Every October the same argument happens in the same kitchens. Somebody wants the house lit. Somebody else remembers last year — the gutter clips that snapped in the cold, the one dead section in the middle of the front run, the two hours on a ladder in a wind nobody enjoys, and the bin in the garage that is still half full of tangled string in July.
So the real question is not whether to light the house. It is what you want to be doing every November for the next several years.
What you are actually choosing between
There are two honest options, and they are not the same product sold two ways.
The two ways to light a roofline
A slim track mounted under the fascia and left there. Each bulb is individually addressable, so one install is warm white in February and red and green in December.
- Mounted once, on purpose-made fascia mounts
- Colour, brightness, zones and schedules from an app
- Comes on at dusk by itself
- Nothing to take down, nothing to store
- Wired into a proper switched outdoor circuit
Traditional strings measured, cut and clipped to your roofline, trees and railings, then removed after the holidays and stored labelled for next season.
- Cut to your house, not generic lengths
- Clips, not staples — nothing driven into the fascia
- Timers set so you are not at the wall every night
- Mid-season callback if a run goes dark
- Takedown and labelled storage included in the season
Both are real installs done by the same crew that runs your cable and your cameras. The difference is where the work lands: once, or once a year.
The arithmetic, honestly
We will not post a per-foot number for either one, because there is not an honest one to post. A quote is measured off your actual roofline — how many runs, how the power gets to the controller, whether a lift is needed, what condition the fascia is in. Any number quoted over the phone before somebody has looked at your house is a guess with a decimal point in it.
What we can give you is the shape of the decision, which is the part sales sheets leave out:
permanent = one larger install, then years of running cost · seasonal = a smaller number, every single year
That is it. One is a capital job; the other is a subscription you pay in November. Which one is cheaper depends entirely on how many Novembers you plan to be in that house — and nobody can work that out for you, because only you know whether you are moving.
What people forget on the permanent side
- The power feed and the controller. The track is only part of it. Getting a proper outdoor circuit to the right corner of the house is real work and belongs in the quote.
- The condition of the fascia. If the board the track mounts to is soft or rotten, that gets fixed first. We would rather tell you before quoting than after.
- It is a system, not a decoration. There is a controller, an app and firmware. Ask who supports it in year four, and what happens if a section fails.
What people forget on the seasonal side
- It is two visits, not one. Install and takedown. Both are labour, both are in the price, and the takedown is the one people forget to budget.
- Strings do not last forever. Sun, ice and handling retire them. Ask whether replacement runs are included in a renewal or quoted separately.
- Storage. Labelled and boxed is the difference between a two-hour job next year and a six-hour one. Unlabelled in a bin is how you end up buying new lights anyway.
- Scheduling in December. Everyone wants the same three weekends. Booking late is how you end up lighting the house on the 23rd.
Things nobody thinks about until year three
The ladder. This is the honest reason most people switch. Roof edges, frozen gutters, December wind and a string of lights in one hand is the part of the tradition nobody actually likes. If you are hiring it out anyway, you are already paying somebody to avoid it — permanent track just means paying once.
Warm white the other eleven months. This is the part people miss when they picture permanent lighting, and it changes the decision. Most people do not run multicolour year-round. They run a soft warm white that makes the house look finished after dark, and save the colours for the handful of days that call for them. If all you had in mind was December, you are valuing half of what the install does.
Your rules, not ours. HOAs, co-op boards, village codes and historic districts all have opinions about permanent exterior fixtures, and they differ street by street. Check yours before you commit — we will happily put what is going up in writing for a board, but we cannot tell you what your board will say.
Renting. If you do not own the fascia, permanent track is a conversation with the landlord, not a weekend decision. Seasonal is the straightforward answer.
So which one?
Seasonal is the right call if you are renting, selling inside a year or two, want something different every year, or only ever want lights for one event. Permanent is the right call if you are staying put, you are done with ladders, you would use warm white year-round, or you run a storefront that wants its own colours on the building after dark — and especially if we are already going to be on the roofline for cameras, because doing both at once is one mobilisation instead of two.
If neither of those describes you, you are in the middle, and the middle is fine. Try one seasonal install with somebody who takes it down properly and see how you feel in January.
See both on your own house before you decide
Warm white and multicolour are two completely different houses, and no description settles that argument. Our free Design Studio lets you upload a photo of your own property, trace the roofline and switch between colour sets. It runs entirely in your browser — the photo never leaves your device and we never see it.
The lighting page has a sample home drawn in code with a live run on it, both options side by side, and the questions we get asked most. Neither page has a price on it, for the reason above.
Questions worth asking any lighting installer
- How is it fixed to the house — clips, purpose-made mounts, or staples into the fascia?
- Who checks the condition of my fascia before anything is mounted, and what happens if it is bad?
- What does the quote include — the power feed, the controller, the permit if one is needed?
- For seasonal: is takedown included, and is storage included and labelled?
- For seasonal: are replacement strings included in a renewal, or quoted again?
- For permanent: who supports the controller and the app in a few years' time?
- What happens mid-season if one section goes dark, and how fast?
- Will you show me where the track lands on my house before anything goes up?
- Can it be run from the smart home system I already have?
How we do it
Piets Technology Solutions walks the property, measures the actual roofline, works out how power gets to the controller, and shows you exactly where the track would sit before anything is mounted. If permanent is the wrong answer for your situation, we will say so — a seasonal install for someone who is moving next summer is the honest recommendation, and a shorter conversation.
Call or text 631-871-5957, or start with the Design Studio and see it on your own roof first. Questions? We're here 24/7.
Piets Technology Solutions
Low-voltage tech for homes and small businesses — cameras, Wi-Fi, cabling, POS, phones and 24/7 support across Long Island, NYC, the Hudson Valley and the Capital Region. Wi-Fi, Wires, Whatever — Piet Makes It Better