Takedown in January

When do the lights come down?

Early January. We start once the holidays are properly over and work through the list, and takedown usually runs across a few weeks rather than one weekend.

If you need a specific date (an HOA deadline, a party, a house going on the market), tell us and we will schedule to it. Otherwise we will text you before we come, and you do not need to be home.

Is takedown included, or billed separately?

Included. It is inside the number you were quoted, not a second invoice in January.

This is worth checking whenever you compare quotes, because it is not the industry standard. Plenty of companies quote the install and bill removal separately, which makes the first number look better and the season cost more. When we say a roofline display runs $400–$800, that figure has takedown inside it.

Why do the lights stay ours?

Because it is the arrangement that works better for both sides, and it is unusual enough to explain properly.

You are not buying strands. We own the lights, we install them, we maintain them during the season, we remove them, and we store them. You are paying for a lit house for a season, not for a box of hardware.

For you, that means nothing to store, nothing to test in November, nothing to throw away when a run fails, and no slow slide into owning six half-dead sets. For us, it means the material on your house is material we know the history of. A strand that is looking tired gets pulled and replaced on our side, and you never find out because you never saw it.

What happens to the lights after takedown?

Our lights come back with us, so there is nothing for you to store. If they are your own lights, they stay with you.

What actually happens on takedown day?

The order matters more than it sounds, and a careless takedown is how displays get ruined for the following year.

• Everything is unplugged and the timers come off first.
• Strands come off clip by clip, not pulled. Pulling a run is fast and it is how sockets crack and gutters bend.
• Clips come off the roof, every one of them. A house that had lights should not have a row of plastic clips along the roofline in February.
• Wraps are unwound from trees, columns and railings rather than cut off.
• Cords are coiled, not bundled, so they do not kink.
• Everything is packed up and comes back with us.

Before we leave, we check that the roofline and the yard look the way they did before we ever showed up.

Do you check anything while you are up there?

Yes, informally. Takedown is the one time each year somebody is on your roof edge in daylight with time to look. If we spot something worth mentioning (a loose gutter section, a lifted tile, a downspout that has come away), we will tell you.

We are not doing a roof inspection and we will not pretend to. It is just that we are up there anyway, and a heads-up costs nothing.

What if someone else hung them?

We will still take them down. Takedown-only runs about $200. That is an approximate number rather than a fixed price. Send two photos of the front of the house and we will give you the real number.

What happens to the lights afterwards depends on whose they are. If another lighting company supplied them, they stay with us. If they are homeowner-owned, they go back to you.

What if I want to keep the lights up longer?

Tell us. Within reason we can leave a display up later, as long as your HOA has no deadline and it does not collide with the rest of the takedown schedule.

What we cannot do is leave them up indefinitely. Strands are built for a season outdoors, not a year, and a display left up through spring is how they get damaged. If what you actually want is lights on the house year round, that is permanent roofline lighting, and it is a different product built for exactly that.

How does next season work?

One text. We already have your house and your layout in our notes. Rebooking is a date, not a design conversation, unless you want to change something, and returning customers usually do want one change, most often adding a tree or moving up from roofline to a full front.

What this means for your quote

When you compare our number to somebody else's, check whether theirs includes removal and who owns the strands at the end. Ours includes both. Text two photos of the front of your house and we will quote the whole season, start to finish.

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