Start with scope, not a number
The most common budgeting question we get is some version of how much does commercial Christmas light installation cost. The honest answer is that it depends on scope, and the useful answer is that scope is made of five measurable things: linear footage, tree count and height, lift requirements, indoor decor scope and whether you sign for one season or several. Once you know those, the budget follows.
This guide gives typical ranges so you can set a line in a budget before a site visit, then explains each driver so you can move the number up or down on purpose. The ranges are typical for the work we do across Southwestern Ontario, the GTA and Hamilton-Niagara. They are not quotes. A firm price comes from a site visit or from plans and photos.
It also explains what is included in our price, because comparing a turnkey program against a product-only quote is the easiest way to get a budget wrong. A number that leaves out maintenance, takedown and storage is not a lower price, it is a smaller scope, and the missing pieces land on your staff in December and January.
Typical ranges to anchor a budget
For interior work, a decorated 9 foot pre-lit lobby tree on a seasonal lease commonly starts around $1,500 per season, with install, maintenance, January removal and storage included. Taller trees, multiple trees, garland, wreaths and planters move a lobby program up from there. Atrium programs with 16 to 20 foot trees, and shopping mall programs with village displays or Santa photo sets, run to five figures.
For exterior work, a storefront with a lit roofline, wrapped columns and wreaths commonly starts at a few thousand dollars per season. A plaza, hotel exterior or campus with rooflines, porte-cochère lighting, wrapped boulevard and parking-lot trees and lit cone trees typically runs to tens of thousands. Giant outdoor trees and animated pixel light shows are quoted on their own.
Treat all of these as typical ranges. Two plazas with the same square footage can land in very different places depending on how many trees are wrapped and whether a lift is needed for the roofline. The table below lays the same ranges out by program type so you can find the row that looks like your property.
| Program | Typical range per season | What is usually in it |
|---|---|---|
| Single lobby tree, 9 ft, leased | From around $1,500 | Design, pre-lit tree, ornaments and ribbon, install, maintenance, removal, storage |
| Full lobby program | Low to mid four figures | Taller or multiple trees, desk or railing garland, entrance wreath, planters |
| Atrium or mall interior | Five figures | 16 to 20+ ft tree, village display or Santa set, concourse trees |
| Storefront exterior | From a few thousand | Roofline, columns, door wreath, small tree wraps |
| Hotel or condo exterior | Mid four to low five figures | Porte-cochère or canopy, columns, approach tree wraps, entrance garland |
| Plaza or campus exterior | Tens of thousands | Rooflines, boulevard and parking-lot tree wraps, cone trees, giant tree |
The five cost drivers
Linear footage is the biggest exterior driver. Rooflines, canopy edges, columns and walkway borders are priced by the foot, and a long low plaza has a lot of feet. Lighting the entrance and the most visible elevation well usually gives a better result per dollar than a thin line around the entire building.
Tree count and height drive both exterior and interior cost. Wrapping a mature boulevard tree takes more strings and more lift time than a young one. Indoors, a 12 foot lobby tree costs more than a 9 foot one and a 20 foot atrium tree is a different scale of product and labour altogether.
Lift requirements add equipment and time wherever the work is above ladder height or over a canopy. Indoor decor scope, meaning garland, wreaths, planters, arches and custom pieces, is additive and easy to phase. And one season versus multi-year changes the pricing because a multi-year agreement locks the price, holds your product and gives us a predictable schedule.
- Linear footage: price by the foot, so prioritise the visible elevations
- Tree count and height: outdoors for wraps, indoors for lobby trees
- Lift requirements: canopies, rooflines, tall trees, atriums
- Indoor scope: garland, wreaths, planters, arches, custom displays
- One season vs multi-year: multi-year locks pricing and dates
What is included, and what to compare
Our price is turnkey: design from a site visit, product from our own commercial-grade inventory, installation by insured and WSIB-compliant crews with bucket trucks and aerial lifts, after-hours or overnight timing where needed, season-long maintenance at no charge for any fault, January takedown, labelled storage in our warehouse and priority dates next season. One invoice.
When comparing quotes, line those items up. A quote that covers product and install only leaves maintenance, takedown and storage for someone else, usually your staff. A quote that uses retail product leaves replacement for you in year two. A quote without lifts may not reach your roofline properly. The cheapest number on the page is often the most expensive program.
Ask for the lease and purchase options on the same scope. Leasing is lower in year one and keeps product, ageing and storage on us. Buying costs more in year one and less in later years if the look stays the same. Our guide to lease versus buy covers that choice in detail.
Phasing a program across seasons
You do not have to do everything in year one. Many properties start with the pieces that have the most impact per dollar and add scope at renewal under the same agreement. A hotel might start with the porte-cochère and the lobby tree, then add the ballroom foyer and elevator lobbies the next year. A plaza might light the roofline on the main elevation first and wrap the parking-lot trees later.
Phasing also makes approvals easier. A board or an owner sees a modest number in year one, sees the result, and approves the addition with confidence. Because the product is our inventory, adding scope later does not strand anything you bought. It can be added, refreshed or scaled at renewal without a redesign.
The one thing not to phase is quality. A smaller program done properly with commercial-grade product and a full service program looks better and costs less over time than a larger program done thinly. Start smaller if you must, but start with product that will still light next January and a program that includes someone to fix it.
Deposits, invoicing and the budget cycle
A deposit at signing reserves your install dates and lets us pull product from inventory or order custom pieces. The balance is invoiced after installation, and one invoice covers the whole season: product, install, maintenance, takedown and storage. We work with purchase orders, vendor setup forms and standard commercial payment terms, and we invoice per property or per portfolio for management companies.
For budgeting, that means the holiday decor line is a single annual number with a deposit in late summer or early autumn and the balance in late autumn. Multi-year agreements make the number the same each year for the term, which is what most hotels, management companies and BIAs want.
Site visits and proposals happen from July to September, which lines up with most budget cycles. If your fiscal year starts at a different time, tell us and we will time the proposal and deposit to fit. Multi-year clients get their renewal early enough to put the number in before the cycle closes.
A worked example of how the number moves
Picture a mid-sized office building with a double-height lobby and a short entrance canopy. The core program is a 12 foot leased lobby tree with ribbon and ornaments, garland on the reception desk, a wreath at the entrance and a lit canopy edge with two wrapped trees at the doors. That lands in the low to mid four figures per season as a typical range.
Add a pair of lit accent trees flanking the main tree and a small tree in the elevator lobby, and the interior moves up by a step. Wrap the six boulevard trees along the frontage from a lift and the exterior moves up by another. Sign for three years and the price per season is locked for the term and the install dates are the same every year.
Those are the levers. Decide which elevations and spaces matter most, size the trees to the ceilings, let us price the lift requirements honestly and choose the term that fits your approvals. Call 519-266-6796 or send plans and photos and we will reply with a proposal within one business day.
