Christmas Lights for Contractors

Supplies for holiday lighting installers

Christmas Lights for Contractors sells the parts that go into a roofline install: C9 socket wire on 1,000 ft. spools, LED C9 retrofit bulbs on E17 intermediate bases, all-in-one clips, O-clips, ridge clips, slide-on plugs, light stakes and photocell timers. Every product is listed with its pack and case price, so the material side of a job can be worked out before the site visit is over.

Kits or bulk parts

Two ways to supply a job, and many crews use both.

Installation kits

C9 installation kits come in 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 4,000 ft. lengths at 12 in. or 15 in. spacing. Each kit includes socket wire, LED C9 bulbs to fill every socket, male and female plugs and clips. A kit is one line item on an invoice and one box per house, which keeps a busy week organized.

Spools and cases

For crews that cut runs to length on site, 1,000 ft. C9 socket spools pair with 500-bulb cases, clip cases and plug cases. Building from bulk parts leaves spare plugs and clips on the truck, and one spool can be split across several small jobs.

Matching the mount to the job

• Shingle roofs and gutters: all-in-one clips, or shingle tabs where a low profile is needed.
• Gutter edges: C9 O-clips hold the socket upright along the lip.
• Peaks and ridges: C9/C7 ridge clips.
• Tile roofs and deep fascia: tile and extended fascia clips.
• Metal roofs, awnings and steel buildings: magnet clips.
• Walkways and beds: 8 in. light stakes.

Power and control

Every run needs a male plug at the power end and a female plug or cap at the far end. SPT-2 zip cord and male zip plugs make custom leads from the outlet to the start of a run. A photocell timer on each circuit turns the display on at dusk and off after a set number of hours, so the customer never has to touch it.

Bulb color and style

LED C9 bulbs come in sun warm white, warm white, pure white, cool white, multi-color and single colors, in faceted and smooth lenses. Crews that service the same houses every year keep the same color temperature on the truck for each customer, so a re-lamp matches the rest of the run. Minleon LED C9 bulbs are listed separately in 25-packs and 500-bulb cases.

Service calls and repairs

Mid-season calls often come down to a dark bulb, a crushed socket or a plug that pulled loose. A small repair kit on the truck covers most of them: a 25-pack of bulbs in each color you install, a 10-pack of replacement C9 sockets, a 50-pack each of male and female plugs, and a pack of the clips you use most. Restock it from the same order as the next job's material.

Trees, shrubs and ground runs

LED mini light strands carry 50 lights at 4 in. or 6 in. spacing and connect end to end. A medium tree wrap takes about two strands per foot of height. 24-strand cases keep a whole job in one color and wire color. For walkways and bed edges, C9 bulbs on socket wire ride on 8 in. light stakes.

Ordering

Order online at the listed price with a card. There is no account to set up and no minimum. Shipping is free on all orders, every order ships the same day it is placed, and there are no added fees. Unused product in its original packaging can be returned within 30 days. Orders ship within the United States.

Bidding a lighting job from footage

Most roofline bids come down to one number taken on the site visit: total linear footage of every edge the customer wants lit. Everything else on the material side follows from that number and the spacing you choose. Here is a way to turn a tape measurement into a material line you can put on a quote the same day.

1. Measure and sketch

Walk the house and measure each edge: eaves, rakes, peaks, gutters, dormers. Write each length on a quick sketch and mark where each run will start, where the outlets are, and which edges join at a corner. Count the runs, not just the feet. Each run needs its own plugs, and runs that cross a peak or a gap often need an extra lead of zip cord.

2. Convert feet to sockets

At 12 in. spacing there is one socket per foot. At 15 in. spacing there are 0.8 sockets per foot, so the same roofline takes about 20% fewer bulbs and clips. Use 12 in. for single-story homes and edges seen up close, 15 in. for two-story and commercial rooflines seen from the street.

3. Price the parts

A worked example: a 180 ft. single-story roofline at 12 in. spacing, split into 4 runs, priced from the current catalog.

• Socket wire, 180 ft. at 12 in. spacing: $49.50 ($0.275/ft. from a 1,000 ft. spool)
• LED C9 bulbs, 180: $114.84 ($0.638 each at case price)
• C9 O-clips, 189 (5% spare): $43.09 ($0.228 each at case price)
• Male plugs, 4: $2.80 ($0.699 each)
• Female plugs, 4: $3.04 ($0.760 each)

Material total: about $213.27, or $1.18 per foot. Shipping is free on all orders and there are no added fees, so that figure is the full material cost delivered.

4. Or price it as a kit

If you'd rather hand the customer one material number, price the job from the installation kit at or just above the footage. Kits include socket wire, LED C9 bulbs for every socket, plugs and clips.

• 250 ft. kit, 12 in. spacing: $435, $1.74 per foot
• 500 ft. kit, 12 in. spacing: $935, $1.87 per foot
• 1,000 ft. kit, 12 in. spacing: $1,605.10, $1.61 per foot
• 2,000 ft. kit, 12 in. spacing: $3,970.96, $1.99 per foot

Leftover footage on a kit isn't wasted. It becomes stock for the next small job or for service calls.

5. Add the extras that get forgotten

• Timers: one photocell timer per circuit ($11 each, $10.75 each in a 4-case).
• Leads: SPT-2 zip cord and male zip plugs to reach from the outlet to the first socket.
• Spare bulbs: a few extra per job in the same color temperature, so a service call doesn't need a separate order.
• Ridge clips for peaks, magnet clips for metal, and tile clips for tile roofs, which change the clip line on mixed-surface houses.

6. Build the quote

The quote is material plus your labor, plus any takedown and storage you offer. Price labor from your own crew hours per hundred feet and the ladder or lift work the house needs; a steep two-story rake takes longer than a ranch eave of the same length. Keep material and labor as separate lines so a customer who wants to add a tree wrap or a second building can see how the number changes.

Ordering for the bids you win

Because prices are listed on the site and every order ships the same day, you can quote from the current price and order the material as soon as the customer signs. There's no account, no application and no minimum, and unused product in its original packaging can be returned within 30 days if a job is cut back.