Permanent Holiday Lighting vs. Landscape Lighting: Which Should You Install First?

Most DFW homeowners eventually want both — permanent roofline lighting and full landscape lighting. The question is which to install first when the budget only stretches to one.

Start with the roofline if your home is more than one story, has strong architectural features (gables, dormers, turrets), or sits on a smaller lot with limited mature landscape. Permanent roofline lighting is the single highest-impact change you can make to a home's nighttime appearance.

Start with landscape lighting if your home sits on a large wooded lot, has mature live oaks or magnolias, or has a long flagstone walkway and prominent entry. Tree uplighting and path lights can transform a property without touching the architecture.

Pro tip: design both at the same time, install in two phases. We'll engineer the controller, conduit, and power so phase two adds in a single afternoon — even a year later. That way you don't pay twice for design or trenching.

Either way, plan to run both systems on a single app and a single schedule. Two separate controllers feel clunky after about a week.