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Hanging Christmas Lights and decoration

Ken Fenner

Active member
Wasn't sure where to post this. I am looking to leach some information. I know Don (www.marlerspressurewashing) and Curtis (www.mineralareaprowash.com/) went to a seminar/training they paid for so I understand if the feedback is limited.

Other than ladders, what equipment is needed? Are there certain hooks or extension poles that are beneficial? I am 90% certain this is not something I will pursue, especially this season, but Don's post about his multi unit bid has to make one think.

PS: Don, my unsolicited piece, can you make temporary changes to you home page on the fly? I think you should feature this new service. Your site ranks well for toher things and you may catch an oddball lead or two. For your existing that may visit, lets them know the deal.
 

PressureWashE

New member
Wasn't sure where to post this. I am looking to leach some information. I know Don (www.marlerspressurewashing) and Curtis (www.mineralareaprowash.com/) went to a seminar/training they paid for so I understand if the feedback is limited.

Other than ladders, what equipment is needed? Are there certain hooks or extension poles that are beneficial? I am 90% certain this is not something I will pursue, especially this season, but Don's post about his multi unit bid has to make one think.

PS: Don, my unsolicited piece, can you make temporary changes to you home page on the fly? I think you should feature this new service. Your site ranks well for toher things and you may catch an oddball lead or two. For your existing that may visit, lets them know the deal.


Ken,

I have been hanging lights for about 5 years, Ive tried the extension pole light hangers, and they are just as useless as an extension pole for your pressure washer.

As far as clips are concerned, They are generally pretty cheap at 4.00 a box, and come in a package of 100. It will take 25 clips to hang a package of c-9 or c-7 bulbs. I prefer hanging C-9 and C-7 bulbs becasue each stand is 25' long, compared to icicle lights that are 12'.

Also if you are buying the lights for the homeowner, always always always, buy the commercial grade, you can hook up to 7 end to end without pooping a fuse. If the homeowner is buying the lights make sure you ask them to buy the commercial grade.

If the home owner decides to get the consumer grade lights, You can only hook up 3 end to end, any more than that and you will be called back the next day to replace the fuses. I charge more if the homeowner wants to use consumer grade lights, I also charge if they need me to go through all there lighting that has been boxed for a year and sort what doesn't work and what does work, but I give discounts on installation if the homeowner buys new lighting and commercial grade strands.

As far as pricing goes, Your area will depend on the price, Here in sugar land and Houston, I charge more to hang lights then to do a house wash, About 35% more. Also you have to remember that you will be taking the lights down at the end of the season, So what I have learned to do is add 75 to my bid price, so for instance a 2 story 4000 Sq/ft home, id charge around 675, After the job is completed I tell the home owner to pay only 600, and after the season is over pay the 75. That way you are still generating something on the back end to pay your guys, and gas involved.

I do this because out of the 1.5 months it takes me to hang all 35 homes, It takes me 2 days to take all the lights down. Removing the lights is so much quicker. also you may have 5 or 6 homeowners, take the lights down themselves to save the 75, And that's great, because that is one less house you need to go to.

I have found the easiest way to hang the lights, is if the roof is walkable to get on the roof, and hang the lights from there, if not, moving the ladder is the second quickest option. Also Pre Clipping the lights on the ground before taking a strand up the ladder will save a lot of headache and time.

Holiday lighting is very good, This time of year, I will gross over 15k in next 1.5 months.

Hope this helps
 

cmturner

New member
Ken there is an endlest debate in the holiday lighting world over a couple different subjects: 1. Like the xjet vs downstream debate the biggest one is incandescent lights vs LED lights, pretty long drawn out debate that as technology has improved and the green movement has taken hold the LED option has improved drasticly.
2. VERY CLOSE behind is the debate of renting lights vs selling the customer the lights, this debate gets pretty heated sometimes. We are setting up to sell the lights vs. renting the lights. There are an absolute ton of things to consider on both sides of the arguments.

Most of the info that I learned prior to going to Chicago came from over at lawnsite, there are a couple guys that knock down six figures a year on holiday lights. The company that we went to the seminar with pushes all high end product(which I believe would fit your customer base perfect) nothing but LED lights and nice high end greenery, there wreaths and garland are 14" around, thick as can be and beautiful. Using there pricing structure and there product easily most installs are a couple thousand dollars, that would cover the install, take down and even storage of there product until next years install. That company is called www.reidners.com, they got a pretty good site too, if you want more info from them email Laurie from there contact us page.

The lights that we are going to use for the roof lines are pretty neat, the wire comes with no bulbs in it and on a spool, 1000ft per spool. We pull out and cut what we need per section of roof, then we use blank lamp wire that doesn't have sockets on it to jump from area to area, all of the conections we make onsite using plugs that dont require any stripping of the wire or any tools at all. This way the customer can pick the color or colors that they want. There entire roof line will be custom cut for there house, keeps from having xtra lights tucked in gutters or just piled up in the corner.

Ken feel free to give me a call anytime you would like. Call on my cell if you would like, 573-631-1315. That salesman from Reinders that was leading the seminar said he has helped companies set up bids that was over 100G's bids for like parks for cities and major commercial locations.
 

PressureWashE

New member
Ken there is an endlest debate in the holiday lighting world over a couple different subjects: 1. Like the xjet vs downstream debate the biggest one is incandescent lights vs LED lights, pretty long drawn out debate that as technology has improved and the green movement has taken hold the LED option has improved drasticly.
2. VERY CLOSE behind is the debate of renting lights vs selling the customer the lights, this debate gets pretty heated sometimes. We are setting up to sell the lights vs. renting the lights. There are an absolute ton of things to consider on both sides of the arguments.

Most of the info that I learned prior to going to Chicago came from over at lawnsite, there are a couple guys that knock down six figures a year on holiday lights. The company that we went to the seminar with pushes all high end product(which I believe would fit your customer base perfect) nothing but LED lights and nice high end greenery, there wreaths and garland are 14" around, thick as can be and beautiful. Using there pricing structure and there product easily most installs are a couple thousand dollars, that would cover the install, take down and even storage of there product until next years install. That company is called www.reidners.com, they got a pretty good site too, if you want more info from them email Laurie from there contact us page.

The lights that we are going to use for the roof lines are pretty neat, the wire comes with no bulbs in it and on a spool, 1000ft per spool. We pull out and cut what we need per section of roof, then we use blank lamp wire that doesn't have sockets on it to jump from area to area, all of the conections we make onsite using plugs that dont require any stripping of the wire or any tools at all. This way the customer can pick the color or colors that they want. There entire roof line will be custom cut for there house, keeps from having xtra lights tucked in gutters or just piled up in the corner.

Ken feel free to give me a call anytime you would like. Call on my cell if you would like, 573-631-1315. That salesman from Reinders that was leading the seminar said he has helped companies set up bids that was over 100G's bids for like parks for cities and major commercial locations.

On larger jobs, I have used the custom spools. you can get there custom made here at ace hardware. they also make life 10x easier.
 

Don M.

New member
Curtis pretty much laid out what we learned up there. The only thing I will put emphasis on is high end. Just like pw, your going to have people shopping on price. That's why I put my min on the website. Don't call me if your only expecting to pay $100.
 

PressureWashE

New member
I haven't had many requests for LED lighting, the most popular lighting is C-9 and C-7 bulbs down here.

lol i wish my holiday page looked as good as Mr Marlers.


Also Im not sure about yalls areas, But here the local walmarts GM makes the decision for the lighting on their roof, There is no national company, They provide the lights from their store you just install them. I did walmart last year.
 

Florin Nutu

New member
How does the design process go? Are all homes a basic design, like roof lines and windows and thats it? Or is it full customization of how the customer wants it? Do you guys do a drawing of what they want for aproval or have a customer out there dictating what goes where?
 

PressureWashE

New member
How does the design process go? Are all homes a basic design, like roof lines and windows and thats it? Or is it full customization of how the customer wants it? Do you guys do a drawing of what they want for aproval or have a customer out there dictating what goes where?



The customer generally has a design in mind, Whether its roof line and landscape lighting, Sometimes it more elaborate, Like candy canes, and snowmen, spot lights and a Santa on the roof...lol

What they desire we price and fulfill
 

DJ Carroll

New member
I have landed three jobs to date.... Today we picked up our biggest one its a library and i cut them a deal at $1,555 per year for a three year contract! :clap: The other two are a bank and a HOA front entrance!

We are going to run this radio ad starting next week!
 

Don M.

New member
We are avg 3-4 calls a day, with still no takers. I don't want to do this, but it's time to qualify over the phone like I have everything else.

In all honesty it's like deck season all over again. I just need to work on pricing since I am being told I am way higher than everybody else. And I need to work on my sales pitch.
 

DJ Carroll

New member
Don honestly I think this stuff sells its self ... They are either going to want to do it or not ... Like i said on the phone I think the market for this stuff is Commercial which is nice because it may build you a customer for washing come spring ...
 

Don M.

New member
We finally hang our first job on Friday. More estimates later this week. I got 11 estimates in one day. A little overwhelming...
 

johnkate

New member
When it comes to decorating a Christmas tree, there are four essential decorations: - Christmas lights, Christmas ornaments, Christmas garland and the tree topper
 
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Ron Musgraves

Past President
Staff member
Before you know it
Wasn't sure where to post this. I am looking to leach some information. I know Don (www.marlerspressurewashing) and Curtis (www.mineralareaprowash.com/) went to a seminar/training they paid for so I understand if the feedback is limited.

Other than ladders, what equipment is needed? Are there certain hooks or extension poles that are beneficial? I am 90% certain this is not something I will pursue, especially this season, but Don's post about his multi unit bid has to make one think.

PS: Don, my unsolicited piece, can you make temporary changes to you home page on the fly? I think you should feature this new service. Your site ranks well for toher things and you may catch an oddball lead or two. For your existing that may visit, lets them know the deal.
 
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