Thanks!
Is it Christmas yet??? Iām exhausted, lol. Apparently when it comes to lights, this year money is no object for peopleā¦
Unfortunately we havenāt had the same experience lol. Weāre only winning probably 10-20% of bids due to price. Any tips to make customers eager to give me all their money?
We start at $7/foot for c9 and 30-$35/ strand for mini lights and we usually offer discounts when the job is over 1500
That was our pricing last year, but Iāve had to increase 20% twice this year. Once purely material pricing increases, the second to slow down sales so they didnāt outpace supply and install capacity (we still outpaced both, but rental trailers in the lot, and more lights on the way, lol). Honestly, it may also have to do with the fact that we rebranded our lights business to the same name as our wash businessā¦so we were able to draw heavily off our reputation there. Lights is going to hit about 30% of our annual revenue this year.
Dude, where have you been? Christmas was like 12 & a half months ago hahaaaaā¦ Iām curious what the overhead is like in this nonsense. Iāve considered giving it a good poke in 2022 but the more I look at it, the more it looks like something I might want to stay away from. I hate to miss a golden opportunity & I love a little downtime. What are your thoughts on it?
Iād say roughly 20-25% upfront outlay (purely merch. costs), assuming you have the equipment (truck/trailer/ladders/roof safety equipment/etc.) already. I get enough people on a 10 payment plan in January to cover my order, then itās just payroll and misc.
Thatās good info. I appreciate it! You say youāre booking folks in January? Like 11 and a half months before Christmas? And putting them on a payment plan? Thatās craziness!
We became an affiliate of We Hang Christmas Lights this year. Weāve gotten plenty of leads and my brother has been doing many quotes in person but the main thing problem seems to be price for most people especially if weāre bidding against another company. Their really isnāt a ton of competition around us and itās a decently wealthy area.
Not complaining tho weāve stayed busy and weāre busy doing gutter cleanings now anyway
Yeah, I should have mentioned WHCLā¦weāve been with them since we started doing this (year 4). We usually put out several of their yard signs around town too, but we were so innundated this year that we never did. May run a quick FB ad over the weekend just reminding people that āitās not too lateā¦ā. Iād like to lock in 30-40 installs for next week before it ends with a thud.
Jerome Powell firing up the money printers again?
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Hope notā¦or all of this will be worthless after the inflation cycle. 
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Which timer do you guys use, i need a reliable one that we donāt need to go back 10 times to fix.
I buy what I can get cheap, but still reasonable quality (got some Walmart ones, Woods from Amazon)ā¦I buy throughout the year in bulk when I find a deal on Amazon. Donāt hink weāve ever had one āstop workingāā¦weāve had issues with them losing time due to a power outage, etc. I just send them a collection of videos and tell them āthis way you can customize your on/off times to whatever you chooseāā¦ Iāll drop some links to product and videos below.
These are currently $17.95, but I caught them in August for $6.81ā¦bought 60 of them then:
I just got like 20 of these to finish off the year (if things go according to plan). We tested 3-4 of them for a few weeks over the summer to make sure they held up (albeit indoors):
Also bought these before:
https://ormaninc.com/product/24-hour-mechanical-timer-with-3-grounded-outlets/
And got these for most of my commercial jobs (some of them have gotten so extreme they keep tripping breakers and GFCIs):
https://ormaninc.com/product/2-outlet-digital-outdoor-timer/
Here are the video links that I send to clients on how to operate their timer:
Hope all of that helpsā¦somehow, 
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Thanks.
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A nearby town wants a quote to install lights on 74 street lamps, a couple buildings and trees. We said we have c-9 in stock and they say thatās what they want. Any ideas to install c-9 on street lamps and making it look good??? There are electrical sockets on top of them supposedly. @JAtkinson ? Others?
C9s on a lamp post? no clueā¦whatās your spacing? maybe if itās super tall, but then no thanks
We do some stuff for the city, but pretty much stick to trees and buildings. Iāll do lit garland up a lamp post, and/or wreath/bow at the top
About how many feet /strands/lights for 12 ft posts? Are they tie-wrapped? How many man hours do you guess it would take to do 75 12 ft poles?
The buildings are easy to quote, but have not used minis yet and very few trees.
How many c9ās would be needed for each 25 foot tall tree like this, rough estimate? (To look great).
I appreciate you sharing your experience. Itās a 2 hour drive each way, the more i can plan ahead beforehand the better.
Outside wrap I assume?
Trunk as well?
Whatās your mini spacing on the stringer?
If outside wrap means around the tree, yes. Like a spiral. Trunk as well.
I donāt have minis right now, the ones i would likely buy are spaced 4 inches apart.
