The holiday season is approaching with the speed of Santa’s sleigh. Before you know it, the sound of carols will fill the crisp winter nights, and the familiar smell of Christmas trees will permeate the air. Even the curmudgeonly among us will become infused with the holiday spirit.

For those of us in the landscape contracting business, it can often be difficult to revel in the good cheer that has become so closely associated with the holidays. The winter months bring with them a work slowdown. But you don’t have to let the winter months turn you into a Scrooge. There are a number of services you can offer your clients that will ensure a busy pre-holiday business rush.

In recent years, the installation of holiday lights has gone from being a burdensome do-it-yourself chore into a thriving niche market. People want their homes to be decorated with Christmas lights; they just don’t want to deal with the aggravation that comes with hanging them. As a result, they’re willing to pay someone to do it for them. There is no reason why that person shouldn’t be you.

“Holiday lighting is a wide open market, and it’s a great way to keep revenue flowing when business drops off in the winter months,” says Steve Christie, president of Automatic Irrigation Supply Company in Indianapolis, Indiana. “In a lot of markets, there is more demand for the service than there are people who offer it. I just can’t think of any reason why contractors couldn’t make money right off the bat.”

For landscape contractors, the transition into holiday lighting is a pretty easy one. You already have most of the tools you’ll need, and, more importantly, you have an existing clientele you can market to. “You have a captive audience that you’re associated with, so you’re not going to have to spend a lot of time trying to drum up new clients, and that’s half the battle right there,” says Mark Borst, president of Borst Landscape and Design in Allendale, New Jersey. “I’d say that about 90 percent of our holiday lighting customers were landscape maintenance customers first.”

Even in the lagging economy, the demand for holiday lighting remains strong. “Last year, with things the way they were, our numbers were up,” says Robert Evans, president of Property Creations, Cumming, Georgia. “They were not up as much as the previous couple of years, but the growth remained pretty solid.”

While holiday lighting of homes and residences will still be a mainstay, the commercial market holds tremendous potential. Retail stores, restaurants, shopping malls, etc., need to make their stores look festive. “Over the past few years, I’ve noticed a lot of businesses that used to install lights themselves—whether in a mall, a restaurant or a homeowner’s association—are now deciding to outsource the work,” says Evans.

“These companies need holiday lights—they’re not going to go without them, but it’s such a stressful and busy time of year that they don’t want to deal with the hassle of installing them. For this group of people, it’s worth the cost of having someone come out to do the installation for them.”

Initially, Borst got into holiday lighting as a way to retain his best employees. “Come November, we kind of ran out of work, but I didn’t want to have to let my guys go,” says Borst. “So we looked into some of the different things we could do to keep ourselves busy. When we came across holiday lighting, it was very obvious that it was the best route to take. It was a no brainer.”

Today, thanks to holiday lighting, the winter months are one of Borst’s most profitable times of year.

This story is not unique. “We’ve really used holiday lighting as a way to take advantage of the winter slowdown,” says Evans. “In our market, the winter can be tough for landscape contractors. It’s really a great way to keep your crews busy during the holiday lull.”
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