There comes a point in life when spending a Saturday on a ladder holding a half-working strand of Christmas lights stops feeling festive.
For some of us, that point arrives sooner than others.
Fortunately, homeowners throughout Greensboro, Summerfield, Oak Ridge, Winston-Salem, High Point and the surrounding Piedmont Triad have several options when it comes to professional Christmas light installation.
The harder question is:
How do you choose the right holiday lighting company?
Companies such as Triad Christmas Lights and Lighthouse Outdoor Lighting advertise professional Christmas light installation throughout the Greensboro market, including design, installation and seasonal services.
At Southern Lights, we believe homeowners should look a little deeper than simply asking, “Can you hang Christmas lights?”
Because there is a pretty big difference between putting lights on a house and designing a beautifully illuminated home for Christmas.
1. Start With the Design
One of the biggest signs of a professional holiday lighting company is that the conversation doesn’t begin with how many strands of lights they can install.
It begins with your home.
A well-designed Christmas lighting display works with the architecture instead of covering every available surface with bulbs.
That might mean:
- Warm white C9 lighting precisely following rooflines and peaks
- Illuminated wreaths centered on windows
- Garland accenting columns or entryways
- Mini lights carefully wrapping ornamental trees
- Subtle lighting through shrubs and landscaping
- A few dramatic focal points instead of lights everywhere
The goal isn’t necessarily to have the most lights in the neighborhood.
It’s to have the house everyone notices because everything looks intentional.
Southern Lights approaches holiday lighting from the perspective of a professional lighting design company. We have decades of experience designing outdoor lighting systems and have completed thousands of lighting projects throughout the regions we serve.
That design background carries directly into our Christmas work.
2. Ask Who Actually Installs the Lights
Holiday lighting is seasonal, which means some companies appear in October and disappear shortly after January.
There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with a seasonal company, but homeowners should understand exactly who they are hiring.
Ask questions such as:
Do you have full-time employees?
Are you insured?
How long has the company been operating locally?
Do you have an actual office?
Who do I call if something stops working December 18th?
Southern Lights is a locally operated lighting company with a physical location in Summerfield and a full-time team that works with lighting systems throughout the year. Our company has been involved in professional outdoor lighting since 1995.
Christmas lighting isn’t a side business we suddenly remember in October.
Lighting is what we do.
3. Look for Commercial-Grade Holiday Lighting
That box of lights from the big-box store may work beautifully around the Christmas tree.
A roofline exposed to North Carolina rain, wind, freezing temperatures and the occasional 65-degree December afternoon is another matter.
Professional Christmas lighting systems should use products designed for exterior installations.
At Southern Lights, our installations use commercial-grade LED products selected for reliability, appearance and energy efficiency.
Professional materials also allow lights to be custom fitted to the architecture, helping eliminate the awkward loops, gaps and excess wire you often see with off-the-shelf strands.
The difference is subtle during the day.
At night, it isn’t subtle at all.
4. Maintenance Should Be Included in the Conversation
Even the best outdoor lighting can occasionally have an issue.
A connection can come loose.
Weather happens.
A branch falls.
And naturally, it will probably happen the afternoon before your Christmas party.
A professional holiday lighting program should have a clear plan for in-season service and maintenance.
Southern Lights provides seasonal maintenance so homeowners aren’t left troubleshooting lights themselves. Our residential holiday program also includes professional installation, takedown and storage.
You shouldn’t hire someone to keep you off the ladder and then find yourself back on the ladder two weeks later.
5. Consider Temporary AND Permanent Christmas Lighting
Homeowners now have another decision to make.
Traditional seasonal lighting is still extremely popular, but permanent holiday lighting has grown considerably.
Companies such as Triad Trimlight specialize in permanent programmable LED systems, while Lighthouse and Triad Christmas Lights focus heavily on seasonal holiday installations.
Southern Lights offers both.
That means the recommendation doesn’t have to begin with one predetermined product.
Some homes are perfect candidates for an elegant seasonal installation with wreaths, garland and traditional C9 bulbs.
Others benefit from a discreet permanent roofline system that can change colors for Christmas, Halloween, birthdays, game days and other events throughout the year.
And plenty of our favorite projects use a combination of the two.
Holiday Lighting Should Feel Easy
The whole point of hiring a professional Christmas light installer is to make the holidays less stressful, not create another project for you to manage.
You should be able to come home, pull into the driveway and enjoy your house.
No tangled cords.
No storage bins.
And, most importantly, no ladder leaning against the second-story gutter.
Ready to Plan Your Christmas Lighting?
Southern Lights provides professional Christmas and holiday lighting throughout Greensboro, Summerfield, Oak Ridge, Stokesdale, Kernersville, Winston-Salem, High Point and communities across the Piedmont Triad.
Whether you want an understated warm-white display or something considerably more festive, we can design an installation specifically for your home.