| Professional decorators can light
up holidays at a price |
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Timing is everything
While holiday decorating operations may vary in origin, size and
location, they all tend to offer some basic services. First and
foremost, they put the stuff on and around your house.
The most common decoration is lighting attached to the edge of
your roofline, or fascia, to outline the structure. This is the
task that usually prompts people to call in a pro, especially in
chillier climates.
"The most frustrating things about decorating,"
says Stephens, "is it's dangerous and you get up there, work
in the cold and dark and come down -- and it doesn't look as good
as you'd hoped."
If you want to avoid such hassles, then put in a call
to a holiday lighting company soon. Finkle started scheduling existing
customers in early September, with installations starting at the
end of October. That's also the time calls start coming in from
potential new customers. "Most of the new ones wait until Halloween
is past then start thinking about Christmas," he says.
Minotti's crews began working on Austin homes in mid-October, with
all lights up by early November. Around Thanksgiving, his company
puts up wreaths and garlands. "Then the customer can just flip
the switch whenever they're ready," he says.
Stephens says Christmas Decor operations nationwide
tend to book up by mid- to late November. Since the companies have
a limited time to get decorations in place, if you wait much later
than that, chances are you'll be up on the roof yourself again this
year.
Additional decoration options
In addition to roof lighting, companies usually install lights around
windows, in trees and in shrubs, and some offer specialty displays.
But just how much latitude you have in creating the design varies
with the company.
Minotti works with clients to meet their design wishes.
"When I go to the front door, I ask if they have
suggestions or if they are open for suggestions," says Minotti.
Finkle takes a similar approach. "We work individually
with people to come up with designs, and no two homes are exactly
alike because of different trees and landscaping," he says.
Since Christmas Decor offers its services through
franchises, its design options are more structured to guarantee
a companywide continuity via various packages. "We do the design,"
says Stephens, "but we present the homeowner with options.
There are several different parts, and they take as little or as
much as they want."
What if the customer wants more lights than a home's electrical
system will allow?
"That's one of the big things that homeowners
face," says Stephens. "They don't know the power rules."
The lighting companies know precisely how much power is necessary
and will call in an electrician if necessary.
Depending on the company, the electrician fee is an
added cost, but as Finkle says, it's better than having a display
turn into "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" with
18,000 plugs in one outlet, blowing out the house's circuitry.
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