Hanging Christmas Lights in the GTA: Do It Yourself or Hire It Out?

Every year around the first weekend of November the same scene plays out on driveways across the GTA: a ladder, a box of last year’s lights, a strand that worked in January and does not work now, and a homeowner who is going to be out there a lot longer than planned. Here is what doing it yourself actually costs, what a professional install includes, and when to decide.

The real cost of doing it yourself

The lights are the cheap part. The expensive part is everything around them.

• The ladder. A two-storey roofline needs an extension ladder on ground that is often wet, frozen or uneven, and the work happens at the edge, leaning out. It is the part of the job most people do not think about until they are up there in the dark at 4:30.
• The clips. Shingle clips, gutter clips and tape all hold differently on different trim, and the wrong one damages shingles or leaves marks on soffits and eavestroughs.
• Dead strands. Lights that worked when you packed them do not always work when you unpack them. Finding the bad bulb, or giving up and driving to the store, eats the afternoon.
• Two weekends in the cold. One to hang them, one to take them down in January, usually in worse weather than when they went up.
• The look. Strands pulled by hand rarely sit straight on the roofline, and gaps show more at night than you expect.

None of that is a reason not to do it. Plenty of people enjoy it. It is a reason to count the hours and the risk honestly before you decide, because for most homes the DIY job is a full day on the ladder, and the lights are only up for six or seven weeks.

What a professional install includes

When AmberMount hangs holiday lights, you do not buy anything and you do not climb anything.

• Lights supplied. We bring the lights, so there is no box in the garage and no strand to test.
• Designed for your home. We walk the property with you, plan which rooflines, railings and trees to light, and quote the job before anything goes up.
• Installed by our crew. Rooflines, peaks, railings and trees, hung straight and secured properly for the trim they are on.
• Takedown in January. When the season ends we come back, take everything down and leave the house exactly as we found it. Takedown is part of the service, not an extra.

Holiday lighting is quoted, not booked online, because every roofline is different. You request a quote, we do a quick property walk, and you get a price for your home.

The never-again option: permanent lighting

If you would rather not think about holiday lights every year, there is a third choice. Permanent LED lighting is installed once in a slim aluminum track along the roofline, colour-matched to your soffits so it is nearly invisible by day. From your phone it does warm white on an ordinary evening, red and green for Christmas, orange for Halloween, or Raptors colours on game night. Each LED draws under one watt, the LEDs carry a lifetime warranty, and most homes are installed in a day.

It costs more up front than a seasonal install, and it is quoted after a property visit, but it is the last time you deal with roofline lights. We compared the two in detail in Why Permanent LED Lighting Is Replacing Christmas Lights.

Which one is right for you

• You like the ritual and your roofline is one storey: do it yourself, and put the ladder on solid ground.
• You want lights up for the season without the ladder, the clips or the January takedown: hire the seasonal install.
• You want lighting you will use all year and never want to hang anything again: ask about permanent lighting at the same time, we install both.

Whichever way you go, decide in October. The ladder does not get safer in December, and the install calendar does not get emptier.