How Much Does Christmas Light Installation Cost in Metro Atlanta? (2026 Guide)

What actually sets the price on a professional holiday light install, what belongs in a turnkey quote before you compare two of them, and why the number moves so much from one house to the next.

The short answer

Professional Christmas light installation is quoted per house, not off a price list. That is not a dodge. The two things that drive the number hardest, how much roofline you want lit and how hard that roofline is to reach safely, are different at every single address. A single story ranch in Kennesaw with one clean gutter line and a two story home in East Cobb with steep pitches, three gables, and dormered windows are not the same job, and any company that quotes them the same is guessing at one of them.

What you can do before you call anybody is learn exactly what moves the price, and what a real quote should include so you are comparing the same thing twice. That is what this guide is for. When you want your own number, Sunshine Cleaning Service quotes every roofline free, so you get a figure for your actual house instead of a range that may not apply to it.

The six things that set your price

1. How much roofline you actually want lit

This is the single biggest lever, and it is the one you control. Lighting the front gutter line only is the entry point for most homes. Adding the garage wing, the side elevations, the porch, or a full wrap around the house multiplies the linear footage and the labor with it. Most homeowners are surprised at how much of the effect comes from the front roofline alone, especially on a house that faces the street cleanly. If budget is the constraint, start there and add elevations in later seasons.

2. Height and pitch of the roof

A one story install worked off a standard ladder and a two story install on a steep pitch are different in time, equipment, and risk, and the quote reflects that. Pitch matters as much as height. A tall but walkable roof can be faster than a lower roof too steep to stand on, which forces the whole job to be done from ladders. This is also the factor that should make you nervous about the cheapest quote on the pile, and we come back to that below.

3. How complicated the roofline is

Peaks, gables, dormers, multiple roof planes, second story windows, and architectural details all add time. A hundred feet of straight gutter goes up quickly. A hundred feet broken into six segments at four different heights does not. Columns, porch railings, and arches are their own line of work. Older homes in Decatur and infill builds around Buckhead often carry more detail per foot than newer construction in Johns Creek or Cumming.

4. Trees, wreaths, and wrapping

Wrapped trunks, lit shrubs, wreaths, garland on columns, and bows are priced separately from roofline because they are separate work. Tree wrapping in particular is deceptive: a single mature oak can absorb as much time and material as a whole front gutter line. It also looks spectacular, which is why people ask for it. Just know it is an add, not a rounding error.

5. The lights themselves

Commercial grade strands are a different product from the boxed sets at a big box store. They are cut to fit your specific roofline, built to survive a full season outdoors in Georgia weather, and designed to be repaired rather than thrown away. That is why an installer who supplies the lights can stand behind how the display looks all season. If you already own lights and simply want them hung, say so when you ask for the quote, because it changes the scope and the price.

6. First year versus repeat year

Year one carries the design work and the custom cut of the strands to your roofline. In later seasons that measuring and cutting is already done and the same set goes back up, which is why returning customers usually see a simpler, faster install. This is worth asking about directly when you compare quotes, because a first year number and a repeat year number are not the same number.

What a turnkey quote should include

This is where two quotes that look close on price turn out not to be close at all. A complete holiday lighting service covers six things:

• Design and layout, so the display suits the house instead of being strung wherever the strands happen to reach.
• The lights and materials, cut and fitted to your roofline.
• Professional installation by an insured crew with the right ladders and fall protection.
• In season maintenance, so a failed strand in early December gets fixed instead of sitting dark until January.
• Takedown after the holidays.
• Storage until next season, so the lights are not taking up your garage.

If a quote only covers hanging lights, price the missing pieces before you compare. Maintenance and takedown are the parts homeowners quietly end up paying for later, or doing themselves on a ladder in January in the cold, which is exactly what hiring somebody was supposed to prevent. Everything on that list is included in Sunshine's holiday lighting service.

Why the per foot number you found online will not match your house

Search for holiday lighting prices and you will find per foot figures from national directories. They are a rough national average across wildly different homes, roof types, and labor markets, and they almost never state whether the number includes the lights, the takedown, or the storage. Two houses on the same street in Marietta can land far apart because one has a walkable single story roofline and the other has three gables and a steep pitch over a two story entry. A number that has never seen your roof is a starting point for your expectations, not a quote.

The real cost of the cheapest quote

Holiday light installation is ladder work at height, in cold weather, often on wet or steep roofs. That makes insurance the part of the quote nobody enjoys thinking about and everybody should check. If an uninsured installer is injured on your property, or damages your gutters, fascia, or roof, that becomes your problem rather than theirs. Sunshine Cleaning Service carries one million dollars in general liability coverage and the crews are trained for the work. Before you hire anyone, on lights or on any exterior job, ask for proof of insurance and confirm who is responsible if something goes wrong. We wrote a fuller version of that checklist in how to choose an exterior cleaning company in Atlanta, and every point in it applies to holiday lighting too.

Commercial, storefront, and HOA installs

Commercial holiday lighting is priced the same way, on scope and access, but the scope is usually larger and the timeline is firmer. Retail wants lights up before the shopping season starts, offices want them up before the holiday party, and HOA common areas and entrances often need a coordinated look across several structures. These installs also rebook year after year, which makes booking early even more important, because a commercial calendar fills before the residential one does. If you already work with us on commercial exterior cleaning, holiday lighting can run on the same schedule and the same point of contact.

When to book in metro Atlanta

Late summer and early fall is when the calendar fills, and installation itself runs through October and November so displays are lit when the season starts. Booking early is not an upsell line, it is just how a seasonal calendar works: there are a fixed number of install days between October and Thanksgiving, and the good dates go to whoever asked first. Sunshine Cleaning Service is booking now for the 2026 season.

One practical piece of sequencing worth knowing: lights hang off your gutters, so it is worth having the gutters cleaned before the lights go up rather than after. A gutter full of wet leaves is heavier, harder to clip to, and a fall cleaning is on the calendar anyway for most metro Atlanta homes. Our gutter cleaning guide covers the timing, and the full seasonal order of operations is in the metro Atlanta exterior maintenance cycle.

How to get an accurate number for your house

The fastest path to a real figure is a few photos and a short conversation. Useful things to have ready:

• A photo of the front of the house from the street, far enough back to show the whole roofline.
• Whether you want front only or additional elevations.
• Any trees, columns, or wreaths you want included.
• Whether this is a first install or you already own lights.
• Your city, so we can confirm the date is available in your area.

Sunshine Cleaning Service has been family owned and led by Mark since 2004, holds 4.9 stars across 190 plus Google reviews, and serves Marietta, Roswell, Alpharetta, East Cobb, Sandy Springs, Buckhead, Johns Creek, and the surrounding metro Atlanta area. If you want the number for your roofline, the quote is free and it takes a few minutes.