Christmas Light Installation
What Does Christmas Light Installation Cost in Princeton?
Taylor's Way • October 2026 • Princeton, IL • 7 min read
Short Answer: Rooflines are priced per linear foot and trees are priced individually. A modest roofline only install on a single story home commonly runs $400 to $900. A larger two story home with entry accents and a wrapped tree typically lands between $1,200 and $3,000, and elaborate displays on rural properties with several mature trees go above that. Pricing normally includes materials, installation, service through the season, and January takedown, which is why it compares differently to a do it yourself total than people expect.
Holiday lighting quotes surprise people, usually because the comparison in their head is the price of light strings at a big box store. That is not what is being priced, and understanding what is included makes the numbers make sense.
Here is what professional installation costs around Princeton, what drives a quote up or down, and an honest comparison against handling it yourself in an Illinois winter.
How It Gets Priced
Rooflines are generally quoted per linear foot. The installer measures the runs to be lit, and the price reflects both material and the labor of installing at height.
Trees are priced individually, because a tree is a variable rather than a measurement. A small ornamental with a wrapped trunk is a modest add. A mature tree wrapped through the major limbs is a significant portion of a total.
Accent elements including wreaths, garland, entry columns, and pathway lighting are typically itemized separately.
For a general sense of scale in our area, a roofline only install on a single story home commonly runs $400 to $900. A two story home with entry accents and a wrapped tree generally lands between $1,200 and $3,000. Rural properties with long approaches and several mature trees go above that range.
Those figures assume full service including materials, installation, in season service, and takedown, which is the standard structure in this industry.
What Drives a Quote Up
Five factors account for most of the variation.
Height is first and it is mostly about safety and time. Single story work is straightforward. Two story rooflines require taller ladders, more setup and repositioning, and more caution.
Roof pitch compounds it. A steep roof slows everything down and raises the safety requirement, and on older farmhouses around here steep pitch is common.
Architectural complexity matters more than square footage. Multiple gables, dormers, varied heights, and detailed trim all mean more measuring, more cutting, and more transitions, which is why two houses of similar size can quote quite differently.
Trees are frequently the largest single line. Wrapping consumes substantial material and hours, and tree size drives that more than anything else on a property with mature hardwoods.
Access affects it too. Landscaping against the house, limited places to set a ladder, and a long driveway that has to be walked rather than driven all slow the work.
What Should Be Included
This is where quotes differ in ways the headline number does not reveal.
Materials should be provided by the installer and should be commercial grade rather than retail product. In most arrangements those materials remain the installer's property and are reused across seasons, which is part of why first year and subsequent years can be priced differently.
Custom fitting should be standard. Lights cut to length for your specific rooflines look considerably better than retail strings run end to end with slack doubled back at the finish.
Service during the season is the item people most often discover is missing. Something will go out between Thanksgiving and New Year, and whether a crew returns to fix it at no additional charge is a meaningful difference.
Takedown is the one that matters most in this climate. Removal in January should be included, and if the installer stores the materials, your garage stays free and the product gets maintained between seasons.
Timers and power management should be part of the install rather than left for you to sort out.
Comparing Against Doing It Yourself
Worth laying out honestly, because the comparison is not as lopsided as either side usually claims.
Retail light strings, clips, timers, and extension cords for a moderate display run a few hundred dollars, and quality product costs more than the cheapest option. That material is yours, so the cost is front loaded rather than recurring, though consumer grade strings frequently do not survive many Illinois winters.
The time commitment is the larger factor. A first year install on a two story home is a full weekend for most people, and that assumes things go smoothly. Takedown in January is another day, in worse conditions, and storage occupies real space.
Safety is the part we would not gloss over. Ladder work on a two story roofline in cold weather is genuinely where people get hurt during the holidays, and an icy January removal is the worst version of that job. Falls during holiday decorating send people to emergency rooms every December.
Where do it yourself makes clear sense is a single story home with simple rooflines and a homeowner who does not mind the work. Where hiring out makes sense is height, complexity, large trees, or a household without a free weekend in November.
The January Factor
This deserves its own mention because it is the part of the cost comparison people leave out entirely.
Removing lights here in January means cold, ice on the surfaces you are standing on, and roughly nine hours of daylight to work with. It is the least pleasant job in the whole cycle.
That is why so many displays around Princeton stay up into February, not because anyone wants them there but because the right combination of weather and a free weekend never materializes.
If you are pricing the do it yourself route, that day belongs in the comparison, and so does the risk that comes with it.
Where Homeowners Waste Money
A few patterns come up repeatedly and each is avoidable.
Buying cheap strings repeatedly is the most common. Replacing consumer grade product every year or two costs more across five seasons than better material would have, and our winters are hard on it.
Mixing bulb colors and temperatures across a property is the aesthetic version of the same problem. It costs nothing to avoid and it is the difference between a display that looks coordinated and one that looks accumulated over several years of partial replacement.
Overloading circuits leads to tripped breakers and frustration, and in the worst cases to damaged cords. Planning the load is free if you do it before buying.
And booking late frequently costs money, because remaining availability is limited and a rushed installation in cold weather serves nobody well.
Permanent Lighting as an Alternative
Worth mentioning because it comes up and because it changes the math over time.
Permanently installed track systems mount along the roofline and stay year round, with individually controllable LED fixtures producing holiday colors in December and subdued accent lighting the rest of the year.
The installation cost is substantially higher than a season of traditional lighting, generally by a multiple. The tradeoff is no annual install and removal, no storage, and use for other occasions and everyday accent lighting.
The break even depends on how many seasons you stay and how much you would otherwise spend annually. For a homeowner planning to remain long term who decorates every year, it can pencil out. For someone who decorates occasionally or expects to move, traditional seasonal installation is the better value.
It also does not address trees, which on a property with mature hardwoods is a substantial share of what makes the display.
What to Do Next
Define your scope before requesting quotes. Roofline only, roofline plus entry, or a full display including trees. Estimates are only comparable when they cover the same work.
Measure your rooflines roughly, or at least know whether you are single or two story and how complex the architecture is.
Count your trees and note their size, since they are usually the largest variable on a property around here.
When comparing quotes, confirm the four inclusions. Materials and whose they are, custom fitting, service during the season, and takedown. A cheaper quote missing takedown is not cheaper once you are standing on a ladder in January.
To get a quote for this season, call Taylor's Way at 815-875-8231 or visit taylorsway.com. We are a family owned business that has served Princeton and the surrounding communities for over 50 years.
