Permanent Christmas Lights in Ann Arbor, MI — Installed Once, Never a January Ladder

What it costs in Ann Arbor — kit prices, pulled live

These are the same numbers on my product pages, read from the store when this page was built (September 12, 2026). Nobody else on the first page of Google prints a price; I'd rather you have the number before you give anyone your phone number.

Every roofline kit includes the aluminum track, RGBW strands, the pitch-matched TrueCenter Apex Track peak, a 600 W power supply, the 4-zone controller, color-matched hardware and the install guide. Roof pitch (4/12, 6/12, 9/12, 12/12) and track color are chosen at checkout.

What the whole job runs — so the kit price isn't the whole story

I don't set Jaren's price. I do publish what the market does, and I'd rather you see it here than be surprised by it on a quote.

Professionally installed permanent Christmas lights run $20–$40 per linear foot in 2026, with most quotes between $25 and $35, and an average home with 100–150 feet of front roofline landing around $3,000–$5,000 installed. Source: IronPeak Field Guide — Permanent Christmas Lights Cost Per Foot (2026), which cites HomeGuide 2026 for the $20–$40 per foot range, fetched September 7, 2026.

The kit above is the material part of that number. The rest is labor, ladders, insurance, the time to measure and lay out your roofline, and somebody standing behind the work once it's on your house. A quote well above the kit price is not a markup on parts — it's the part of the job I can't do from Ann Arbor.

What the installer adds, and why I don't quote it

Labor. Jaren measures your roofline, picks the pitch and color, mounts the track, and stands behind the work on your roof. That price depends on your house — stories, gables, access, how many peaks — and he sets it, not me. The range above is a national figure, not an Ann Arbor one. I print it so a quote doesn't surprise you, not to tell Jaren what to charge.

Who installs it here

Nobody paid to be on this page. Jaren runs an exterior-cleaning business in Lenawee County and added lighting to it; he's here because he bought the track, not because he bought a spot. He hasn't published a service area of his own, so the towns below are mine, set by straight-line distance — not his words dressed up as a claim.

Ann Arbor's population is 122,914 (American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimate). Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2024 1-year (table B01003) via Census Reporter API (geo 16000US2603000 = Ann Arbor, MI), fetched September 9, 2026.

Lenawee Pressure Washing is based in Clinton, 18.4 miles from Ann Arbor. Source: OpenStreetMap Nominatim geocoder; great-circle distance computed from returned coordinates, fetched September 9, 2026.

Request a quote from Lenawee Pressure Washing LLC

Right now your request comes to me first, and I pass it to Jaren at Lenawee Pressure Washing LLC myself. If you haven't heard from Jaren within 2 business days, email me at devan@ironpeaklighting.com and I'll chase it myself.

Why the peak looks right — and how it goes on an Ann Arbor roofline

Most systems start at the gutter and work up, so spacing errors pile up at the peak — the one spot everyone looks at from the street. The TrueCenter Apex Track is a one-piece, pitch-matched peak that goes on first, so the lights center on your ridge and the run works outward symmetrically. It's patent-pending, it ships in your track color, and it goes up in under 5 minutes instead of 25-plus minutes of cutting on a ladder.

1. Measure and quote. Jaren measures the roofline, matches the track color to your fascia and soffit, and quotes labor on top of the kit price above.
2. Peak first. The Apex Track matched to your pitch — 4/12, 6/12, 9/12 or 12/12 — is fastened at the ridge with its center node dead on the apex. Under 5 minutes.
3. Track outward. 1-meter sections of 6063-T6 aluminum are screwed to the fascia both directions from the peak. Strands plug together with factory-terminated waterproof connectors — no cutting, no splicing on the roof.
4. One box, one power connection. The 600 W supply and 4-zone controller share one enclosure. The app goes on your phone and the schedule gets set for Ann Arbor, not a factory default.

30-Day Perfect Peak Guarantee — From our product pages: “If any Apex peak doesn't sit true and symmetrical out of the box, we replace it free and cover the shipping — no hassle.”

What you control from your phone

One controller, four independent zones, an app on your phone. That matters here, because December sunsets come around five.

• Colors. RGBW nodes — red, green, blue and a true 2800K warm white — so Christmas is Christmas and the rest of the year the house reads as plain warm white, or off.
• Zones. Four independent outputs with their own node counts and animations; the front can run a scene while the back stays white.
• Schedules and scenes. Timers, presets and saved scenes over WiFi or Bluetooth. Tap once for Thanksgiving, once more for game day.
• Brightness. Dimmable. I don't publish a brightness rating; ask Jaren to show you a lit house instead.

Set the on-time for Ann Arbor's own sunset, because it comes early here in December:

Ann Arbor sunset is 5:05 p.m. on December 1 and 5:07 p.m. on December 21, with civil twilight ending about 30 minutes later. Source: sunrise-sunset.org solar calculator (lat 42.2808, lon -83.743, America/Detroit), fetched September 9, 2026.

Built for Ann Arbor weather

This is the part of the page that would be a lie further south. An Ann Arbor winter is not an inconvenience; it is the reason the product exists.

Ann Arbor's normal December brings 1.69 inches of precipitation and January 1.68 inches (1991-2020 normals). Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 Normals (station USW00094889), fetched September 9, 2026.

Ann Arbor has 54,387 housing units, 39.9% of them single-family detached; the median owner-occupied home is worth $479,800 and the median home was built in 1971 (ACS 2024 1-year). Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2024 1-year (B25001, B25024, B25035, B25077) via Census Reporter API, fetched September 9, 2026.

What that means for the hardware

• Water: every LED node is encapsulated in UV-stabilized polyurethane, which flexes through freeze-thaw instead of cracking like epoxy, and every connector is factory-terminated and waterproof — zero field splices, so there is no gel-filled joint to fail in a wet December.
• Power: the whole run is low-voltage 24 V DC from one 600 W supply with multi-layer surge protection built in.
• Wind: the 6063-T6 aluminum track is screwed to the fascia, not clipped or glued, and the wire is 18 AWG UV-resistant three-conductor — heavier than the 20 AWG most systems ship.
• Sun: The track is up through Ann Arbor's summer too; the UV-stabilized encapsulation and the powder-coated track are there for July as much as for December.

What it looks like in daylight

You see the track, not the lights. It sits under the roofline in 1-meter powder-coated sections and comes in four colors so it matches the fascia or soffit instead of announcing itself.

• Matte Black — dark trim.
• White — white fascia and vinyl soffit.
• Oyster White — cream and off-white trim.
• Brown — brown fascia, cedar and darker brick.

Jaren picks the color against your trim at the quote. Availability varies by color and pitch, so decide early.

When Ann Arbor expects the lights on

The season here has a hard edge on both ends. Frost alone doesn't stop an install, but ice on the roof edge does.

Ann Arbor's normal December is a 36.4°F high and 21.5°F low, and January is 31.8°F/15.2°F (1991-2020 normals at Ann Arbor Muni Ap). Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals (station USW00094889, ANN ARBOR MUNI AP, MI US), fetched September 9, 2026.

Ann Arbor averages 26.5 December nights and 28.5 January nights at or below 32°F (1991-2020 normals). Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 Normals (MLY-TMIN-AVGNDS-LSTH032, station USW00094889), fetched September 9, 2026.

So the honest booking advice here is early autumn. Once the run of freezing nights sets in — and in Ann Arbor that is most of December — an install can end up waiting for a break in the weather.

What to hand your HOA

Michigan's condominium act is specific about exterior rules, so if you are in a condo association read it before you order. Plenty of Washtenaw County homes aren't in an association at all.

Under Michigan's Condominium Act, MCL 559.147, a condo co-owner cannot change the exterior appearance of a unit or any other part of the project except as the condominium documents allow — so in a Michigan condo association, your condominium documents decide whether and how you can add exterior lighting; if they require approval, get it in writing. Source: Michigan Legislature — MCL 559.147, Condominium Act (Act 59 of 1978), complete through PA 91 of 2026, fetched September 7, 2026.

If you do need approval, get the request in before the install date, not after. What to attach:

• The track color you're using, against a photo of your trim (the four colors are above).
• One sentence that the fixture is a low-profile aluminum track mounted under the roofline, with no exposed bulbs or wire.
• Your schedule: what hours it runs, and that outside the holidays it's warm white or off.

What it adds to your power bill

Two competitors print a monthly dollar figure with no source. Here is the arithmetic so you can check mine.

kWh per month = nodes × 0.96 W ÷ 1000 × hours per night × nights. 0.96 W is the maximum draw per node from my spec sheet; a node is one puck, spaced one per foot.

Example: a 100 ft kit carries 100 nodes. 100 × 0.96 W = 96 W. Six hours a night for a month: 0.096 kW × 180 h = 17.28 kWh. At Michigan's June 2026 average residential price of 22.99 cents a kilowatt hour that is about $3.97 a month — at full white, every node, every night. Colors and dimming draw less; your actual tariff and riders may differ.

Michigan homes paid an average of 22.99 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity in June 2026 (EIA). Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A — average price of electricity to ultimate customers by end-use sector, fetched September 9, 2026.

The one maintenance task

Nothing comes down in January and nothing goes in the attic. The one job left is a rinse when the season's grime washes off — from the ground, with a hose.

Start with the front, add the rest later

The controller has four independent zones. I'd start with zones 1 and 2 on the front roofline and add the gables, sides or the second story on zones 3 and 4 later — even a year later — with a 25 ft add-on ($299) or a 50 ft add-on ($499). Same power supply, same controller, nothing re-mapped. The add-on is the same track and the same nodes at the same spacing, so the join is invisible.

The warranty, word for word

From our product pages:

30-Day Perfect Peak Guarantee — “If any Apex peak doesn't sit true and symmetrical out of the box, we replace it free and cover the shipping — no hassle.”

5-Year Product Warranty — “The components — LED strands, controller, and power supply — are covered against product defects for 5 years from purchase. (Normal weather wear-and-tear isn't a defect and isn't covered.)”

First-order money-back — “Your first 100 ft kit is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee — return the material and your refund comes back as cash.”

The refund structure — what comes back as cash and what comes back as store credit — is on the returns and guarantee page, in full, rather than paraphrased here. Labor on your roof is Lenawee Pressure Washing LLC's to stand behind; the product is mine.

Ann Arbor-area towns

Jaren hasn't published a service area, so this list is mine — the towns around Ann Arbor that are within his reach from Clinton. I've said so rather than putting words in his mouth.

From Ann Arbor: Ypsilanti 7.5, Dexter 7.9, Saline 8.1, Milan 14.0, Chelsea 14.1, Manchester 17.4 miles. Source: OpenStreetMap Nominatim geocoder; great-circle distances computed from returned coordinates, fetched September 9, 2026.

• YpsilantiWithin Jaren's range by distance — request goes to Jaren through me
• DexterWithin Jaren's range by distance — request goes to Jaren through me
• SalineWithin Jaren's range by distance — request goes to Jaren through me
• MilanWithin Jaren's range by distance — request goes to Jaren through me
• ChelseaWithin Jaren's range by distance — request goes to Jaren through me
• ManchesterWithin Jaren's range by distance — request goes to Jaren through me
• ClintonWithin Jaren's range by distance — request goes to Jaren through me
• TecumsehWithin Jaren's range by distance — request goes to Jaren through me
• DundeeWithin Jaren's range by distance — request goes to Jaren through me

These towns are mine, measured from Ann Arbor and cross-checked against Jaren's distance from Clinton. He has not published a service area of his own. He also covers Lenawee County around his base — Adrian, Blissfield, Hudson and Morenci among them. Towns outside this list still route to Jaren through me when the ZIP is in Michigan; he confirms coverage on the call.

Questions Ann Arbor homeowners ask