The Total Christmas Light Installation Starter Kit (Free)

I was inspired to make The Total Christmas Light Installation Starter Kit because of the wild success of the Total Bounce House Business Starter Kit. I made that after I was getting the same questions repeatedly from viewers of my YouTube channel, so the starter kit serves as one quick link to refer to to answer as many of those questions as I could!

As my viewer count rises in the Christmas Light Installation Business, the same kind of questions are coming in, so…HERE WE GO! The Total Christmas Light Installation Starter Kit is born!

Oh, and I really do spend A TON of time building resources like this and interacting with everyone that DMs me so PLEASE USE MY REFERRAL LINK or use promo code NICKGLASSETT and check out. Thank you so much!

So outlined below have:

Items to buy/set up now
Items to buy later
Nick’s Favorite suppliers
Action plan for the beginning
How to reach Nick to ask questions
A Christmas Light Installer glossary of terms with pictures
Many of Nick’s helpful YouTube videos

While I cover some great info here and on my YouTube channel, I can tell you that the single most important thing that you need has another to do with me, or the info you’re about to read.

In order for you to win, and start a Christmas light installation business that succeeds, you have to…JUST GO.

That means stop wondering it. Stop investigating it. Stop your paralysis by analysis, and…

The Total Christmas Light Installation Starter Kit

Do this stuff first:

Name Your Business – Something unique and that speaks to your personality. When someone googles it ONLY YOU should pop up.
File with Your State for an LLC – Generally takes under an hour and costs $150ish. This way you can write off business expenses, mileage, and get a bank account and 2% Cash Back Credit Card.
Get Organized with a Business Plan – This doesn’t need to be something super fancy, you just need to have an idea of how many houses you want to do, what kind of revenue that will bring in, and what kind of equipment you need to make that happen. My first one was scribbled in my journal written in pencil.
Buy a Starter Kit – This way you can light your own house (in Aug most likely 😂) to both get the hang of working with the product, and to get some pics for your ads.
Start Your FB Page – Take your time, get it right. FB Pages can be a bit clunky so again, TAKE YOUR TIME. This is the front of your business, don’t cut corners! Spend at least 8 hours getting it “perfect”.
Announce that You’re in Business – Once the FB page is done, send an invite to EVERYONE in your friends list to go like the page, and make a post announcing your new venture, and be sure to mention that you do free estimates via satellite software!
Run Some Ads – You want to be generating leads SOON. FB ads are the best, for a quick rundown of how to do one watch this video
Start Measuring Homes on Google Earth – Here’s how to do it. Measure your own house, then head outside with a tape measure and double check to see how well you did! Then measure your neighbors house, do one in Cleveland Ohio. It doesn’t matter, just start measuring so you can get the feel for it.
Get a Jobber Account – Here’s my referral link for 2 free months! Jobber is an amazing CRM to keep you organized and to help bid jobs, upsell, and charge the clients for their deposits and installs.
Download My Bid Calculator Spreadsheet
Download My Service Agreement Wording
Buy Some Ladders – I outfit every truck with these 3 ladders:
- 24′ Extension Ladder
- 32′ Extension Ladder (needs 2 people to operate)
- 22′ Little Giant
Buy a Ladder Rack – This one clamps on so it can come off and on and won’t damage your truck
Buy a Toolbelt – I won’t do an install with out mine, this is the exact one I use.
Get Some Tools – In my tool belt I always have a utility knife, tape measure and needle nose pliers and electrical tape. You’ll want some basic screw drivers, wrenches etc cause you never know what you’ll encounter!

Consider This Stuff Soon:

Buy Some Cougar Paws – These are special boots for waking on shingle roofs
Buy a Pitch Hopper – A special wedge for working/standing on roofs. LOVE THESE. 24″ is totally fine on this.
Buy a G.O.A.T. – Can literally save your life! Great for climbing steep roofs and clipping the gables.
Buy a Ridge Ladder Hook – instead of the GOAT, you put a ladder clipped to the top ridge of the roof

Buy Your Lights

Christmas Light Contractors USA is Nick’s main supplier and they also sponsor his training sessions. Nick spends A TON of time building resources like this and interacting with everyone that DMs him so PLEASE USE HIS REFERRAL LINK or use promo code NICKGLASSETT and check out.
- Starter Pack is what Nick suggests for your first year! It’s all set for you need easy.
- In your 2nd year and beyond you’ll know what you need
- When your starter pack runs out (it will!) you’ll be able to refill with what you need.

Connect With Nick (Reach Out with Your Questions)

📸 Instagram – Best way to see what Nick’s up to
👾 Discord – This is a community that Nick built and interacts in regularly
🎥 TikTok – Full of quick tips and hacks that Nick teaches
👨🏻‍🏫 Patreon – This is where you pay for Nick’s mentorship
🎙 Podcast – Self explanatory
📺 YouTube – Let Nick be your professor from YouTube University!

Start Selling Jobs

Once you start measuring homes, you’ll also be selling the jobs as you send the bids. Text or email is the most effective. Here’s an example sales script for bidding a job:

Ok NAME, we got your house all measured!
This sketch is showing what we think would look great! The colors represent the different lighting options, so we can run any color bulbs you like.

For everything pictured it would be $999
-The house (yellow lines) $999
-Garden bed outline (blue lines) $999
-Option 3 (green lines) $999
-Option 4 (pink lines) $999
The reinstall cost comes with a 10% discount for next year! 🤑

So how our service works is we come out and out build a light system that is custom fit to your house using high end commercial grade materials.

After Christmas we come and take them all down for you, and we also store them for you all year! 🙌🏼 We warranty the lights for 3 years so if anything breaks we pay for the fix.

Now you won’t have to worry about Christmas lights anymore AND you’ll have the absolute best looking house on the street! 😁

Ok, so what questions do you have for us?

P.S. We also do bulb swaps where we replace the bulbs for different holidays! Example, purple/green/Orange for Halloween. Let us know if you’d like more info on that!

Christmas Light Installation Glossary

There’s lots of words in the Christmas light industry that will be new to you like parapet or using the words “hips” and “rake” to describe a roof. Here’s a rundown of all the fancy terms you need to know, as well as a breakdown of the equipment you’re going to be using

Parts of the House

Gutter – Refers to the rain gutters on the house

Gable – The part of a roof that forms a peak

Rake – One side of the gable

Hips – The part of the roof that runs up diagonally and is generally covered in shingles

Ridges – The very top part of the roof that runs parallel with the ground. It’s where the hips meet. (a lot of times the term “ridges’ is used to refer to both the hips and the ridges at the same time

Parapet 1 – A rare occurrence where the front of the home extends beyond the roof. For example, the whole wall is brickedin front and above the roof.

Parapet 2 – The decorative wall on the roof of a commercial building.

Peak – Slang used to refer to the gable of a roof

Shingles – The most common roofing material. Like sandpaper.

Christmas Light Equipment

C9 Bulbs – The big “classic” Christmas light bulbs

C7 Bulbs – The same shape as the C9 but smaller in size

Faceted – The texture thats generally on an LED bulb to scatter the light and make it brighter (see pic above)

5mm (“Minnis”) – The small strands that you use to decorate bushes and wrap trees. Commercial grade minis are 25ft in length and come in 2 spacings denoted by the number of lights in the 25ft length.50L (or 50 bulbs) is 6″ spacing, 70L is 4″ spacing. I prefer 50L.

Enclosed Clip – Also called “gutter clips” they are screwed on to the socket by the bulb and do not come off (which is a GREAT thing). The Tuff Clip brand is the most popular.

All in One Clip – They can go on “any” lights and are very versatile. They pop off the lights and stay on the roof at take down though. It’s always good to have some on the truck just in case though.

Shingle Tabs – Used to slide into shingls and keeps the bulb facing forward where as an enclosed clip causes the bulb to be sticking up or down.

Parapet Clips – A clip that you glue to the top of the parapet and slide a shingle tab into. Used for commercial buildings mainly.

Magnetic Clips – An incredible invention!! (note it won’t stick to copper!)

Ground Stake – A stake that holds lights straight up so you can outline walkways, garden beds, and driveways. The single best upsell you can do!

Zip Wire – The bare wire used to make power cords and jumper cords

Power Cord – The cord you make to go from the timer to the Christmas lights

Jumper Cord – A small cord used to get to a different level of the house, or to a dormer window or down to a garden bed outline.

Male Vampire Plug – The plug with 2 prongs that connects to a power source. You add them to the end of socket wire and zip wire using small copper vampire teeth. Commonly referred to as a male plug or “male”

Female Vampire Plug – The plug with 2 slots that connects the power source to the lights. You add them to the end of socket wire and zip wire using small copper vampire teeth. Also used to cap off the end of the socket wire. Commonly referred to as a female plug or “female”.