Holidays’ Light Infantry

Elwood and Linda Johnson leaped right into a holiday tradition when they relocated a year ago from the Silicon Valley to the Santa Clarita Valley. They put up holiday lights. Hundreds and hundreds of crisp, clear lights.

But they didn’t do the work themselves. They hired a professional.

In a minimum of time, a crew of trained, uniformed workers deftly climbed a hydraulic ladder mounted on a truck and transformed the Johnson home this week into an instant wonderland.

The Johnsons are among a growing number of homeowners willing to pay hundreds, even thousands of dollars to have their homes professionally decked out for the holidays--a fast-growing business nationwide.

Elwood Johnson, 63, a former councilman and mayor of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area, said he strung lights for 30 years on his former ranch-style home.

But when he moved to the two-story view home in Stevenson Ranch, he noticed that the majority of homeowners on his cul-de-sac of upper-middle-class homes were paying more in dollars than effort for elaborate Christmas displays.

Last year, he persuaded the folks with cherry pickers to squeeze him into their schedule, paying about $125 in his initial outlay. This year, he said he doubled the number of lights, as well as the cost, to about $250.

“I’m getting older. I could break something. And this is so much easier,” he said.

The costs of professional holiday installations can increase with the services provided, such as taking down lights, storing them or requiring homeowners to purchase more expensive, commercial-grade strings. Other companies permit owners to use their own lights, provided they meet electrical safety codes.

Jeff Clericuzio of Canyon Country, who has been hanging decorations for homeowners for 14 years, said his ‘Tis the Season Holiday Lighting business has mushroomed in the last few years.

“When I first started, I was doing two or three homes,” he said. “Then it jumped to 60. Now I’m up to 300 and I know the competition in the Santa Clarita Valley is getting crowded. I’m just one of five or six” similar companies.

Clericuzio, who operates U.S. Sign and Lighting in San Fernando the rest of the year, said he quit advertising because “I have too much to handle just by word of mouth.”

Even at that, he added 50 homes this year and employs a 20-member crew. He said he often decorates whole blocks, such as in Johnson’s neighborhood. He also does commercial projects, including the Valencia Town Center and a 70-foot-high pine for Stevenson Ranch’s community Christmas tree.

Ric Robertson of Beverly Hills expanded his party decorating business into his RMR Holiday Lighting enterprise four seasons ago. This year, he sent out 4,000 postcards and moved a 14-foot trailer advertising his services into select neighborhoods around Los Angeles, targeting households with annual incomes of $200,000 or more. Clients spend an average of $800 to $2,000, but some, including a few celebrities, pay as much as $20,000.

Nationwide, the market for home holiday decorating is leaping by 30% to 35% per year, said Jim Ketchup, who converted Christmas Decor--his home holiday lighting business in Lubbock, Texas--into a national franchiser five years ago. He estimates 300 franchisees will decorate more than 35,000 homes this year, up from about 27,000 last year.

Wayne Walker, an owner of Trius Construction of Northridge and Palmdale, is in his second year as a franchisee with Christmas Decor, one of five in California. Others are in Burbank, Simi Valley, Grass Valley and Porterville.

Walker said he is decorating about 85 homes this year. Displays average about $1,500 per home, he said. Costs can range from $75 to $3,000 per tree, “depending on whether the client wants it lit up like the burning bush of Moses,” he said.

Veterans warn that the apparent seasonal bonanza of the business has pitfalls, requiring astute management and knowledge to succeed. Dean Nida in central Ohio launched his business as a Dekra-Lite franchise in 1988. He said in recent years he “has steered business away from residential,” instead building his services into a national commercial base. “People who have the money also feel they are the only person out there, that they are the only person you work for,” he said. “There’s an awful lot of real snooty people and they can be a pain.”