Heritage houses and steep lots on the hill
New Westminster has some of the oldest housing in the region. Queen's Park and Sapperton have Victorian and Edwardian houses on steep, narrow lots, with porches, brackets and detailed trim. That trim is the reason we use clips only. Nails and staples leave holes in old wood, and we don't use them.
The hill also makes access hard. Many streets are steep and tight, and a ladder does not always sit level. If you have bins of lights in the garage and you are done with the ladder, this is the kind of job we take over.
If your lights work and are rated for outdoor use, we hang them. If they don't, we can supply lights. You can also have us look at a string that has gone half dark before deciding anything.
Condos, townhouses and Queensborough
Uptown and Downtown are mostly low-rise and high-rise condos. Queensborough has newer houses and townhouses on flat land, and many of them fall under strata rules. We also do stratas, low-rise condos and storefronts, so a council or property manager can book exterior lighting the same way a homeowner would.
If you live in a townhouse, check your strata's rules on exterior lights before you book. Some have limits on what can be hung and where. Tell us what the rules say and we will work inside them.
For a storefront in Uptown or Downtown, the job is usually the entrance, the windows and the roofline. We can book it as a one-time install, with removal after the holidays.
Weather, power and timing
Winters here are mild and wet. Cold is rarely the problem. Connections are. Wet plugs and loose joins are what take a string out, so we pay attention to where cords meet and how they run.
Older houses often have old exterior wiring and few outdoor plugs. That means cord runs take planning. We look at where power is before we decide where the lights go.
Steep lots around the hill are best done on dry fall days. If the roof is slick or the wind is up, we move roof work to a safer day. Lots on the slope down to the Fraser River can be partly shaded, so a quick look at the house helps us plan.
We take everything down in January.
What the price depends on and what you can book
We explain what the price depends on before you agree to it. For a New Westminster house, the main factors are:
- How much roofline, porch and tree you want lit
- How steep the lot is and how hard it is to get a ladder in
- How many cord runs the house needs, and where power is
- Whether we hang your lights or supply them
You can book install, repair or removal alone. If someone else hung your lights, we can still repair or remove them. If you have a tree or shrub out front, we also do tree and shrub lighting.
None of it comes with a yearly commitment. If you want us back next year, you book again.
