Armored Lighting
Business plan and season-one financial model for the exterior lighting division of Team Armored Roofing & Construction, Palm Harbor FL. Two product lines, one crew, one customer database — this document lays out the model, the numbers, and the open decisions as they stand on 22 Aug 2026.
Two product lines, one thesis
Every seasonal customer is a warm permanent-lighting prospect. Every seasonal install is a physical billboard on a street of comparable homes.
Seasonal Christmas lighting
Install Oct/Nov, take down Jan. Recurring annually with the same customers. Modest ticket, high repeat, sharp Q4 spike. Sold on convenience and safety — "stop climbing your own roof."
Lead generator + cash flowPermanent architectural lighting
Track-mounted addressable RGBW LED on the roofline/soffit. Sells year-round, big ticket, one-time. Sold on "Christmas lights forever, plus every other holiday, plus everyday accent lighting, and you never climb a ladder again."
Margin engine — gated, see RisksWhy Team Armored, not a new entrant
- The database. ~52K contacts in GHL — a roofing customer is a homeowner with a known roofline who has already trusted us on their roof.
- The crews. Ladders, trucks, fall-protection training, and comfort at height already exist. This is the single biggest barrier for new entrants.
- Seasonal counter-cycling. Q4 is not roofing's strongest quarter — this absorbs crew capacity in the trough instead of idling it.
- Roof credibility. "We're the roofers — we know how to attach to a fascia without voiding anything" is a real objection-killer a generic lighting franchise cannot say.
What has to happen, and by when
| Milestone | Date | Out | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decision deadline — go / no-go | Fri 28 Aug 2026 | 6 days | Must precede the inventory order. Nothing else moves until this lands. |
| Supplier accounts + first inventory order | Tue 15 Sep 2026 | 24 days | Contractor-grade suppliers go to allocation and long lead times through the autumn. Ordering later than mid-September risks the season. |
| Sales push opens to the roofing database | Tue 1 Sep 2026 | 10 days | Sales can and should start before inventory lands — deposits fund the buy. |
| First installs | Thu 15 Oct 2026 | 7.7 weeks | Industry-standard start. Florida has no snow constraint, so an earlier start is physically possible but customers resist pre-Halloween. |
| Thanksgiving — demand peak | Thu 26 Nov 2026 | 96 days | The majority of installs must be complete by this date. Post-Thanksgiving bookings are rush work at best. |
| Practical install cutoff | Sun 20 Dec 2026 | 120 days | After this, nobody is buying Christmas lights. |
Four phases
Decide
Name/domain, entity, licensing answer, supply path.
Seasonal — this season
Lower capital, lower regulatory risk, fastest to revenue. Proves the crew and ops before betting on permanent.
Permanent
Once licensing is settled and a supplier is chosen. See Risks & Gates.
Systematize
Training course, referral engine, renewal automation.
Sequencing rationale
Seasonal is plug-in-only, so it very likely needs no new license and no new entity. It can start generating revenue and data while the permanent-line questions get properly answered.