Bright Ideas

Doesn’t it all seem to make perfect dollars and sense for any landscape company to jump in head over heels into the holiday lighting business?

Tanner Larssen, owner of Cashing in on Christmas, an online holiday lighting company will tell you: “The holiday lighting and decorating industry has experienced 800 percent growth over the past decade. Residential homeowners and commercial and professional business owners spend more than $200 million each holiday season for this service. It’s a perfect add-on for seasonal businesses like landscapers because you can utilize your current customer base from which to create sales and retain your employees during this season.”

Even Hollywood has helped persuade customers they need to hire outside help. Who can’t relate to Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation getting electrocuted from a faulty electrical system after plugging in his stringer of bulbs he spent the last week untangling? Or how about Danny DeVito as Buddy Hall in Deck the Halls overloading his home’s electrical circuits and blacking out the town?

Most landscapers agree there are many advantages to taking on holiday lighting, but the first couple of years are usually not exactly a dance with the Sugar Plum Fairy, and come Christmas you can end up with a lump of coal in your stocking if you’re not careful.

Don't Dabble
The consensus is not to dabble. If you are going to offer holiday lighting services, look at it as an investment to build over time. Expect to make mistakes at first. Follow proven models already operating out there.

Just ask Kevin Lipscomb, landscaper and owner of Outdoor Décor, San Antonio.

Several things can go wrong for new and inexperienced contractors offering the service, he explains. “They inevitably end up with thousands of dollars of extra inventory because they don’t buy the right stuff and don’t know how to sell it,” he says. “They don’t know how to price their services. They don’t understand electrical systems or how to maneuver around tricky roofs. They don’t have the proper equipment. It can become a real nightmare.”

Outdoor Décor has been in business for the past 15 years. At first, the company focused strictly on traditional landscape services including putting green, water garden, deck and patio installations. Now, 80 percent of its annual revenue comes from holiday lighting.

Lipscomb chuckles about the time when one of his competitors underbid him by a third, taking away one of his largest HOA clients. “They didn’t have the proper equipment like cranes and extension ladders to fully decorate the taller trees, so they could only wrap the bases,” he recalls. “They also kept blowing the electrical circuits. Before the season was over, no surprise, I got the client back.”

Mistakes are inevitable when offering any new service for the first time. Steve Ambrose, general manager, ABC Pest Control and Lawn Service, Austin, Texas, says one of the biggest mistakes he made early on was installing holiday lights supplied by the customers. “We spent half our time untangling packed away light strands,” he says. When you have such a small window of time to provide this service (late October to early December), you don’t want to spend it all untangling lights.” To remedy this, ABC provides a turnkey service that includes supplying the lights for the customers (C9 standard clear lights and three colors for mini lights), installation, removal and storage.

Pro Care Landscape Management, Boise, Idaho, has been at the holiday lighting business for 23 years and also takes the time to educate their customers about the value of renting lights that are commercial-grade and properly stored. “We primarily use our lights for new customers, but occasionally hang their own lights when requested,” says owner Rodger Erstad. “When they learn they are more prone to short out before or shortly after installation, they usually opt for rental.” To maintain their reputation for quick installations (less than 48 hours), the company knows this element is a “make-it-or-break-it” deal for them.

Even though most residential customers opting for holiday lighting services are high-end, don’t make the assumption that their electrical systems are always up to par. “We find that many new construction homes are still underwired in accommodating the addition of holiday lighting,” says Darryl Zellmer, owner of Lawn Systems, West Bend, Wis.

Once a contractor masters the electrical systems in homes, he or she is more than halfway toward perfecting the holiday lighting business, Erstad adds. Before any contract is signed with a customer, ensure the home has enough electrical power to accommodate the job, Ambrose recommends. He partners with a handyman service that has experienced electricians on hand if needed.

Another rule of thumb is that contractors can’t always play Santa Claus to all of their customers, delivering the exact presents on their Christmas lists. “We first went out trying to be everything to everybody,” says Ambrose. “You can never satisfy some customers because they will always want something crazy.”

Ambrose found that mind-set to be a no-win situation until he came up with the “keep it simple, stupid” system of offering just six packages for customers to choose from. Any more than that, he found, and customers get too confused. Pro Care uses a different strategy. They’ve come up with “per foot” and “per strand” pricing that makes bidding simple and tends to be well received by their clients.

Lipscomb warns those contractors who are new at holiday lighting to stay with residential customers for the first season or two, and to be discerning about any job that comes knocking. Also, don’t expect to make a lot on the installation the first year; rather, the money is made with the following years’ installations. “It’s sometimes better to walk away from an install if, for example, the electrical system doesn’t support it or the roof is too steep,” he explains. “Is it worth trying to string lights on a 12/12 pitch roof? It’s OK then to tell the customer that you recommend their trees and shrubbery should be decorated. They’ll appreciate you more even though you may pocket less.”

Pricing below cost is also enticing for first-timers who want to close a sale. “If they accept too many $200 deals for two-story homes, for example, they will most likely be losing money,” Lipscomb says. Outdoor Décor averages about $800 on each residential installation.

On Reinventing the Wheel
Holiday lighting training opportunities are provided by experienced franchisers, dealer clubs and suppliers. Many holiday lighting contractors suggest following their advice instead of building your own business model.

“If you don’t go out and get the proper training for holiday lighting, it will take about four years just to figure out the basics, and then another two years to turn a profit,” Lipscomb says, adding that contractors shouldn’t try to reinvent the wheel. He recommends following a carefully laid-out model that includes tips on advertising holiday lighting as a separate entity and renting vs. selling lights.

Holiday lighting can be a lucrative add-on to landscaping services. But don’t be caught outside in the dark without the proper expectations, education and expertise in place.

The author is a freelance writer based in Akron, Ohio.