What Does It Cost to Light a Two-Story House?

Two-story homes are the most common quote we write and the one with the widest range, because height changes the labor far more than it changes the footage, which is why per-foot pricing only tells you part of the story.

Three things height changes

• Equipment. Taller ladders, more setups, more repositioning per foot installed.
• Time per foot. Upper rooflines can take two to three times as long per foot as a ground-floor eave.
• Access. Landscaping, decks and steep grade below an upper roofline slow everything down.

Footage on a two-story is often only thirty to fifty percent more than a comparable rambler, but the labor can be double. The four factors that move a holiday lighting price all push upward on a taller house. That is where the price difference comes from, and why a quote should be based on your actual roof rather than square footage.

How to get the effect for less

1. 1Light the upper roofline, skip the lower. Counterintuitive, but from the street the top line is what defines the house.
2. 2Light the front elevation only. Nobody sees the back. Most of our two-story installs are front and one visible side.
3. 3Use standard spacing. Tight spacing looks bolder up close; from the street the difference is small and the material cost is not.
4. 4Add ground-level detail instead of more roofline. A pair of lit columns or a wreath at eye level adds more perceived value per dollar than another hundred feet of upper eave.

What not to cut

Do not skip service. It is the first thing to ask about when you are choosing a Christmas light installer. A failed section 24 feet up is not a bulb you are going to change yourself in December, which is exactly why every package we install includes a 48-hour fix guarantee all season. Two-story work is most of what we do in Everett and on the hills above Bellingham.