How to Choose a Commercial Holiday Lighting Company | Dekra-Lite

April 27, 2026

Time to read 2 min

By Mike Sterling

How to Choose a Commercial Holiday Lighting Company | Dekra-Lite

The holiday lighting industry has a wide range of providers — from one-person residential installers who take on commercial work to full-service commercial specialists who do nothing else. For a commercial property, getting this wrong is expensive and visible.

Here's how to evaluate your options.

1. Commercial Experience, Not Just Residential

Residential and commercial holiday lighting are different disciplines. Commercial installs require:

Larger equipment (lifts, scaffolding)
Commercial-grade product that holds up through weeks of high-traffic exposure
Coordination with property management, tenants, and sometimes permitting offices
Insurance and liability coverage appropriate for commercial work

Ask directly: What percentage of your work is commercial? If the answer is under 50%, keep looking.

2. Proof of Past Work at Your Scale

Ask for a portfolio, specifically projects at your property type and size. A company that does great work at 10,000 sq ft retail strips may not have the logistics capability for a 500,000 sq ft lifestyle center.

Ask: Can you show me installs similar to our property?

3. Full-Service vs. Install-Only

Some companies install but don't maintain or remove. That means when something goes wrong mid-season, you're on your own, or paying extra for a service call from someone who didn't install it.

A full-service partner handles design, installation, seasonal maintenance, and removal. One vendor, one relationship, one point of accountability.

4. Product Quality and Source

There's a significant quality gap between consumer-grade and commercial-grade holiday lighting. Commercial product is built for:

Extended run times (8-12 hours/day, 60+ days)
Outdoor weather exposure (especially important for coastal and high-humidity markets)
High-traffic environments where displays get touched, bumped, and photographed constantly

Ask: Is your product commercial-grade? What's your warranty on product failure mid-season?

5. Reliability and Track Record

Holiday lighting is seasonal and deadline-driven. Your display needs to be up before Black Friday and down by a specific date. A company that misses install windows doesn't get a second chance.

Ask for client references. Look for companies with long client relationships, the best ones have clients who've been with them for 10, 15, 20+ years.

6. Scalability

If you manage multiple properties, you want a vendor who can handle the portfolio, consistent quality, coordinated scheduling, unified invoicing.

Ask: How many properties do you currently manage for multi-location clients?

What Sets the Best Apart

The best commercial holiday lighting companies aren't just vendors. They're partners who understand your property, your brand, your tenant relationships, and your operational constraints. They make recommendations. They flag problems before they become issues. They show up the same way every year.

Dekra-Lite has been that partner for commercial properties across the US since 1987. If you're evaluating vendors for your next season, we'd like to be in the conversation.

Evaluating partners? See what to look for →

Ready to find the right holiday lighting partner?

Request a Quote →