Takedown week is its own season for our crew. Every January, we run scheduled routes across Livingston County with gloves on, working frozen clips loose, coiling each home’s lights into labeled bins, and loading them for the heated warehouse.
And every February, a different kind of call starts. Homeowners who hung their own lights in November, looked at the icy ladder in January, and just could not face it. No shame in that. It is the most sensible call of the winter.
Both groups ask the same thing: what do people charge to take down Christmas lights? Here are the real numbers, from the people who do it for a living.
How Much Do People Charge to Take Down Christmas Lights? (Direct Answer)
Standalone Christmas light takedown typically costs $100 to $400, or roughly $0.50 to $2 per linear foot, with handymen at the low end and insured pros higher. Many full-service holiday lighting companies include takedown and storage in the original package, so their customers pay nothing extra in January.
That second sentence matters. This market really has two realities, people who pay for removal and people who already paid for it in November. Let us look at both.
Takedown Pricing by Who You Hire
Handyman or Side-Gig: $75 to $200
For a straightforward single-story or an easy roofline, a handyman will pull lights down for $75 to $200. Fast and cheap. The usual result is a pile of tangled strands on your porch, untested and unlabeled, which becomes next November’s puzzle.
Professional Labor-Only Installer: $100 to $400
Insured installers charge $100 to $400 depending on footage and height, or $0.50 to $2 per foot. Most will coil and box the strands properly. Some offer labeling and storage as paid add-ons, which is worth taking if you plan to reuse the lights.
Full-Service Company Customer: Already Included
If a full-service company installed your display, takedown should already be in the number you paid. Our customers never see this line item. The crew shows up on a scheduled January route, removes everything, tests it, and stores it until next season.
| Who you hire | Typical cost | What happens to the lights |
| Handyman or side-gig | $75 to $200 | Piled on the porch, untested |
| Labor-only pro | $100 to $400 | Coiled and boxed, storage extra |
| Full-service customer | $0 extra | Collected, tested, stored for you |
What Affects the Takedown Price
Four things move a removal quote up or down. Knowing them helps you judge whether a number is fair.
Footage and Roof Height
More feet means more time, and second-story work means more ladder moves. A 200-foot two-story costs meaningfully more to clear than a 100-foot ranch, which is why per-foot pricing exists.
Ice and Snow Conditions in Michigan
January in Michigan means icy shingles and frozen gutters. Safe removal in those conditions takes longer and demands proper equipment, and that is a real part of what you are paying for. Anyone charging $75 to hurry across an iced roof is discounting their own safety.
Whether Lights Were Installed with Clips or Staples
Clipped lights release in seconds. Stapled lights have to be pried out one staple at a time, and every staple leaves a hole in the shingle or fascia. Stapled installs take noticeably longer to remove, so they cost more to take down and leave damage behind. One more reason we never staple.
Storage and Labeling Add-Ons
Testing strands, labeling which run goes where, and boxing everything properly adds time. Some pros charge $25 to $100 extra for it. It is the cheapest insurance you can buy against next November’s tangle.
When Should Lights Come Down in Michigan? (Practical Example)
Our takedown routes run through January, and there is a rhythm to it. The best removal days are mid-thaw days, above freezing, when clips release cleanly and nobody is standing on ice. Deep-freeze mornings are for coffee, not ladders.
Aim to have lights down by the end of January. Waiting until spring sounds harmless, but months of extra UV exposure fades wire jackets, and squirrels treat exposed cords as chew toys.
And if it is February and your lights are still up, you are not the neighborhood failure, you are half the calls we get that month. A removal visit takes an hour or two, and the season closes properly. That is an easy problem to solve.
What Proper Off-Season Storage Looks Like
How lights spend the summer decides how they work next winter. This part gets ignored more than any other.
Coiling, Labeling and Testing Before Boxing
Every run should come down, get tested while it is still identifiable, then be coiled and labeled by location: front eave, left gable, garage line. Ten extra minutes in January saves an hour of guesswork in November. Dead strands get flagged now, not discovered on install day.
Heated Warehouse vs Hot Attic
Attics swing from freezing to well over 100 degrees every year, and those heat cycles crack socket plastic and stiffen wire insulation. LEDs stored in stable temperatures last seasons longer. It is why we store customer displays in a heated warehouse instead of handing bins back for the attic, and why lights we manage rarely die young.
The Math of Never Doing This Again
Here is the comparison the February callers end up doing on the phone with us.
The DIY route: buy and maintain your own lights, spend a November Saturday installing, fix outages yourself in December, then pay $100 to $400 for takedown or climb the January ladder. Every year.
The full-service route: one fixed number in the fall that covers commercial-grade lights, installation, repairs within 48 hours, takedown, and heated storage. In our area that typically runs $800 to $2,000 for a first-year display. We broke down what a full-service package includes line by line, and who charges what to put lights up if you want the install side of the math too.
For some homes the DIY route still wins on cost. What it never wins on is January.
FAQ
How much does it cost to have someone take down Christmas lights?
Typically $100 to $400 for standalone removal, or about $0.50 to $2 per linear foot. Simple single-story jobs from a handyman can run as low as $75.
Do installation companies charge extra for takedown?
Labor-only installers usually do. Full-service companies build takedown into the original package, so there is no January bill. Check your quote for the word takedown before you sign.
When is too late to take down Christmas lights?
There is no official deadline, but the end of January is the practical target in Michigan. Past early spring, UV fading and animal damage start costing you strands.
Can lights stay up all year?
Standard seasonal C9 lights are not made for year-round exposure and will fail faster. If you love the look permanently, ask about permanent lighting systems, which are engineered for it.
Do you store customers’ Christmas lights?
Yes. Every Elves Holiday Lighting package includes takedown and off-season storage in a heated warehouse, with each display tested, coiled, and labeled before it is put away.
Retire Your January Ladder (CTA)
If this January felt like the last one you want to spend on a ladder, next season can work differently. One number in the fall covers the lights, the install, 48-hour repairs, takedown, and storage, and our October calendar gets first pick of install dates.
Elves Holiday Lighting serves Howell, Brighton, Hartland, and all of Livingston County, Michigan. Call (810) 522-8950 to ask about removal help this season or to book next year, or request your free quote through our contact form.
Want to see how the full season works before you call? Our residential holiday lighting service page walks through it, from rendering to warehouse.
