jobs will be warm white C9 lights you can purchase ahead of time (recommend you get 1,000 feet or so)
- Tools: Clips for securing lights, snips, electrical tape, and zip ties etc.
- Other Gear: Gloves, non-slip shoes, and a harness for high work.
- License/Bond/Insurance: See your State/province requirements.
I made a full components breakdown video you can watch Here.
3. Learn by doing
You don’t need to be a master electrician to hang Christmas lights, but it can be a bit confusing at first. I almost always recommend doing your first house for free.
Go give your parents lights, your grandparents, your own home or someone else. You will learn more on the job than in 100 books or videos about hanging lights.
4. Set Your Pricing
Christmas light installation pricing depends on the size of the job and the complexity of the design but typically we bill by foot at around $6-8.
Here’s a general guideline:
- Small Homes: $500–$800
- Medium Homes: $1,000–$1,500
- Large Homes/Custom Designs: $2,000+
We include setup, maintenance, takedown in January and sometimes even storage depending on the client.
How to Land Clients
1. Marketing is King
Being able to get customers is the number one thing that will make or break your business.
Marketing is a SKILL that is very worth getting good at. Some methods to start with:
- Yard Signs and Door Hangers: VOLUME here. I definitely messed up only doing yard signs for my gutter business as they work really well for christmas lights.
- Facebook Ads: Run ads showing before-and-after shots of Christmas light installations (my favorite marketing method). Your cost per lead will be higher but you gotta pay to play here.
- Google: Post on your website months ahead of time. You can literally get Chat gpt to write 12 high quality articles following the “keyword + city”
2. Word-of-Mouth
Past clients are one of the best sources of new work. Make sure you mention it as often as you can that you also do Christmas lights.
This is one of those businesses that gets easier the longer you do it, when you see someone making $30,000/month or even $100,000/month just know this is NOT their first rodeo so don’t get discouraged.
Other Things to keep in mind.
When done right, Christmas lights is a yearly recurring business. Treat your customers like gold, fix any issues ASAP and you will have a happy client for many years.
Christmas lights also pair very well with any other home service business. Most of the year we do roof and gutter cleaning and we can stay even more busy during the winter when gutters slow down.
It’s also worth hiring a couple of helpers (maybe your second year) I personally was able to outsource almost everything within 3 years and have enough work for a few guys to work full time.
Real-Life Example
Here is a christmas light installation we did in a nearby city for $750
We simply outlined the roof and it looks great- only took a couple of hours by myself while I had my other guys hanging lights in other neighborhoods.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a way to make an extra $10,000 or even past $30,000 this holiday starting a christmas light business is definitely a great way to go.
If you want to read more about this including step by step lists and guides make sure to checkout my full ebook on this entire topic at https://christmaslightbook.com/
See you there 💪
-Spencer