Christmas Light Installation Checklist for Bourbonnais Homeowners

Every year in Bourbonnais the same thing happens. The weather turns nice for about four days in early November, everybody drags the tote out of the garage, and half the strands are dead. Then it gets cold and the lights either go up crooked or they never go up at all.

This checklist fixes that. Work through it once, in order, and you will know exactly what you want, what it costs, and who is putting it up. It works whether you plan to hang the lights yourself or hire our crew to do it.

Step 1

Decide what you actually want lit

Walk to the end of your driveway at night and look at your house the way your neighbors see it. Most homes here only need two or three elements to look finished. Pick from this list and write down what you want:

• Main roofline across the front of the house
• Peaks, gables, and dormers
• Garage roofline and porch or portico
• Trunks and branches of front yard trees
• Bushes and landscape beds along the foundation
• Walkway stakes and driveway edging
• Wreaths, garland, and window candles

A clean roofline with two wrapped trees looks better than lights scattered across nine different spots. Start with the roof and add from there.

Step 2

Measure your linear footage

Linear footage is what pricing is built on. Measure the roofline sections you want lit, including the slope of any peaks, and add them together. If your ranch has 90 feet across the front and two 20 foot gables, you are looking at roughly 130 feet.

Our 2026 season rate is $6 per linear foot, and all inclusive install packages start at $749. Knowing your number before you call means you get a real answer instead of a guess.

Step 3

Check your power before you buy anything

This is the step people skip, and it is the one that ruins a display in December. Go outside and find your exterior outlets. Confirm each one works, confirm it is a GFCI, and confirm the cover actually closes over a plug.

• Count your outdoor outlets and note which side of the house they sit on
• Test the GFCI reset button on each one
• Plan your runs so no single outlet carries the whole display
• Buy an outdoor rated timer, or use a photocell so the lights run dusk to dawn without you thinking about it

If your only outdoor outlet is on the back patio, get an electrician out in October. A front outlet is cheap now and impossible to schedule in December.

Step 4

Clean the gutters and roofline first

Clips attach to the shingle edge or the lip of the gutter. If that gutter is packed with wet leaves and grit, the clips sit crooked and the line sags. Worse, a clogged gutter freezes solid in January and pulls away from the fascia with the lights still attached to it.

Get the gutters cleaned before the lights go up, not after. October is the right window in Bourbonnais, once the maples along the older streets have finished dropping. If you are tired of doing this twice a year, ask about gutter guard installation at the same time.

Step 5

Choose real lights, not big box strands

The 100 foot strand from the hardware store is built for one season. The spacing is fixed, so it never lines up with your roof, and you end up with a bunched tail hanging off the corner.

Professional installs use commercial grade C9 LED bulbs on SPT-1 socket wire that gets cut to your exact rooflines. Every bulb is replaceable. The color stays consistent from strand to strand, which is why a pro install looks even and a store bought one looks patchy. We use Minleon bulbs, and we sell that same supply line wholesale to other installers in the county, so you are getting the product we stand behind ourselves.

For trees and bushes, 5mm warm white mini lights wrapped tight on the trunk and up into the branches read much better from the street than a net thrown over the top.

Step 6

Book your install date in September or October

Install season runs from late October through the first week of December, and the good weekends fill first. Homeowners who want lights on before Thanksgiving need to be on the schedule well before Halloween.

Waiting until the first cold snap means taking whatever date is left. Clean Club members get priority booking plus a discount on holiday lighting, which is worth knowing if you already use us for house washing.

Step 7

Be honest about the ladder

Ladder falls spike every year between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Frost on an aluminum ladder at 8am is slick, and a two story roofline in Bourbonnais puts you 25 feet up over frozen ground.

If your display is single story, reachable from a stable ladder on level ground, and you have somebody holding the base, do it yourself. If you are looking at steep pitch, second story peaks, or icy footing, hire it out. Our crew carries commercial insurance and works off proper equipment.

Step 8

Confirm what happens after Christmas

Ask any installer these four questions before you sign anything. If the answers are vague, keep calling.

• Is takedown included in the price, or billed separately in January?
• Who stores the lights over the summer, and where?
• If a section goes dark in December, who comes out and how fast?
• Are you insured, and can I see proof?

Our packages are all inclusive. Custom cut commercial LEDs, install, a timer, maintenance for the whole season, January takedown, and storage until next year. You never open a tote or untangle anything.

Quick recap

The checklist in one place

• Pick your elements: roofline, peaks, trees, bushes, walkway
• Measure linear footage and add 20 percent for pitch
• Test outdoor outlets, GFCIs, and add a timer
• Clean gutters and roofline in October
• Use commercial C9 bulbs cut to your house
• Get on the install schedule before Halloween
• Decide honestly whether you should be on the ladder
• Confirm maintenance, takedown, storage, and insurance

See our work around Bourbonnais

Looking for professional Christmas light installation in Bourbonnais? View our Google Business Profile for photos, reviews, service areas, and directions.

You can also see our work in person this season. Green Pro is the presenting sponsor of A Light Walk at Perry Farm Park, and our crew handles the roofline lighting on the barns along with the electrical for the display. Read more about the Light Walk and our sponsorship, or head over to our Christmas light installation page to see packages.