Nothing, in practice. All we need from you on install day is working exterior outlets on the outside of the home. Nobody needs to be home for the installation or for the removal, unless the work is inside the home, and there is no decision left to make — the design was approved before the date was reserved. The crew arrives, installs what you signed off on, sets the timer to your hours and leaves.
That is genuinely the whole of your side of it. Here is ours, in case you want to know what is happening while you are at work.
What happens before the crew arrives?
The decisions, all of them.
Your design was drawn on a photo of your property during the consultation, and you approved that picture rather than a description. The scheme, the elements, the colors and the lengths were all settled there. A 50% deposit reserves your installation date. By the time a date is on the calendar, the lights for your house have already been pulled and custom-fit to your design — that is what makes a roofline read as a clean line rather than a sagging one, and it is work that happens before anyone reaches your street.
So the crew does not show up to figure anything out. They show up with your house already on paper and your lights already fitted to it.
What does the crew actually need from the property?
Power on the outside, and nothing else.
Working exterior outlets are the one requirement. If the outlets on the front of the house are live, the install can happen whether you are there or not. We do not need to come inside, we do not need the garage, and we do not need anyone to hold a ladder.
If an outlet turns out to be dead — a tripped exterior GFCI is the usual culprit, and plenty of people have never tested the one behind the shrubs — the crew will tell you rather than improvise. That is the one phone call an install day might generate, and it is a short one.
Gates are the other thing worth a thought. If a side yard or a drive is behind a locked gate and the design includes anything back there, let us know the code or leave it unlatched that morning.
How long does an installation take, and will you know we were there?
Installation time depends on the design, and hand-wrapped trees add time. Beyond the lights themselves, no.
The crew works off ladders along the roofline, through the windows and arches, around columns, and by hand on the trees. Trees are wrapped by hand to the scope your design sets — trunks only, or trunks and the main branches — and that is the slow part, as well as the part that makes a yard look finished at night.
When they leave, the ladders and the packaging leave with them. What stays is the design, the timer and a set of lights that will not be touched again unless something fails.
When do the lights come on?
On your schedule, from the first night.
Your lights run on a timer set to the schedule you prefer, and most clients choose about 5 or 6 pm to midnight. That covers the evening a street is actually looked at — the drive home, dinner, guests arriving and leaving — without running all night. Tell us the hours you want at your consultation and the timer is set to them at installation, so the first evening is already right.
If the hours turn out to be wrong once you are living with them, say so. Changing a timer schedule is an in-season request like any other, and it does not require you to climb anything.
What happens if something goes wrong later?
You tell us, and it is handled within 48 business hours.
In-season maintenance is part of the Premium Holiday Light Experience. A bulb, a strand, a connection or a timer that fails in December is our problem, not yours, and it is addressed within 48 business hours of you telling us. There is nothing to arrange, nothing extra to approve and no ladder in your future.
One point of contact handles your season, and the whole team has your file — the design, the scope, the history — so whoever you reach can get it moving right away rather than take a message for somebody else. That matters most in the middle of December, which is exactly when a strand decides to fail.
Removal begins January 2, and it is the same arrangement in reverse. Nobody needs to be home for the removal either, unless the work is inside the home; the lights leave with the crew, and nothing goes into your garage.
What should you do the week before?
Three small things, none of them urgent.
Test the exterior outlets you know about, especially any behind planting. Make sure a locked gate will not stop the crew reaching the part of the design that is behind it. And if there is a date that matters — a party, family arriving, a photograph you want taken — tell us ahead of time and we will do everything we can to accommodate it.
Then put it out of your mind. That is what you bought.
Request a design consultation and we will reply within one business day to start your drawing. The residential service page shows every element an install day can include.
Common questions
What to Expect on Holiday Lighting Install Day: common questions
What do I need to do on install day?
All we need from you on install day is working exterior outlets on the outside of the home. Nobody needs to be home for the installation or for the removal, unless the work is inside the home. Our crew brings the lights, the ladders and the timers, and installs the design you already approved.
Do I have to be home when the lights are installed?
No. Nobody needs to be home for the installation or for the removal, unless the work is inside the home. We design from photos and satellite and street views, you approve the drawing beforehand, and the crew works from that approved design, so there is nothing to decide on the day itself.
When will the lights turn on and off each night?
Your lights run on a timer set to the schedule you prefer; most clients choose about 5 or 6 pm to midnight. Tell us the hours you want at your consultation and the timer is set to them at installation. Changing the schedule later is an in-season request like any other.
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