What the market pays, and what we'd charge
Two rate cards, one per product line. Both anchored to real homeowner-reported prices, not vendor marketing pages — vendor "starting at" numbers run 20–40% below what people actually pay.
Christmas / holiday lighting rate card
National aggregators (HomeAdvisor, Angi) converge on $5–10/ft first-year (materials + labor) and $2–5/ft renewal (labor only) — 3+ independent sources agree on the labor-only band. Christmas Lights HQ's own $8–12/ft figure is a seller-coaching target, not an observed market price — worth aiming for, not assuming. Tampa Bay's actual Angi average is lower still: $2.70–6.75/ft, avg ticket $598 ($218–$927 range) — that's the price a value-shopper already sees locally, and it's a floor to price against, not a ceiling to match.
| Job type | $/linear ft | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| First-year install (incl. materials) | $5–10 | Ownership of the strands is an open decision — see Lease vs Own |
| Renewal (labor + storage/service) | $2–5 | Sourced as labor-only. A lease renewal prices above this band; that gap is the whole model question |
| Takedown only | ~50% of install fee | Piece rate $0.20/ft, ~4–5x cheaper than install labor |
| Wholesale material (C9, verified) | $1.10–1.70/ft | Christmas Lights HQ contractor pack + Winterland SKU, cross-checked |
| HomeAdvisor-aggregator annual minimum | — | $1,500/yr residential, $2,500/yr commercial — sets a price floor competitors already anchor to |
Why renewal is the real margin
First-year at $5–10/ft against $1.10–1.70/ft materials and $0.80–2.00/ft install labor works out to roughly 46–75% gross margin before overhead — and renewal is thinner per foot but carries no material cost at all. Loss-leader on the customer relationship, margin engine on the second year. Same logic Jobber Academy's holiday-lighting ops content describes.This rate card assumes the customer buys the lights
Every figure above is the own model. Under a lease the year-one rate comes down and the renewal goes up, and five-year gross profit per customer moves by roughly 30%. That decision is modelled end-to-end on Lease vs Own and is not settled here.Sources: Christmas Lights HQ — Business Plan / Financial Blueprint · christmaslights.io — $100K blueprint (piece rates) · Angi — Tampa holiday light installation cost data · HomeAdvisor — seasonal install cost data · Winterland Inc — verified C9 wholesale SKU
Architectural lighting rate card
Vendor marketing pages advertise a "starting at $18/ft" floor. Real homeowner-reported prices, pulled from Reddit installs and local dealer sites, run well above that:
| Brand | Marketed floor | Real-world reported | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trimlight | $18/ft | $25–35/ft | RGB, not RGBW; zip-exclusive territory |
| Gemstone Lights | — | $21–42/ft (~$23–30 typical) | True RGBW, 9" spacing, no territory exclusivity |
| Jellyfish Lighting | $2,500 entry | $15K–30K whole-home · ~$25–30/ft commercial | Confirmed Tampa location page |
Cost per foot is not known yet
Neither Trimlight nor Gemstone discloses dealer wholesale cost per foot publicly — only aggregate buy-in figures (Trimlight $5–10.5K one-time; Gemstone $10–15K minimum inventory). Real gross margin per job can't be modelled precisely until a supplier account is opened and an actual wholesale quote is in hand. See Unit Economics for how we've bridged that gap with a conservative assumption.Sources: trimlight.com/become-a-dealer · gemstonelights.com/dealer-opportunity · r/ChristmasLights, r/WLED — homeowner-reported quotes · jellyfishlighting.com/tampa
Beyond the base install
- Storage & labeling — per-customer bin, billed into renewal rate
- Mid-season service calls — flat trip fee + $/ft repair
- Extra elements — trees, wreaths, ground stakes, wraps — itemized add-ons
- Multi-holiday reprogramming (permanent only) — included with the app, sellable as "set it once"