Quote Christmas light installs so the season pays. Free, no signup. All defaults are editable starting points.
Christmas light quotes die on one flat per-foot number. Per-foot quotes swing 2 to 7 dollars while takedown, January service calls, and off-season storage are separate jobs that never made it into the price. Start with your bar (75), profit margin percent (20), minimum job fee (250), and season take-home goal (8,000). Pick a job preset: Ranch, 2-story, or Estate, each filling roofline feet, the stories multiplier, hang minutes per foot, lights cost per foot, takedown minutes, and storage. The trees card prices wraps per tree with their minutes; the January card prices takedown, off-season storage, and a service-call reserve as expected minutes per job. Results show hang hours, takedown, the service reserve, drive, lights, clips and cords, storage, vehicle, true cost, and the recommended quote rounded up to 25 dollars with dollars per roofline foot and your effective rate. Verdicts are PRICED RIGHT, CLOSE, BUT LEAKING, WORKING TOO CHEAP, or LOSING MONEY. The gut check grades your instinct quote; the season planner turns your goal into installs with an over-400-hour crew flag. No signup; runs on your phone.
Example only, not typical pricing. Ranch preset at a $75 bar with 20 percent margin: hang time is 150 feet times 1.5 minutes at 1 story equals 225 minutes, or 3.75 hours. Takedown is 90 minutes, the service reserve is 15 percent of install plus takedown, or 0.79 hours, and drive is 25 minutes each way, or 0.83 hours, for 6.87 committed hours. Lights are 150 feet at $2 equals $300; clips, cords, and timers are $85; storage is $50. Vehicle is 30 miles at $0.67 equals $20.10. True cost is $970.41. Recommended quote is ceil(970.41 times 1.20 divided by 25) times 25 equals $1,175, or $7.83 per roofline foot. Effective rate is (1,175 minus 455.10) divided by 6.87 equals $104.78 per hour, which clears the bar, so the verdict is PRICED RIGHT. A $900 gut quote would pay $64.75 per hour, sit below true cost, and leave $275 on the table. The season planner turns $204.59 of profit per install into 40 installs and 275 hours for an $8,000 goal.
Why is takedown its own line?
January is a second job. If takedown minutes are zero, the tool warns you are donating a second visit.
What is the service-call reserve?
A percentage of install plus takedown minutes priced as expected calls. One dead strand in December is not free.
Why does storage cost sit in the quote?
Off-season storage costs something even when the truck is parked. Zero it and the tool says so.
What does the drive leak note mean?
When drive hours beat site hours, cluster installs by ZIP. The truck should not eat the season.
Why does the planner flag over 400 hours?
That is a crew, not a solo season. Past 400 hours the tool says hire or raise the quote.