Slippery shingles may provide the best rationalization ever for using the services of a company like Christmas Decor, which puts up lights for homeowners and businesses eager to brighten up the holiday season. It can be dangerous up on the house top.
"There are plenty of customers [who] have us just for the roof lights," said Alex Wettach, sales manager and designer for the Gibsonia operation that has had crews out daily for weeks now putting up lights and wreaths on homes in the Pittsburgh region.
But even the ranks of homeowners who want more done have grown since the franchise operation launched five years ago as a seasonal fill-in for E.L.F. Entertainment, a 15-year-old business that helps with school field days, manages inflatables for the Pittsburgh Pirates and sets up photo booths at parties.
The Christmas Decor franchise expects to decorate about 150 homes across the area this season, up from about 50 homes the first year, said Laura Rodavich, vice president of sales and marketing.
Still, she said, such a niche business can be a valuable sideline for seasonal businesses that need revenue during the holiday season. To make it work, she said, businesses probably need to cultivate neighborhoods where decorating is the norm. In addition, she suggested, scaled pricing might make the service affordable for homeowners who might be attracted to the convenience and the time savings.
Or perhaps offering services like, say, being willing to do just the roof and bringing along a 40-foot ladder.
"They come out in all types of weather," said Denise Brown, whose Collier home backing up on the Nevillewood golf course was swarmed recently by a team of guys wearing dark blue hoodies with "Decor Team" on the back. The decorating crew had draped a 20-foot-plus door in greenery and were busily wrapping white light strands around trees.
This is the third or fourth year that Christmas Decor has done the Browns' house. The homeowners hadn't used a service before. "We look forward to it every year," said Ms. Brown, who added that she loves the look of the lights at night.
Business has grown pretty steadily every year, said Ms. Rodavich, even through the depths of the recession. "Some people did cut back, while others went forward," she said.
The company that sells the franchises was started in the 1980s by a Lubbock, Texas, landscaper who didn't have enough business between October and January. It began franchising in the mid-1990s and now claims to have more than 350 franchisees.
Although its materials claim a franchise can be set up for about $5,000, costs seem likely to add up. The Gibsonia franchise owned by Maury Frankel, which also has a 3-year-old sibling, Nite Decor, doing year-round landscape lighting, buys LED lights for each customer's house and then stores them during the off-season in labeled bins. After three years, the materials are all replaced to reduce issues with wear and tear.
If a customer decides to do something different after a year or two -- try colorful lights, for example -- the company buys the needed strands.
That doesn't seem to happen very often.
One Christmas movie has left an indelible impression on many Americans. In "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," the father sets up a gaudy display of lights. The effect is dumbfounding and, as the Wikipedia summary puts it, causes a power drain at the local nuclear power plant.
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