Here is a question we get more than almost any other: do you take them down too?
Yes. Always. Holiday light takedown is not an upsell, it is not a separate contract, and it is not something we hope you forget about. It is written into every install we do across Burlington County, Camden County, Gloucester County, Atlantic County, and Mercer County, because a lighting service that walks away in January is not a lighting service.
Takedown applies to every package, whether you booked residential holiday lighting for your home or commercial holiday lighting for your property.
Takedown Is Not an Add-On. It Is Half the Job.
Drive through any neighborhood in Cherry Hill or Moorestown in late February. Count the houses still lit. Count the ones with sagging strands nobody bothered to pull down. That is what happens when the installer’s job ends at the install.
The industry has a quiet problem here. Plenty of outfits price the install cheap, get the deposit, hang the lights, and then become very hard to reach in January. Some charge again for removal. Some just do not show up. We built our service the other way around, and you can see exactly what is covered on our page explaining what professional installation includes.
What Happens During a Holiday Light Takedown
Removal
We come back with the same crew that installed the display. They know where every clip is, which sections were tricky, and where the tree wraps are anchored. That matters. A stranger pulling strands off a roofline they have never seen is how gutters get bent and shingles get lifted.
Tree work in particular has to come off. As we cover on our tree lighting installation page, wrap left on a growing tree cuts into bark over the season. There is no version of leaving it up that ends well for the tree.
Inspection and Repair
Every strand gets tested as it comes down. Failed bulbs get replaced, damaged sections get cut out and repaired, and anything that will not survive another season gets flagged now, not next November when you are already behind.
This is the step almost nobody does, and it is the step that makes year two cheap. Product that comes back in good condition goes right back up.
Labeled Storage
Your product is cut and fabricated to your specific building. That is worth something, and only if it can be found again. Everything gets labeled by elevation and section, boxed, and stored properly through the off-season. When we show up next October we are not starting from zero.
When Takedown Happens
January, weather permitting. We start immediately after New Year’s and work through the month.
Some clients want the display down on January 2nd. Others, particularly HOAs and commercial properties in Mercer County, prefer to keep entrance lighting up a bit longer through the dark end of winter. Both are fine. Tell us your preference when you book, and it goes on the schedule.
What we will not do is rush a takedown in bad weather. Ice on a roof is not worth anybody’s schedule. The whole booking calendar, install through removal, is laid out in our booking timeline.
What Goes Wrong When You Do It Yourself
People are careful going up in November. They are careless coming down in January, and January is the harder climb.
The roof is cold. It may be wet, it may be iced, and the light is gone by 4:30. Ladder falls spike in winter, and they spike specifically among homeowners doing exactly this task. Our roofline installation page covers how we handle height, and the short version is that we do not freelance it.
Then there is the damage. Yanking strands off gutters bends them. Pulling clips at the wrong angle lifts shingles. A tug on a stuck strand can crack a gutter seam that you will not notice until it rains in March.
And finally, storage. Strands thrown into a bin in a hot garage in Gloucester County come out next fall as a tangled brick with half the bulbs dead. That is not a lighting problem. That is a storage problem, and it is the reason people believe lights only last one year.
Takedown for Commercial Properties and HOAs
Commercial holiday light takedown runs on a stricter clock. Retail centers in Camden County want the display gone before the January reset. Hotels in Atlantic County want it down before the winter conference season. HOA boards want it done before the first February meeting, because someone will absolutely bring it up.
We schedule commercial removal by contract date, not by whenever we get to it. Certificates of insurance stay current through the removal window, not just the install window, which is a detail worth asking any contractor about. Find your town on our service area page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is holiday light takedown included, or is it charged separately?
It is included. Every installation package we sell covers removal, inspection, and off-season storage. You are not paying twice, and you are not going to get a surprise invoice in January. Pricing detail for the full service lives in our christmas light installation cost guide.
When do you take the lights down?
We begin in January, starting right after New Year’s, and work through the month. Timing is weather dependent, since we will not put a crew on an iced roof. If you have a specific date in mind, tell us when you book and we will schedule around it.
Do you store the lights, or do I keep them?
We store them. Product is labeled by section, inspected, repaired where needed, and kept through the off-season. Because the strands are cut to fit your specific building, storing them with us means next season’s install is faster and cheaper than starting over.
What if I only need removal and someone else installed the lights?
We can quote removal-only work, though it is priced differently because we did not install the display and do not know how it went up. Send photos when you reach out. In most cases it is straightforward, but we would rather look first than guess.
Can I just leave the lights up all year?
You can, and people do, but it costs you. Sun and weather degrade strand wire year-round, so product left up fails faster. On trees, wrap left through the growing season damages bark. And a display that is up in July is a display nobody is admiring. Permanent lighting is a different product built for that purpose.
Which areas do you cover for holiday light removal?
Takedown and removal cover the same footprint as our installs: Burlington County, Camden County, Gloucester County, Atlantic County, and Mercer County. See our reviews for what clients have said about the full-season experience.
Want a lighting service that shows up in January? Book your install with takedown included. One price, whole season, lights down and stored before February.