Deck the Halls: Holiday Lighting

Profitable add-on services are a sought after commodity by many lawn care and landscape professionals. There are dozens to choose from, but the big problem is determining which one will be most beneficial for a business.

The winter months can be a perfect time to find one of these additional services to offer customers. During this season, employees may have very little work, if any, and cash flow slows down. Because of these factors, more and more contractors are looking to holiday decorating to fill this downtime during the year.

"We have a lawn maintenance company, and we were trying to fill in the winter months with some extra work when we started holiday lighting," stated Kevin Lipscomb, president of Outdoor Décor, San Antonio, Texas.

Contractors who have started this service are singing its praises and telling stories of the satisfying and profitable aspects of this work.

ADD-ON ADVANTAGE. "We looked at starting this service 10 years ago, but getting supplies was difficult so we gave up," commented Ray Wood, owner/operator of Ray Wood Grounds Maintenance/Christmas Décor, Brantford, Ontario. "Then we began looking into holiday decorating again and reading articles about it and we got started. Holiday installations are a great way to keep employees busy. Decorating definitely sells itself."

Echoing Wood, Tom Tolkacz, president of Swingle Tree/Christmas Décor, Denver, Colo., said his primary reasons for starting the service were to gain additional revenue and keep employees onboard all year.

Once contractors determined that this was a profitable service, they had to decide who to target the service to. Surprisingly, not many of their current lawn care or landscape customers were interested in the new service.

"About 90 percent of our customers were new and we got them by running ads," stated Kendra Wendt, co-owner of Two Guys Landscape and Design/Christmas Décor, Brandon, S.D.

She added that they usually start running advertisements in September and October for residential customers. However, for commercial properties, the ads should start in July as commercial contracts have a more complicated decision-making process.

"When we started, our current customers were informed that we were offering this service, but they weren’t really our initial customers," Lipscomb mentioned. "Even now, not many of our lawn customers are holiday customers. Our very first customer was a regular lawn customer, then every neighbor saw his house and grabbed a hold of us. It spread by word of mouth from there."

Wood added that he put out a notice to his current customers but was told by Christmas Décor not to be surprised if the customers didn’t want the service. "That was exactly what happened," he said. "We went around to different areas and met a lot of new people. Holiday decorating has also helped grow our core business because some of these new customers became interested in lawn service."

Most contractors are doing a mix of residential and commercial properties and find only a few major differences between the two jobs.

"A residential property is a want. People want lights for their family," said Dave Dolak, president of Renaissance Grounds/Christmas Décor, Vienna, Va. "The commercial property is a need, and the client has to make the service fit in a budget so holiday decorating is a much harder sale."

Todd Risty, co-owner of Two Guys Landscape and Design/Christmas Décor added that there is usually more leg work involved on a commercial property sale because the decisions typically go through the corporate headquarters of a company.

Expanding on Risty’s comment, Tolkacz said, communication is the difference between the two jobs.

"In a commercial setting, you have more than just one client and it takes a lot more to please the customer," he pointed out. "This requires a higher degree of communication. And, depending on the commercial setting, you may have additional factors to worry about during the installation such as vehicles and pedestrians."

SELLING STRATEGIES. For most contractors involved, holiday installation is a turn-key operation. The service usually includes everything from design, set up, take down and, occasionally, storage.

"We include storage on residential properties," Wendt commented. "We box the decorations up and the customer stores it."

"We haven’t stored the materials in the past, but this year we plan to store 90 percent of the residential, while the commercial clients prefer to store decorations on their property," Tolkacz remarked. "We are moving toward storing 100 percent of residential materials."

Since this service typically includes all aspects of the installation, one has to wonder how to price holiday decorating.

There are only a few options to choose from when pricing – creating a per-foot price (of lights, materials, etc.) or simply deciding on a price after looking at the what the job will entail.

"We give a per-foot price," explained George Essman Jr., vice president of Essman’s Landscaping/Christmas Décor, Portsmouth, Ohio.

Essman added that he follows level one and level two prices and has per-foot prices based on each level. Depending on the challenges involved with the job for which level he chooses to follow. "For example, if the property is more difficult, I will go with our level two price," he stated.

"Our installations are priced per job," countered Allan Davis, vice president of RAR Landscaping/Christmas Décor, Baltimore, Md. "We base the price on different factors such as the degree of difficulty and size. We don’t give out a per-foot price because we use those guidelines and prices for ourselves when coming up with a price."

Even though there are different pricing methods, the contractors seem to be satisfied with the profit they are receiving.

"Our profitability for holiday installations is better than the landscaping side of the business because there is less equipment and overhead," Risty commented.

Sales volumes will obviously vary depending on the company size, location and many other market variables. However, contractors included in this article estimated their holiday decorating sales volumes to be between $30,000 and $230,000 for 1998.

NECESSARY KNOW-HOW. Labor and training issues are typical concerns during the summer months of lawn care and landscaping. Luckily, during the holiday installation season, contractors are usually able to retain their current employees and offer them two-day training sessions to get them up and running.

"We use our current employees, but we may have to hire even more for the holiday decorating side of the business," Tolkacz mentioned. "The workers take two full days of classes and field training. It’s an ongoing learning process to ensure quality."

"I use my landscape employees, but we also need to utilize some extra workers too," Wood mentioned. "After two days of training, employees are ready. The first day consists of watching training films and the second day we decorate and let everyone get some hands-on experience."

Risty commented that his employees enjoy the change of pace from lawn work.

Once the training is complete, most holiday lighting contractors begin installing as soon as possible in October.

"We do some installations early and some late," Davis mentioned. "We try to do the re-installations early so that we can have time more towards the actual holidays for the new customers who call us. However, we never put up the day décor early, such as garland and wreaths."

Risty and Wendt explained that they start installations in October, but can’t begin take downs until March because of their location. "It’s too cold in South Dakota in January to be doing this work," Risty added. "The customers seem to understand this."

Tolkacz said that his timing of installations is primarily based on customer demand. "We have a discount incentive program for the customers if they agree to let us install the materials early," He pointed out. "Besides giving us more time, if the lights are up early, the neighbors have more time to see them and think that they should give us a call."

"Keeping up with the demand is the biggest challenge," explained Travis Freeman, president of Brite Ideas Decorating,

Omaha, Neb. "In any seasonal business, everything comes on at once."

"We were busy right away," remarked Risty. "With this service, the work hits at once. You have to be organized and be everywhere at once."

More specifically, scheduling and inventory have to be organized, according to Risty. In addition, tools and labor should be in line and ready to go once the season comes.

Wendt added that the crews have to be running efficiently as soon as the season starts. "The season hits so fast, so you have to be prepared," she noted.

The author is Assistant Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.