Permanent Christmas Lights in Flint, MI — Installed Once, Never a December Ladder

What it costs in Flint — 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 Tyler'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 Flint.

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

Labor. Tyler 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 a Flint one. I print it so a quote doesn't surprise you, not to tell Tyler what to charge.

Who installs it here

Nobody paid to be on this page. Tyler runs a low-voltage business — security, automation, networking — which is to say he wires houses for a living and added lighting to it. He's here because he bought the track, not because he bought a spot. The details in his card below are quoted from his own site.

Genesee County has 183,903 housing units, 70.7% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, the median home value is $182,400 and the median home was built in 1969 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year). Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year (2020-2024) via Census Reporter API, fetched September 7, 2026.

Request a quote from TBL Home Security and Automation

Your request goes to TBL Home Security and Automation the moment you hit send, and a copy lands with me. If you haven't heard from Tyler within 2 business days, email me at devan@ironpeaklighting.com and I'll chase it myself.

A real Flint-area install

These are Tyler's, shot in August 2026 on a Genesee County property about twenty minutes from downtown Flint. No renders, no stock photos, no other company's job.

Published with the homeowner's permission. Location metadata and the house number have been removed.

Why the peak looks right — and how it goes on a Flint 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. Tyler 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 Flint, 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 the dark starts early and stays late.

• 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 Tyler to show you a lit house instead.

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

The sun sets in Flint at 5:00 p.m. in early December and still only 5:03 p.m. on the December 21 solstice — it is dark before dinner every night of the holiday season. Source: U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Dept., Rise/Set/Transit/Twilight Data API (43.0125, -83.6875), fetched September 7, 2026.

Flint's shortest day of 2026 is exactly 9 hours long — sunrise 8:03 a.m., sunset 5:03 p.m. on December 21 — leaving 15 hours of darkness. Source: U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Dept., Rise/Set/Transit/Twilight Data API (43.0125, -83.6875), fetched September 7, 2026.

Built for Flint weather

This is the part of the page that would be a lie anywhere south of here. Flint's winter is not an inconvenience, it's the reason the product exists.

Flint averages 52.1 inches of snow a year, with 39.5 inches of that falling in December, January and February (1991-2020 normals, Flint Bishop International Airport). Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals (station USW00014826, FLINT BISHOP INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, MI US), fetched September 7, 2026.

Flint averages 50.8 days a year when the temperature never rises above freezing, and 43 of those fall in December, January and February alone (1991-2020 normals). Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals (station USW00014826, FLINT BISHOP INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, MI US), fetched September 7, 2026.

Flint drops to freezing or below on 140.8 nights a year, falls to 20°F or colder on 58.5 nights, and goes below zero on 9.2 nights (1991-2020 normals). Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals (station USW00014826, FLINT BISHOP INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, MI US), fetched September 7, 2026.

Flint has snow on the ground on 66.6 days in an average year, with at least three inches lying on 38.9 of those days (1991-2020 normals). Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals (station USW00014826, FLINT BISHOP INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, MI US), fetched September 7, 2026.

Flint's all-time record low is -25°F, and its December record low is -18°F set on December 28, 2017, in records kept at Flint since 1921. Source: NOAA National Weather Service Detroit/Pontiac (DTX) — Flint December Records, fetched September 7, 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 Flint'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.

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

When Flint expects the lights on

The season here has a hard edge on both ends. Frost alone doesn't stop an install, but once there's ice on the roof edge, that can mean waiting for spring.

Flint's median first freeze is October 10 and its median last freeze is May 6, leaving a freeze-free season of only 155 days (1991-2020 normals). Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals (station USW00014826, FLINT BISHOP INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, MI US), fetched September 7, 2026.

December alone brings Flint a normal 11.4 inches of snow, and January adds another 15.1 inches — the snowiest month of the year (1991-2020 normals). Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals (station USW00014826, FLINT BISHOP INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, MI US), fetched September 7, 2026.

Christmas at Crossroads at Crossroads Village & Huckleberry Railroad in Flint runs November 27-29 and December 4-6, 11-13, 16-20 and 26-27, 4:00pm-9:00pm, with drive-through-only nights December 7, 14, 21 and 24 at $10 per vehicle. Source: Genesee County Parks & Recreation — Christmas at Crossroads Holiday Magic, fetched September 7, 2026.

So the honest booking advice is October. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26 this year, and by then the weather starts making the call.

What to hand your HOA

Most Genesee County homes aren't in an association at all. If yours is a condo, Michigan law is specific about this and it's worth reading before you book.

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 Consumers Energy's winter residential rate of 8.2996 cents for energy plus 9.3333 cents for delivery that is about $3.05 a month — at full white, every node, every night. Colors and dimming draw less; your actual tariff and riders may differ.

On Consumers Energy's standard residential rate, all winter electricity (October 1 through May 31) is billed at $0.082996 per kWh for energy plus $0.093333 per kWh for delivery, with an $8.00 monthly system access charge — effective for service rendered on and after May 1, 2026. Source: Consumers Energy Electric Rate Book, M.P.S.C. No. 14 — Electric, Sheet D-14.00, Residential Summer On-Peak Basic Rate RSP (MPSC Case No. U-21870), fetched September 7, 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 salt and road film wash off in spring — 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 TBL Home Security and Automation's to stand behind; the product is mine.

Flint-area towns

Tyler publishes his own service area, and I'm not going to widen it for him. These are his towns, in his words. If your ZIP is in Michigan but outside them, the request still reaches him flagged, because he's the only one who can say whether he'll make the drive.

Genesee County is made up of 28 municipalities — 11 cities (Burton, Clio, Davison, Fenton, Flint, Flushing, Grand Blanc, Linden, Montrose, Mount Morris and Swartz Creek) and 17 townships including Grand Blanc, Fenton, Davison, Flushing, Mundy, Atlas and Vienna. Source: U.S. Census Bureau county subdivisions within Genesee County, MI (FIPS 26049), via Census Reporter API, fetched September 7, 2026.

• FlintNamed in the installer's own service area
• Grand BlancNamed in the installer's own service area
• DavisonNamed in the installer's own service area
• FentonNamed in the installer's own service area
• Swartz CreekNamed in the installer's own service area
• BurtonNamed in the installer's own service area
• ClioNamed in the installer's own service area
• MontroseNamed in the installer's own service area
• Birch RunNamed in the installer's own service area
• HollyNamed in the installer's own service area
• ChesaningNamed in the installer's own service area
• SaginawNamed in the installer's own service area

Every town here is one TBL publishes on their own site; I have not added any. Towns outside this list still route to the installer when the ZIP is in Michigan; he confirms coverage on the call.

Questions Flint homeowners ask