What one job actually clears
Team Armored already owns the ladders, trucks, fall-protection training, and insurance base. That changes the startup-capital math materially versus every published "start a lighting business" guide, which assumes a cold start.
Ticket size and margin
These margin numbers are vendor-adjacent
The 35–50% gross-margin figure comes from wholesale suppliers and vendor blogs (Thunder Lighting Supply, Strandr, ShawTech) that financially benefit from contractors adopting the business. No independent trade-press or CPA-reviewed case study was found. Treat it as a planning range to stress-test, not a guarantee. No verified example of a roofing company's real P&L from adding a lighting division was found anywhere in trade press — this pattern is vendor-testimonial only (one Trimlight dealer cites "250 jobs year one, 600 year two" with no dollar figures attached).Four ways to source it, and what each actually costs
| Path | Buy-in | Territory | Ongoing | Real tradeoff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trimlight (dealer, not FDD franchise) | $5,000–$10,499 | Exclusive by zip code | None disclosed | RGB not RGBW; Pinellas zip availability unconfirmed — Gemstone already names Palm Harbor |
| Gemstone Lights (dealer) | $10,000–$15,000 inventory | None — no exclusivity | Minimum annual sales quota (undisclosed threshold) | $2M revenue / 5-yr-in-business eligibility bar; already active in Pinellas (Oldsmar) |
| Oelo (tiered dealer) | $5,000 / $25,000 / $75,000 | Not disclosed | Annual purchase minimums by tier | Only brand with real, current, itemized pricing published directly on its own site — most verifiable |
| Independent / OEM import | ~$3–5/ft materials (unverified BOM) | None | None | No franchise markup, but real UL/NEC listing gap — see Risks |
The independent path has a real, documented failure mode
Bulk pixel-LED sourcing direct from Chinese suppliers (the same two vendors — "Ray Wu" and "Paul Zhang" — repeatedly named across installer forums) has documented reliability incidents: a 6% (15/250) failure rate on one bulk order and a reported pixel-fire incident. And the applicable listing standard for a permanent install is UL 2108/8750, not the UL 588 rating cheap "holiday" strip often carries — getting a product family independently listed typically runs $3,000–$10,000+. Skipping it risks a voided liability policy if something burns. This is the real price of the franchise premium: pre-certified product and a name to point to, not just brand markup.Sources: trimlight.com/become-a-dealer · gemstonelights.com/dealer-opportunity · oelo.com dealer-tier product/checkout pages · r/WLED, r/xlights — independent sourcing & failure reports · UL / NEC Article 411 listing requirements (waveformlighting.com explainer)
Ticket size and margin
Wholesale material cost per foot from commercial suppliers (Christmas Lights HQ, Seasonal Source, Minleon, Holiday Bright Lights, Winterland) requires opening a reseller account to get a real quote — none publish wholesale pricing publicly. Budget this as the single open number before committing capital; see Risks & Gates.
What it actually costs to start, given what's already owned
The existing-infrastructure discount is real
Every published "start a lighting business" guide assumes a cold start — ladders, truck, insurance, crew, all from zero. Team Armored has all of that from the roofing side already. The real incremental spend is inventory and (if permanent launches) a supply-path buy-in.Seasonal — incremental
A cold-start guide estimate for a full seasonal operation (ladders, inventory, tools) runs $2,000–$10,000, of which $3,000–$5,000 is inventory. Team Armored's incremental spend is closer to that inventory slice alone — scales directly with install count and is the one number this plan can't finalize until a supplier account is open.
Permanent — incremental
$5,000–$15,000 in inventory for an independent/low-tier dealer path, before any franchise buy-in. Add the chosen supply path's buy-in from the table above. This is gated — see Risks & Gates before any of this capital moves.