Straight answers.

Most professional residential displays run between $1,500 and $5,000 for the season, and we do not take residential projects under $1,000. Roofline lighting is priced at about $10 per linear foot, with two-story and steep sections adding to that. Trees, columns, windows and pathway lighting are priced separately. The price covers the entire season including design, installation, maintenance, takedown and storage.

Because a professional installation is a season-long service, not an afternoon of hanging lights. That price covers commercial-grade lighting custom cut to your house, a designed layout, installation by insured crews, every service call during the season, removal in January, and labeled storage until next year. Big-box light kits cost less because you are buying a box and doing all of that yourself, at height, on your own roof.

Linear footage is the largest factor, followed by height and roof pitch, then the number of added features like trees, columns and windows. A single-story ranch with 130 feet of roofline is straightforward. The same footage on a steep two-story with dormers takes longer, requires more equipment and carries more risk, so it costs more. Wrapped trees are priced by size and are usually the single largest line item on a large display.

Our standard installation method does not put holes in your roof. We use non-penetrating clips designed for shingles, gutters and trim, plus hot glue where a clip will not work. We do not use staples, screws or nails in a standard installation. Southeast Lights is operated by a licensed roofing contractor, so the crews on your roof are the same people who understand what a roof can and cannot take.

No. Standard installations use non-penetrating clips and, where appropriate, hot glue. Staples, screws and nails are not part of our normal method and would only ever be used if a customer specifically requested a different installation approach and we agreed to it in writing.

Yes. Steep and multi-story roofs are routine for us because we come out of roofing. Crews use professional ladders, roof-traction footwear and pitch equipment for residential work, and boom lifts, bucket trucks or articulating lifts for commercial properties. Roofs over a 9/12 pitch carry a surcharge because they genuinely take longer and require more equipment.

Because the hazard in this job is not the lights, it is the height. A ladder on wet ground, a steep pitch, a second story and a roof edge in December are the dangerous parts, and they are the parts we do year-round with the right equipment. Our crews know how to read a pitch, where to set a ladder, how to move on shingles without damaging them, and where a light clip can and cannot go.

Our workmanship is warrantied for five years: the mounting, the channel, the terminations and the way the run is fixed to the structure. We are not an authorized dealer for any permanent lighting manufacturer, so there is no factory warranty behind ours, and we would rather say that plainly than let you assume one exists. It is also the reason the term is five years rather than a footnote. We install it, so we stand behind it.

It is a track of individually addressable LEDs installed permanently into the eave, soffit or trim of a building, controlled from an app. It produces warm white light on an ordinary evening, any color combination for a holiday or a game day, and it is designed to be effectively invisible from the street in daylight. Unlike seasonal lighting, the system belongs to you once installed.

Installation runs $25 to $35 per linear foot, plus $650 to $850 for the controller. A typical 150 foot home lands between $4,400 and $6,100 all in. Longer rooflines cost more in total but often less per foot. Difficult access, multi-story sections and peak-season installs push toward the upper end of the range.

Because the track runs continuously along the roofline, so linear footage is the honest driver of both material and labor. We measure your actual eave and trim runs from aerial imagery and photos, then quote the exact footage rather than guessing from square footage or bedroom count.

Yes, one controller runs the system. It is the piece that stores your scenes, runs your schedules, drives the individual zones and connects the system to your phone. It is a one-time cost of $650 to $850 and it covers the whole property on most homes.

Both. The LEDs are full RGB, so you get any color you want, plus a dedicated warm white that looks like normal architectural lighting rather than a colored bulb dimmed down. Most customers run warm white the majority of the year and save color for holidays and game days.

From an app on your phone. You pick colors, patterns and brightness, save scenes you like, and set schedules so the system turns itself on at dusk and off at whatever hour you choose. Once it is set up most people rarely open the app except to change a scene.

Yes. The LEDs are individually addressable, so the system can be divided into zones. You can light the garage differently from the main house, run a pattern along one gable only, or alternate colors along a single run. That zoning is set up during installation and can be adjusted later in the app.

Barely, and that is the point. The channel is color matched to your trim and tucks under the edge of the roofline, so from the street in daylight it reads as part of the fascia. It is a fair question to ask any installer, and we will show you exactly where the track will sit before you commit.

Into the fascia, soffit or trim, depending on your roofline. It does not penetrate the water-shedding surface of your roof. We are a licensed roofing contractor, which is the main reason customers choose us for permanent installations over a general electrician: we are the ones who would have to fix a leak, so we are careful about where hardware goes.

Very little. These are low-voltage LEDs, and a typical residential run draws roughly the same as a couple of household light bulbs when running warm white at normal brightness. Running full-brightness color across the whole house uses more, but it is still a small line on a power bill.

The LEDs themselves are rated in the tens of thousands of hours, which for evening-only use is many years of normal operation. The realistic lifespan question is about the controller and the weather sealing rather than the diodes. We install with that in mind and we service what we install.

Almost none. There is nothing to put up or take down, and no bulbs to replace each season. If a section fails or the controller has a problem, call us and we will come out. We installed it, so we service it.

Most residential installations are finished in one to two days depending on roofline complexity and access. Commercial and multi-building properties are scheduled across a longer window. We walk the property and confirm the timeline before we start.

Yes. Permanent lighting is installed on your property and becomes yours once it is paid for. This is the opposite of our seasonal Christmas service, where the lights remain ours and come down in January.

Seasonal lighting is a service you pay for every year; permanent lighting is a one-time installation you own. For a typical 150 foot home, seasonal roofline lighting runs about $1,500 a season while permanent lighting is a single cost that works out to roughly three to four seasons of renting. The difference is that permanent lighting works all 365 days rather than six weeks.

Yes, and most people do. Red and green, alternating patterns, warm white icicle effects, all from the app with no ladder involved. Plenty of customers add wrapped trees or garland from our seasonal service alongside a permanent roofline system.

Yes. Save a scene for your team and turn it on from your phone on game day. Southern Miss black and gold, State maroon, Ole Miss navy and red, or whatever you support. Same for Mardi Gras purple, green and gold, Halloween orange, and Fourth of July.

Yes, and it often makes more financial sense there than at home. A commercial property that pays for seasonal installation and removal every year stops paying that annually, and gains architectural lighting the rest of the time. We handle multi-story parapets with lift equipment.

Yes. Entrance monuments, clubhouses and amenity buildings are strong candidates, because they are lit every year anyway and the board stops re-approving a seasonal install every fall. We provide a written scope and a design concept the board can vote on.

We install permanent architectural lighting systems and are happy to discuss JellyFish and comparable systems with you during design. We are not an authorized dealer for any permanent lighting manufacturer, so we do not make dealer claims. What we sell is the design, the installation and the workmanship behind it, and we will be straight with you about what we can source for your project.

Residential displays are normally within about an hour of Hattiesburg, and commercial work within about two hours, covering South Mississippi and the Gulf Coast. For larger commercial and community projects we travel statewide. If a project is substantial, distance is a scheduling question rather than a reason to say no.

Yes, particularly along the Gulf Coast. Purple, green and gold lighting on rooflines, balconies, columns and trees for businesses, hospitality properties, communities and homes. Many Coast properties book a Christmas display and a Mardi Gras display together, which is more efficient than treating them as separate projects.

Yes, and it speeds everything up. Photos of your property, along with the address, let us measure from aerial imagery and quote accurately without scheduling a site visit first. Most residential quotes never need anyone to come out before you decide.

Usually not. We can quote most residential projects from the address, aerial imagery, your photographs and a short conversation. Larger commercial and community projects often do warrant a site visit to check access, power and lift positioning, and we will arrange that with enough notice to be convenient.