Holiday Lighting in Atlanta: What It Actually Takes to Light a Roofline, and What It Costs
Short version: we hang holiday lighting and décor in Metro Atlanta (rooflines, gutters, peaks, columns, trees, garland and wreaths), then come back in January, take it all down and repack it labeled.
No flat-rate “packages” and no per-foot mystery pricing. It is our normal hourly rate, the same as any other job: $125 an hour, $112.50 for Monthly Maintenance Plan members, plus the standard trip charge. You see exactly what you paid for.
Every year the same thing happens around the first week of December. Somebody gets a strand out of the attic, gets halfway up a ladder set on wet pine straw, realizes the second story is further off the ground than it looked from the driveway, and the lights go back in the box for another year.
The other version: the lights go up, they look great for nine days, and then a third of the run goes dark, a clip lets go in a windstorm, and the strand is swinging off the gutter until March because nobody wants to get back on that ladder in January.
Neither one is a skill problem. It is a ladder, weather and hardware problem, which is exactly the kind of thing you hire a handyman for.
What We Hang
If it goes up for the holidays and it needs a ladder, a level or a stud finder, it is on the list:
- Rooflines and gutter runs C7/C9 bulbs or mini lights, set with gutter and shingle clips.
- Peaks, dormers and second-story runs The part most people skip because of the height.
- Porch columns, railings, door frames and windows Wrapped or clipped, no staples into trim.
- Trees and shrubs Trunk wraps, canopy lights, net lights across the shrub line.
- Garland and wreaths, indoor and out: hung level, secured for real weight, hardware that comes back off cleanly.
- Inflatables, yard displays and rooftop pieces Anchored so the first windy night does not move them next door.
- Interior décor Tree setup, mantel and stair garland, hanging the heavy stuff you would rather not do on a step stool.
- Timers and cord routing Everything gathered back to your existing exterior outlets, on an outdoor-rated timer, so you are not unplugging things in the cold every night.
We work with your décor, the bins you already own. If you want new lights or hardware, we can pick them up on the way; materials are billed at cost plus our standard acquisition charge (25% under $1,000, 15% above), never marked up quietly.
What we don’t doNew circuits, new exterior outlets and anything else that belongs to a licensed electrician. We will tell you on the spot if that is what your plan actually needs, instead of daisy-chaining extension cords and hoping.
Why Atlanta Rooflines Are Their Own Problem
The Ground Moves
Pine straw, sloped side yards, soft December soil and root flare. A ladder that feels planted at 3pm sinks on one foot by the time you are at the peak. Levelers and standoffs are not optional here.
Steep Pitches & Two Stories
Plenty of Brookhaven, Buckhead and Sandy Springs houses put the front gable 25 feet up over a hedge. That run is a two-person job with the right ladder, not a Saturday afternoon.
Gutter Guards & Cold Clips
Guards change which clip works. And plastic clips get brittle in the cold, pressed on wrong, they snap in January and take a chunk of your strand with them.
How the Visit Actually Goes
Walk the House
We look at what you want lit, where the outlets are, and what the ladder can safely reach. You hear the honest version, including “that peak needs two of us” or “that run will not reach an outlet.”
Test Before Anything Goes Up
Every strand gets plugged in on the ground first. Finding the dead section while it is still in the bin costs minutes; finding it from the ladder costs an hour.
Install
Clips sized to your gutter, shingle or trim. Runs pulled straight and tight, spacing consistent, cords routed out of walkways and away from doors.
Power and Timer
Everything lands on your existing exterior outlets with outdoor-rated cords and a timer, split across outlets so one circuit is not carrying the whole house.
Dark Check
We do not call it done in daylight. Lights on, stand at the curb, fix the gaps and the twisted bulbs that only show up lit.
January Takedown
We come back, take it all down, coil the strands so they are not a knot next year, label the bins and put them where you want them.
The Part Everybody Forgets: Takedown
Takedown is the half of the job people skip, and it is the half that costs money later. Strands left up through an Atlanta spring get UV-baked and brittle. Clips left on gutters trap leaves. Cords left plugged in through months of rain are a problem nobody wants on their house.
And when a $30 box of lights gets pulled down in a hurry and stuffed in a bin, you buy it again next November. Book the takedown when you book the install: it is the same crew, it usually takes less time than the install, and January calendars are wide open.
What It Costs
We do not sell holiday lighting “packages.” It is hourly, like everything else we do, and the rates are published on our pricing page:
Rates are per Home Service Professional. Tall, steep or second-story runs are often faster and safer with two people. We will say so before we start, not after. Takedown in January is billed the same way, and is usually shorter than the install.
Want a number before we come out? Send photos of the front of the house from the curb and tell us how far you want the lights to go. We can give you a realistic hour range from that, and if it turns out to be less on the day, you pay less. That is the whole point of billing by the hour.
Book Before Thanksgiving
Holiday lighting has the tightest calendar of anything we do. Everyone wants the same two weekends, and December daylight runs out at 5:30. The homes that get lit early are the ones that booked in October and early November.
- October – early November: best pick of dates, including the weekend before Thanksgiving.
- Late November: still workable, but weekday slots fill first.
- December: we take what we can, on whatever days are open.
- January: takedown, wide open. Schedule it at the same time as the install.
While We’re Already Up There
A ladder at your roofline is the most expensive part of a lot of small repairs, and it is already there. Homeowners regularly have us knock out, in the same visit:
- Clearing gutters and checking downspouts before winter rain.
- Spotting soft fascia, loose soffit or peeling trim paint: the early stage of wood rot, cheapest to fix now.
- Replacing dead exterior bulbs and fixtures, and re-aiming floods.
- Re-securing a loose gutter section or a rattling shutter.
- Hanging the heavy indoor stuff (mirrors, art, a TV) while the drill is out.
Same hourly rate, one trip charge. Have the list ready when we arrive and we will work down it.
Questions We Get Every December
Do you provide the lights, or do I?
Either. Most customers use the décor they already own and we unpack, install, take down and repack it. If you want new lights, clips, cords or a timer, we can pick them up and bill them at cost plus the standard acquisition charge.
Do you do commercial storefronts and restaurants?
Yes. We do a lot of commercial handyman work around Atlanta, and holiday lighting for storefronts, patios and restaurant exteriors is the same job on a different schedule, usually before opening or after close.
What if a section goes out mid-season?
Call or text us. It is usually a bad bulb, a fuse in the plug or a clip that let go, and it is a short visit. It is billed by the hour like anything else, with the standard minimum.
Can you put lights on the roof itself, or on a really steep pitch?
We work from ladders, off the roof edge and eaves. If something genuinely requires walking a steep or wet roof, we will tell you it is not a safe call and offer a version that gets close to the look from the curb without anyone on the pitch.
Will the clips or hardware damage my gutters or trim?
No. We use clips designed for gutters, shingles and trim: nothing driven into fascia, no staples, no nails through strands. Everything comes off clean in January.
Who actually shows up?
Our own Home Service Professionals The same people who do our repair work, licensed and insured. We do not hand holiday work to a seasonal crew we have never met.
Before We Arrive: A Five-Minute Checklist
- Pull the bins out of the attic or garage so we are not hunting for them on the clock.
- Plug in each strand and note which ones are dead, or tell us and we will test them.
- Know which exterior outlets work, and whether they are switched.
- Move cars out of the driveway and clear the ladder path along the front of the house.
- Decide how far you want to go: roofline only, or columns, shrubs and trees too.
- Put the dogs somewhere quiet, ours would be in the way too.
Serving Buckhead, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Decatur, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Roswell, Johns Creek and Metro Atlanta. Licensed, insured and bonded, with 100+ years of combined experience. Related reading: holiday decorating made easy and our fall home maintenance checklist.
Get on the Holiday Calendar
Install in November, takedown in January, billed by the hour at the same honest rate as every other job.