Christmas Light Installation in Cartersville, GA

Three Kinds of Property, Three Kinds of Lighting Job

Cartersville is the seat of Bartow County, and the homes here do not fit one mold. Within a fifteen minute drive of Friendship Plaza you can find an 1890s house in a historic district, a 2020s subdivision home near the golf course, and a farmhouse at the end of a quarter-mile gravel drive. Each one is lit differently and priced differently. Cartersville Christmas Lights is a referral service: you fill out one form, and we pass your request to an independent holiday lighting installer who works in this area. The notes below will help you describe your property and read the quote you get back.

Historic homes near downtown

The city has five locally designated historic districts: Olde Town, West End, Cherokee-Cassville, Granger Hill and the Downtown Business District. Homes in West End date from the 1870s through the 1920s and include Craftsman, Colonial Revival and Folk Victorian styles. That means deep porches, turned columns, gables with decorative trim and, often, original wood fascia.

On these houses, the fastening method matters as much as the design. Ask your installer how they attach lights. Most professionals use plastic clips that grip gutters, shingles or trim without nails, staples or screws. Garland on porch rails, wreaths in gable windows and a simple warm white outline tend to suit older architecture better than a heavy multi-color treatment. Mature street trees are common here too, so ask whether any limbs overhang the roofline where crews will be working.

Acreage, farmhouses and long driveways

Outside the city the county is still farm country. The USDA's 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 457 farms in Bartow County, and about half of them are under 50 acres. For properties like these, toward Euharlee, Kingston, Taylorsville or up Highway 411 toward White, the roofline is often the smallest part of the job. What people actually want lit is the entrance gate, the fence line along the road, a few big trees and the front of the house as seen from a distance.

Two things drive cost on rural jobs. The first is trees. HomeAdvisor's 2026 guide lists $75 to $200 to wrap a small tree and $1,500 or more for trees over 30 feet, and Angi's Atlanta-area guide shows a range of $90 to $1,860 per tree. A mature oak wrapped from trunk to canopy can cost more than the whole house. The second is power. A gate 800 feet from the nearest outlet needs a plan, and the right one depends on your property, so mention on the form where outdoor outlets are located. The Electrical Safety Foundation advises that outdoor decorations be plugged into GFCI-protected circuits and that all cords be rated for outdoor use.

Newer neighborhoods

Communities such as Carter Grove off Old Alabama Road, and established swim and tennis neighborhoods like The Waterford, look more like the rest of metro Atlanta: two-story homes, front-facing gables and an HOA. These are the most straightforward jobs to quote because they are priced mostly by linear feet of roofline. If your neighborhood has covenants, check them for display dates before you schedule. Georgia HOA boards are permitted to limit how long decorations stay up.

If that sounds like your place, the planning guide for acreage and large properties covers focal points, power and tree pricing in more detail.

Timeline: From First Call to January Takedown

• September and October: the best time to request quotes. Schedules are open and some companies advertise early-season pricing.
• Late October through Thanksgiving: peak installation weeks. Many people schedule early and simply leave the timer off until they are ready.
• Early December: the downtown tree lighting at Friendship Plaza and the Exchange Club Christmas Parade mark the start of the season in town. Installers are often fully booked by now, though cancellations happen.
• January: most companies remove lights in the first two weeks of the month, weather permitting.

Safety and Power

The Consumer Product Safety Commission counts about 160 holiday decorating injuries a day nationwide during the season, and nearly half are falls. Add a metal roof, a steep farmhouse pitch or a ladder set on soft ground and the risk climbs. If you do any decorating yourself, the Electrical Safety Foundation recommends wooden or fiberglass ladders and staying at least 10 feet from power lines. Whoever does the work, ask your installer for proof of insurance before they start.