The cost of your Christmas lights displays – homeowners call in professional help spending thousands
Tradesperson comparison site, HaMuch.com, has looked at the true cost of a Christmas lights display outside your home and how much you could be forking out this festive season once the dust has settled at the end of December.
HaMuch.com looked the cost of buying the lights, the energy costs of running these lights for just six hours a day for the month of December, and even the cost of hiring someone to put your display up professionally.
On the most basic level, an average number of 900 fairy lights will cost you as much as £115 and running these lights over Christmas will cos about £10 in electricity, a total of £125. If you were to hire someone to take the stress out of the ordeal and put them up for you, a couple of hours work will cost you £60 via the average handyman, bringing the cost to £185 in total – not a great deal to pay to spread some festive cheer.
Go a little further and bump up your festive wattage with 2,500 lights and this cost increases to just over £500, or £430 if you decide to tackle the meters of cable without the help of a professional handyman to do it for you.
But for those who really want to push the sleigh out, a display with around 15,000 lights will set you back £3,500, while the month’s electricity bill will increase by roughly £167, and such a task would require another £180 to put them up professionally. All in all, the bill could top nearly £3,900 or £3,687 without professional help.
Founder and CEO of HaMuch.com, Tarquin Purdie, commented:
“Much like Halloween, the amount being spent on Christmas light displays has snowballed over the years. There has always been that odd house that goes above and beyond but
we’re seeing even the most amateur display become more complex and advanced with more products now easily available and hundreds, if not thousands, spent to bring their visions to life.
It’s certainly one job that we rarely saw come through in previous years, but now homeowners are going to such lengths to light up their homes over Christmas that they are having to call in professional tradespeople in order to help.
This can range from electricians to ensure the safety of their wiring, to builders for a bespoke structure to hang them off and even handymen to help with the labour involved and to get into those hard to reach places in high up spaces.”
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Cost of Christmas light display with trade help
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Package type
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Light package cost
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Days Displayed
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Average hours used per day
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Average number of lights
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Electricity cost for lights per month
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Average hours needed to construct display
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Handyman average price per hour
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Total Handyman cost
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Total cost for light display package
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Basic level
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£115
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30
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6
|
900
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£10.04
|
2
|
£30
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£60
|
£185.04
|
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Middle level
|
£405
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30
|
6
|
2500
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£27.90
|
4
|
£30
|
£120
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£552.90
|
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High level
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£3,520
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30
|
6
|
15000
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£167.40
|
6
|
£30
|
£180
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£3,867.40
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Cost of Christmas light display without trade help
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|
||||||||
|
Package type
|
Light package cost
|
Days Displayed
|
Average hours used per day
|
Average number of lights
|
Electricity cost for lights per month
|
Total cost for light display package
|
|
||
|
Basic level
|
£115
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30
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6
|
900
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£10.04
|
£125.04
|
|||
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Middle level
|
£405
|
30
|
6
|
2500
|
£27.90
|
£432.90
|
|||
|
High level
|
£3,520
|
30
|
6
|
15000
|
£167.40
|
£3,687.40
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Sources
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Cost of Christmas Lights
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Handyman average
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Electricity set tariff average
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