By Devan Williams, Founder of IronPeak Lighting. Last updated: July 2026.
Short answer: The trades best positioned to add permanent lighting are the ones already working on residential exteriors with ladders, insurance, and a customer list: seasonal Christmas light installers, landscapers, landscape lighting and low-voltage techs, gutter and roofing crews, pressure washing companies, electricians, and solar installers. The service sells at $20–$40 per installed foot with 40–60% typical gross margins, and modern plug-and-play systems removed the specialized-skill barrier that used to keep trades out.
I came into lighting from the trades myself — Christmas lights and pressure washing. What struck me then still holds: the hardest parts of building a home-service business (trust, route density, a customer list, insurance, comfort on a ladder) are exactly the assets most exterior trades already have. Permanent lighting isn't a career change for these crews. It's a second invoice for customers they already serve.
Why permanent lighting works as an add-on service
- The ticket is big and the job is short. Average residential projects run around $6,000 ($20–$40 per linear foot installed), and a two-person crew typically finishes in a day.
- The demand curve is climbing. Residential outdoor lighting demand is growing about 10% annually (Grand View Research), and permanent holiday lighting is among its fastest-growing niches.
- It's counter-seasonal for most trades. Install season peaks late summer through fall — precisely when mowing, washing, and hanging work slows down.
- Every install is a billboard. Your work is lit up every night on the most visible part of the house, on a street full of your next customers.
The 7 best-fit trades
1. Seasonal Christmas light installers
The most obvious jump, and the most urgent one — permanent lighting is both your biggest opportunity and your biggest threat, because every permanent install removes a re-hang customer from somebody's route. You already sell light, quote by the roofline, and own the ladder skills. What changes: you're selling a $5,000 asset instead of a $600 service, and January stops being a dead month. A seasonal season can net a solo crew $10,000–$50,000; permanent lets you keep selling the other ten months.
2. Landscapers and lawn care companies
You have the strongest asset in this whole article: a recurring route of homeowners who already trust you on their property. Permanent lighting fills your fall/winter revenue gap, and your crews already work residential exteriors daily. The pitch is a clipboard question at the end of a maintenance visit: "We're installing permanent roofline lighting now — want a quote while we're here?"
3. Landscape lighting and low-voltage techs (security, AV, network)
You're the technical closest-fit: you already run low-voltage wire, understand voltage drop, and sell nighttime aesthetics. A 24V roofline system is familiar territory — and permanent lighting quotes commonly exceed a full landscape lighting package on the same house. If you can commission a transformer and zone a yard, the roofline is a lateral move up a ladder.
4. Gutter, roofing, and exterior remodel crews
Nobody knows the roofline better — you literally work on the mounting surface. Soffit and fascia are your daily environment, you already carry fall protection, and you see every customer's roofline at quote time. Permanent lighting attaches to the soffit with the same fastener judgment you already apply (here's exactly how the systems mount). Gutter guys who add lighting effectively double their revenue per ladder setup.
5. Pressure washing and window cleaning companies
This was my other trade, so I'll vouch personally: you have residential density, ladder comfort, and a customer who already pays you to make the house look good. House washing peaks in spring; lighting installs peak in fall — the seasons interlock perfectly. And you're on-site at quoting distance from the roofline on every single job.
6. Electricians
You arrive with the two credibility signals homeowners want on anything electrical: a license and code knowledge. You can self-perform the 120V tie-in that other installers subcontract, keeping that money in-house. The adjustment is sales motion, not skills — permanent lighting is a designed, quoted, consumer product sale rather than a service call. The margin profile (40–60% gross) is well above typical service-call economics.
7. Solar installers
You already sell homeowners a five-figure roof-mounted system with an app — permanent lighting is the same conversation with a smaller number and instant nightly gratification. Roof safety, low-voltage DC wiring, and app commissioning all transfer directly. For solar companies squeezed by incentive changes, lighting is a fast-cycle product to keep crews busy between projects.
What you'll need to add (it's less than you think)
| You likely have | You'll need to add |
|---|---|
| Truck, ladders, drill, hand tools | A multimeter if you don't own one (~$40) |
| General liability insurance | Confirm coverage extends to lighting installation |
| Residential customer list | Night photos of your first 2–3 installs |
| Ladder/roof competence | System training — ours is free, no purchase required |
| Quoting habit | A per-foot price for your market ($25–$35/ft typical — pricing guide) |
The barrier that used to be real — specialized wiring skill — is mostly gone on modern systems. IronPeak's system was designed so that strands plug together with factory-sealed waterproof connectors in 3-light and 1-light sections, with zero field splicing, and the controller, 600W power supply, and surge protection ship in one box. If your crew can mount a track straight and plug connectors together, the skill floor is met. The judgment calls that remain (power injection spacing, peak alignment) are exactly what the free academy teaches.
How to test the water without betting the company
- Install one system on a house you control — yours or a discounted job for a loyal customer. One 100 ft kit runs $1,299; that's your total experiment cost, and it's sellable inventory either way.
- Photograph it at night. Those photos are the marketing.
- Offer quotes to your existing list for 30 days. No ad spend — just a line in your invoices and a yard sign at the first install.
- Close two jobs, then decide. Two average installs (~$12,000 revenue, 40–60% gross) tell you more than any article, including this one.
Avoid programs that make the experiment expensive. Some brands want $10,000–$20,000 in fees or opening inventory before your first quote — fine when you're certain, brutal when you're testing. (Here's the full program-by-program comparison.) IronPeak's dealer program is deliberately $0 to enter with discounts earned by volume — 5%, 10%, 15% as you grow — precisely so trades can test this without a gate.
FAQ
What is the best add-on service for a landscaping business?
Permanent roofline lighting ranks among the strongest 2026 add-ons for landscapers: it sells at $20–$40 per installed foot with 40–60% typical gross margins, peaks in fall when maintenance slows, requires equipment landscapers already own, and sells to the existing route list rather than new customers.
Can a Christmas light installer switch to permanent lighting?
Yes — it's the most natural transition of any trade. Quoting by roofline footage, ladder work, and customer conversations all carry over. The change is business model: one $4,000–$8,000 install replaces years of $300–$1,200 re-hang visits, and revenue is no longer confined to a six-week window.
Do I need an electrical license to add permanent lighting services?
Everything downstream of the control box is low-voltage 24V DC on quality systems, which many states regulate lightly or exempt — but the 120V feed to the box may require a licensed electrician depending on local code. Many installers subcontract that single connection. Verify your state's low-voltage rules before quoting.
How much can a contractor make adding permanent lighting?
At the average project size of roughly $6,000, five installs generate about $30,000 in revenue; at typical 40–60% gross margins that's $12,000–$18,000 gross from five days of crew work. Most trades' first jobs come from their existing customer list at zero acquisition cost.
Next steps: the full launch path is in How to Start a Permanent Christmas Light Business, the money math is in the pricing guide, and the free installer academy is open to everyone — dealer or not. Questions? devan@ironpeaklighting.com goes straight to me.
Devan Williams founded IronPeak Lighting Systems after running seasonal lighting and pressure washing crews. IronPeak makes a 24V plug-and-play permanent lighting system and runs a $0-entry dealer program built for working trades.