Permanent Christmas Lights vs. a Yearly Install in San Diego: The Three-Year Math

The Short Answer

Permanent lighting costs more up front and a yearly install costs more over time. That's the whole comparison. The only question is where the two lines cross for your house.

On a 150-foot single-story roofline, three years of our yearly C9 package comes to $3,360, with years two and three at 10% off. Permanent lighting on the same roofline starts at $5,250, paid once. After three years the yearly path is still ahead, and our permanent lighting page says what we'll say here: most systems pay for themselves in 3 to 5 years of avoided yearly installs.

If you're tired of the yearly cycle, want the house lit for more than December, or live on a street where a channel that disappears by day is the point, permanent is probably your answer. If you want one good season, you rent, you love the look of C9 bulbs along the eave, or you're not sure yet, stay yearly. The rest of this post is the math, with nothing hidden on either side.

Both Prices, Published

Most permanent lighting quotes in San Diego start with a sales visit. Ours start with a number, and so does the yearly side, because we publish both.

The yearly package is C9 roofline lighting at $8 a linear foot on the first story and $10 on the second, with an $800 job minimum. Year one is full price. Years two and three run 10% off your year one price, because the design and fabrication happen once and the display already exists. That's the three-year story on our pricing page.

Every yearly price includes the lights themselves, because we own them. It also includes the clips, the smart timer, January takedown, off-season storage, and in-season repairs, which we call The 48-Hour Relight. There is no product invoice.

Permanent lighting starts at $35 a linear foot, paid once. The total depends on the linear feet covered and the home's architecture, and the exact number comes after we lay out where the channel will run. After that there's no yearly install, no takedown, and nothing to store.

A 150-Foot Roofline, Three Years Each Way

Take a single-story home with 150 feet of roofline. That's the middle of our roofline-only range, and it clears the job minimum, so the per-foot rate is the whole price.

Permanent lighting on that roofline starts at 150 feet times $35, which is $5,250. You pay it once. In years two and three the permanent side is zero.

The yearly side runs like this.

• Year 1: 150 feet of single-story C9 at $8 a foot is $1,200.
• Year 2: 10% off, so $1,080.
• Year 3: 10% off again, $1,080.
• Three-year total: $3,360.
• After three years, the yearly path has cost $1,890 less than permanent.

The Same Math on 200 Feet

A bigger house doesn't change the shape of it, only the size. Here's 200 feet of single-story roofline.

• Permanent: 200 feet at $35 a foot is $7,000, once.
• Yearly, year 1: 200 feet of single-story C9 at $8 a foot is $1,600.
• Yearly, years 2 and 3: 10% off, $1,440 each.
• Yearly, three-year total: $4,480, which is $2,520 less than permanent.

Where the Lines Cross

Our pricing page publishes three years, and after three years the yearly path is ahead on both houses: by $1,890 on 150 feet and $2,520 on 200 feet. So nobody should buy permanent lighting to save money by year three. It doesn't.

Past year three we're assuming, so here's the assumption stated plainly. If years four and five cost what year three did, the 150-foot yearly spend reaches $4,440 after four seasons and $5,520 after five. That fifth season is where it passes $5,250. The 200-foot house crosses in the same season, because the ratio between the two rates is the same whatever the footage. Rates can move between seasons, so treat that as the shape of the math, not a quote.

That lands at the long end of the 3 to 5 years our permanent lighting page already states, and we're not going to promise shorter. Two-story homes get there sooner on paper, because second-story roofline is $10 a foot on the yearly side instead of $8. The permanent number for a two-story home depends on the architecture, so we set it after the layout rather than guessing here.

Two things the ledger leaves out. The channel runs along the roofline, so wrapped palms, a wreath over the door, and garland on the rail are a yearly job on either path, or you skip them. And the other eleven months aren't on the yearly side at all. A yearly display is lit for about six weeks. Permanent lighting is lit whenever you want it, which is the part of the comparison that doesn't fit in a spreadsheet.

What Permanent Lighting Actually Is

Permanent lighting is an LED system that lives on the house year-round. The bulbs sit inside a slim aluminum channel tucked under the fascia, custom-cut to the roofline and color-matched to your trim, so it disappears in daylight. From the street, most homeowners can't tell the lights are there when they're off.

Every bulb is individually addressable, which means each one can be its own color, brightness, or animation. You run it all from an app over Wi-Fi, from the couch or from out of town.

• Hundreds of pre-built holiday programs, plus color schemes and scenes you build yourself
• Holiday colors in December, accent white the rest of the year, red-white-blue for the 4th of July, off whenever you like
• Schedules by time of day or sunset, and brightness turned down for everyday curb appeal
• Lights synced across multiple zones of the home
• LEDs rated for 50,000+ hours, which on a few hours a night is well over a decade
• Most single-family homes are installed in a single day; larger or multi-level homes sometimes take two
• A workmanship warranty on the install and a manufacturer warranty on the LEDs

What the Yearly Package Actually Is

The yearly package is what most of our clients choose, and it's a full service, not a strand on a clip.

We own the lights. Every strand is commercial-grade C9 with weather-sealed sockets, cut to your roofline so there's no bunched excess at the corners and no dark gap where a run came up short. The smart timer is included, so the display comes on at dusk by itself. If a section goes dark, you text us. The 48-Hour Relight: One bulb out, one text, we're there within 48 hours. No charge, all season.

In January we take it all down, inspect every bulb, and store the display labeled to your address. Nothing goes in your garage. And before any of that, you see your own house lit up in a Design Preview, with the price beside it, and nothing is due until you like it.

If the look you want is C9 bulbs along the eave, that big, distinct point of light you can read from a block away, that's the yearly package.

Who Should Go Permanent

Four kinds of homeowner, and we see all four every season.

• You're tired of the yearly cycle. Some of our La Jolla clients get to this point and switch, and it turns a yearly decision into a one-time one.
• You want the house lit for more than December: accent white on a normal night, a party scene for a graduation, a security schedule, the 4th of July.
• You live on an HOA or Art Jury street where a channel that disappears by day is the point. Send the guideline page with your photo and we'll tell you straight away what works.
• You'd rather have one install than a calendar of them. Most homes go in over a single day, and after that every holiday is one tap.

Who Should Stay Yearly

Just as honestly, four kinds of homeowner who shouldn't.

• You want one great season. There's no three-year math to do. The yearly package wins on day one and that's the end of it.
• You rent. A channel under the fascia is a fixture on a house you don't own. The yearly display comes down in January and every clip comes off without leaving a mark.
• You want C9 bulbs along the eave. That look is the yearly package.
• You're not sure. A yearly season is the cheapest way to find out how much you'll actually use the lights, and nothing about it stops you going permanent later.

The Next Step Is the Same Either Way

Both paths start with a Design Preview. Text one daylight photo of the front of your house to (858) 315-1247 and tell us which way you're leaning, or that you're torn. That's fine too.

For the yearly package, you get the same photo back with the lights on and the price beside it, usually the same day, and nothing is due until you like it. For permanent, we design from the photo the same way, then lay out exactly where the channel will run and give you the exact number for your house.

Either way you'll be deciding with both numbers in front of you, which is more than most people get.