Aidan Bar-Lev-WiseChristmas light installation in Vancouver starts at about $500 to $1,500 for a first season with the lights included. That range comes from the 9 local installers, out of the 14 we checked, that publish a first-season price, and each price buys a different display. WashTech's minimum is $900. Homes we quote typically run $1,300 to $1,500 in the first year, bigger homes run closer to $2,400, and later years drop to about half because you own the lights.
This guide follows one 100-foot roofline from the first quote to the January takedown, so you can see how each number is built. WashTech sells this service, so every outside figure links to its source. We read each company's site on November 5, 2026. Prices are in Canadian dollars, before tax.
What 14 Vancouver installers publish
The middle starting price is $999. Four of the nine start below it, and four start above it. The chart shows where each company starts, with WashTech's minimum in orange.
- Revive, most homes$500 to $1,000
- Shine City, average house$650 to $1,200
- Elevated$790
- WashTech minimum$900
- Flat Mate$995
- LitUp$999
- Shack Shine$1,100
- Forever Party's sister site, minimum$1,250
- Light Knights$1,495
- Festilight, minimum$1,500
A starting price is the smallest job a company sells, so these bars show where each one begins, and two companies at the same price may light different amounts of your home. Flat Mate's $995 Classic plan covers the home's primary front roofline, and its page says your quote confirms exactly what is included.
LitUp prices by feet of roofline, up to a limit for each package. That makes it the easiest published price to check against your own home.
The full survey
| Company | Who keeps the lights | Published first-season price | Google rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revive Services | Revive, on a lease | $8 per foot, most homes $500 to $1,000 | 4.9, Langley listing |
| Shine City | Rental on its service page. Its cost page also offers installation of lights you own | $650 to $1,200 for an average house | 5.0 |
| Elevated Holiday Lights | Elevated on a lease. It also sells | $790, $1,149 or $1,899 | 5.0 |
| Flat Mate | Flat Mate | From $995, $1,995 or $2,995 | 5.0 |
| LitUp Vancouver | You | $999, $1,899 or $3,499 | 5.0 |
| Shack Shine | You | Typically from $1,100 | 4.9, Vancouver listing |
| Forever Party Rentals | Its pages differ | $8.50 to $12 per foot in Burnaby. Its sister site states a $1,250 minimum | 5.0, rental business listing |
| Light Knights | Its wording points to sold, so confirm | Packages from $1,495 | 4.9 |
| Festilight | You | $1,500 first-time minimum | 4.8, Vancouver listing |
| Care Electrical | Not stated | A general market guide only: basic Vancouver installs $700 to $1,000 | Outside our check |
| IntuLight | You | Not published with lights. Installing your own starts at about $300 | 5.0 |
| Santa's Little Helpers | You | Not published | 4.9 |
| Five Star Holiday Decor | Three-year rent to own | Not published | 5.0, shown as temporarily closed |
| College Pro | The lights stay with you between seasons | Not published | Outside our check |
| WashTech | You, once you buy them in year one | $900 minimum, typically $1,300 to $1,500, bigger homes closer to $2,400 | 5.0 |
Company prices come from each company's own pricing page, checked November 5, 2026. Google ratings come from each company's Google listing, checked that day too.
One 100-foot roofline, start to finish
We need one home to carry through the numbers. Revive says most homes have about 100 feet of roofline, so our example home has exactly that: 100 feet along the front, one colour, no trees. It is an illustration, and LitUp's page suggests 80 to 150 feet for townhouses and 150 to 250 feet for family homes, so measure yours.
Move the slider to your own length. The calculator multiplies your feet by the per-foot prices other companies publish.
Other companies' published figures, before tax. Seasonal runs from about $7 per foot (LitUp's largest package) to $12 (the top of Forever Party's Burnaby range). Permanent runs from $20 (the market range Vancouver Glow states) to $35 (Revive). WashTech quotes each home after a design visit.
- LitUp, worked out from its packages$7 to $9.50
- Revive$8
- Forever Party, Burnaby$8.50 to $12
- Care Electrical's market guide$5 to $10
Here is what our 100-foot example comes to at each company that publishes enough to work it out. The WashTech figure is the middle of our typical range, used for illustration. Your own quote could land lower or higher, with a $900 minimum.
| Company | Example home, first season | How we got it |
|---|---|---|
| Elevated | From $790 | Its lowest package, on a lease |
| Revive | $800 | $8 x 100 feet, on a lease |
| Forever Party | $850 to $1,200 | $8.50 to $12 x 100 feet. Its sister site's $1,250 minimum may apply |
| Flat Mate | From $995 | Classic plan, front roofline, plus GST |
| LitUp | $999 | Essential package covers up to 120 feet |
| Shack Shine | From $1,100 | Its typical starting price |
| WashTech | $1,400, illustrative | Middle of our $1,300 to $1,500 typical range |
| Light Knights | From $1,495 | Its package starting price |
| Festilight | $1,500 | Its first-time minimum |
So a plain 100-foot roofline sits between about $790 and $1,500 on published figures. Anything past the roofline adds to that, which is the next section.
What moves the price
Length of roofline
More feet means more lights and more labour. LitUp's jump from $999 to $1,899 covers the step from 120 feet to 200 feet.
Height and the shape of the lot
Taller and larger homes run closer to $2,400 with WashTech. On a steep lot, a home can look like two storeys from the street and three at the back. Our pages on Christmas lights in North Vancouver and Christmas lights in West Vancouver show how that changes the plan, and Christmas lights in Burnaby covers detached homes and strata.
Trees, hedges and entries
These add up fast. Flat Mate publishes hedge lighting from $4 per foot and entry garland at $22 per foot. Add 20 feet of hedge ($80) and 10 feet of garland ($220) to our example, and its $995 Classic plan becomes $1,295 before GST. WashTech prices trees separately, so you can decide where the money goes.
Bulbs and colours
Your design sets which lights go on the quote. C9 is a common large outdoor bulb with a classic Christmas shape, and we also supply G30 bulbs. The photo below shows multicolour.
Who keeps the lights
Buying costs more in year one and less after that. Renting does the reverse. Six of the 14 companies sell the lights and three keep them. Our rent or buy guide shows the full split and the year-by-year math.
What later years cost
If you own the lights, year two is the labour to put them up and take them down. With WashTech that is about half of year one, with a $500 minimum. Shack Shine says about 45% to 55% of year one. On a rental plan, the lights stay with the company, so the renewal stays closer to the first-year price.
- WashTech, on a $1,400 first year$700
- Shack Shine, on a $1,100 first year$495 to $605
- Flat Mate Classic renewal$875
Carry the example forward. WashTech at $1,400 then $700 comes to $2,800 over three seasons and $4,200 over five. Flat Mate's Classic plan at $995 then $875 comes to $2,745 over three and $4,495 over five, if its price holds after its three-season lock. Displays differ at each price, so compare two quotes on the same rooflines.
What doing it yourself costs
On cash alone, doing it yourself costs far less. We priced two 25-foot C9 sets with 25 bulbs each on Amazon.ca on November 5, 2026. Novelty Lights' set was $55.17, and OptiCore's commercial set was $110.25. Our 100-foot example needs four sets.
- Lights only, four retail sets$221 to $441
- Installed, published prices$800 to $1,500
That $221 to $441 buys only the strings. You still need clips, a timer, outdoor cords and a ladder, which we did not price. You also take on the work: two trips up the ladder, in November and again in January, plus finding any failed bulb and a place to store the sets. Home Depot Canada refused our check and Canadian Tire and Costco showed no live price, so treat these two listings as one small sample. Amazon prices can change at any time.
Height is the real cost
WorkSafeBC's fall protection rule requires employers to use a fall protection system where "a fall of 3 m (10 ft) or more may occur." The rule binds employers, so it describes what installers must do. It still gives you a useful line to measure against.
Check the outlet
A GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) outlet cuts the power when it senses a fault. Technical Safety BC says the 2021 electrical code calls for GFCI protection on outdoor outlets within 2.5 metres of finished grade. That is a rule for new work, so an older home may not have it. Test your outlet before you plug in.
If your eaves are low and you enjoy the job, doing it yourself makes sense. If you have a tall or steep home, the price above is what you pay to hand the climbing to a crew. See our Christmas light installation page for what that includes.
What the lights cost to run
LED lights cost a few dollars a season to run. Our example home has 100 bulbs, one per foot, the spacing of both retail sets above. Published draw for a C9 LED runs from 0.6 watts to 0.8 watts per bulb, and we use the higher figure so the estimate errs high. BC Hydro's Tier 1 rate is 11.87 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh, the unit on your bill).
Sunset on December 21 is at 5:16 pm, so six hours a night means lights on at dusk and off around 11:15 pm. Over 45 nights, 100 bulbs use 21.6 kWh. That costs $2.56. Set the slider to 100 bulbs to see it, then try your own home.
Assumes 0.8 watts per bulb, 45 nights and BC Hydro's Tier 1 rate, before taxes and riders. Some sets draw more, so check the label.
If your home is over the Tier 1 threshold of about 675 kWh a month, the 14.08 cent Tier 2 rate makes it $3.04. One seller's listing puts an old incandescent C9 at 7 watts. At that draw, the same display would use 189 kWh and cost about $22.
What your money buys through the season
A WashTech first-year price covers the whole season. Here is the order things happen, and what the $1,400 in our example pays for.
Design visit
We visit with a display kit and plan a custom layout around your roofline, trees and paths. The visit is free.
Your quote
Lights and labour are separate lines, and the quote shows next year's price. For the example home: $1,400 this year, $700 next year.
Installation
We supply the lights, clips, timer and cords, put them up and plug them in. We use clips, never staples or nails. We set your date when you book, and installs run through November and December.
Repairs through the season
If a bulb burns out or a strand fails, call or text and we come back and fix it.
January takedown
We take everything down after the season. You can add gutter cleaning to the same visit.
Labelled storage
We label your lights and store them. They are yours, so next year you pay labour only.
Purchased lights carry 4 years of cover for product defects, when WashTech installs and takes them down each year. Cover lapses if the lights stay up more than 120 days in a row. Damage from homeowners, other contractors, animals or weather may carry a service call fee. We install only the lights we supply.
What to check on any quote
- What gets lit. Ask for the rooflines by name, plus any trees or hedges.
- Next year's price. Get it in writing. If the company keeps the lights, ask when the plan renews. Flat Mate's renews on September 1 and asks for 30 days' notice to cancel.
- Repairs. Flat Mate states free repairs within 48 hours. Elevated charges a $100 callout to fix bulbs on purchased lights after 3 seasons.
- Storage. Festilight stores bought lights at no extra charge. College Pro says it does not store lights between seasons.
- Deposit. Flat Mate takes $450, $625 or $875 at signing, counted toward the first season. Ask each company how much it takes and when.
- Insurance. WashTech carries $2 million in liability insurance and is registered with WorkSafeBC. LitUp also states $2 million. Flat Mate, Festilight and Revive state $5 million.
What this guide leaves out
This survey covers 14 companies and misses others. We left out Star Illuminations, which serves cities and property managers, and University Sprinklers, which publishes no prices or terms. Men In Kilts also installs holiday lights and publishes no price. Gorilla Property Services and Cypress Landscape Lighting appear in Google for these searches, and we did not read their pages.
Published prices are starting points, and companies can change them at any time. Care Electrical's figures read as a general market guide, so we did not count them as its own price list. Our $1,400 example is an illustration, and your quote is the number that counts.
Questions about the cost
Can you pay someone to put Christmas lights up?
Yes. All 14 companies in this survey install lights on homes, and many also take them down and store them. Our list of the best Christmas light installers in Vancouver grades them on written criteria.
How much do people usually charge to put up Christmas lights?
The middle published starting price in our survey is $999 with lights included, and per-foot prices run from about $7 to $12. Installing lights you already own costs less: IntuLight says its price starts at about $300, and Care Electrical's guide says $2 to $5 per foot. WashTech installs only the lights we supply.
Is permanent lighting a better deal over time?
It can be, after several seasons. Published figures for permanent lights run $20 to $35 per foot, and WashTech's systems start from $2,000. Our guide to permanent vs seasonal lights works out the payback on this same 100-foot roofline.
When do I need to book?
WashTech's lighting bookings close by late November. Flat Mate's 2026 bookings close November 25. Book early if you want lights up by early December.
Your next step
Measure your roofline, or send us your address and a couple of photos, and we will send a clear price back quickly in most cases. Get your Christmas light quote.
Still comparing? See WashTech against Flat Mate, Shack Shine, Festilight and Elevated Holiday Lights.