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Holiday light installer hanging Christmas lights on a home
Free for holiday lighting pros

Free Holiday Lighting Software,
Forever.

Send a tiered Christmas-light estimate from the truck in August, take the early-bird deposit before September 30 to lock the route, see the moment the homeowner opens it, and let Menutize charge the same package on the card on file every August for the next five years. $0/month. Forever.

Free CRM, invoicing & payments — forever. Save $300–$1,000/yr vs the $49/mo platforms.

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What's Free, Forever

Everything you need to run a holiday lighting business — and not a feature gated behind an upgrade. No credit card to start. No "trial expired" emails in 14 days.

Customer CRM

Every homeowner, property, last-year configuration photo, and note in one place. Searchable. No per-seat fees.

Estimates & Quotes

Send branded estimates with property photos and Bronze/Silver/Gold packages from your phone. Customer approves with one tap.

Invoicing

Auto-generate clean invoices the moment an install closes. No QuickBooks license required.

Card & ACH Payments

Customers pay online. Money lands in your account in 1-2 business days. Standard processing rate, no monthly fee.

Google Review Requests

Auto-text every happy homeowner a one-tap review link the moment the lights come on for the first time.

Tip Collection

Built-in tip prompts at checkout. Crews actually keep the cash because tips route to the operator.

Built for the way holiday lighting actually works.

Holiday lighting isn't general handyman work. You own the lights and rent them out for the season at $1,500-$5,000 a home, the install in November and the take-down in January and the summer storage are all bundled into one annual subscription, 60-90% of customers are repeats year after year, and August through September is the booking ramp where the entire year either fills up or doesn't. The free plan accounts for all of it.

Most "free" small-business software is a generic invoice template with a Stripe button bolted on. It works fine for a freelance designer and falls apart the second a homeowner asks in late August whether they can lock in last year's Silver package at the early-bird price, or a property manager asks for a recurring annual contract on a 22-unit HOA, or a snowstorm pushes a Tuesday install into Thursday and seven customers need a date change. Menutize was built around the four workflows below — the ones that actually decide whether a holiday lighting operation makes the year in November or chases its tail into January.

Tiered Package Estimates with Property Photos

Christmas-light installs sell on visuals, not paragraphs. Build a branded estimate with three tiers side-by-side — Bronze at $1,500 (rooflines and one tree), Silver at $2,500 (rooflines plus three trees and walkway), Gold at $3,800 (full architectural plus wreaths and garland) — attach property photos from the August walkaround, and send it from your phone before you're back in the truck. The homeowner sees three options visually with a price next to each, and the spouse looking at the quote at dinner self-selects up to Silver or Gold without the salesperson explaining anything. Custom designs at $5,000+ get their own line. Operators report close rates climb 20-30% the season they switch from texting back a number to sending a tiered estimate that already looks half-sold.

Estimate & Invoice Open-Tracking

Holiday lighting estimates sit unread for weeks. The August quote you send for a $2,500 Silver package can sit on the homeowner's phone through Labor Day while the family decides whether they're doing lights this year. Most contractors call back blind on day five and either annoy the homeowner or miss the moment entirely. Menutize logs every estimate email open and every estimate page view, and notifies you the moment it happens. You see the homeowner just opened the quote three times in the last twenty minutes — that's the call to make right now. The other prospect never opened it — that's a deliverability problem, not a "they're thinking about it" problem. Most field-service tools either don't ship open-tracking or gate it behind their highest tier. We ship it free.

Early-Bird Deposits to Lock the Route

August through September is the booking ramp. Set up two service tiers on your menu — Early Bird (book by Sep 30, locked-in price, 30-50% deposit due at booking) and Standard (Oct 1 onward, regular price) — and Menutize collects the deposit the moment the customer approves the bid. The early-bird deposit funds your inventory order before October, locks the install slot on your November calendar, and weeds out tire-kickers who'd otherwise sit on the quote until October only to ghost when their schedule fills up. Two-story homes carry a higher deposit percentage to cover ladder time and lift rental risk. Deposits credit straight against the final invoice on install day. Most holiday lighting operators move 60-70% of bookings into the early window once the discount is on the public booking page.

Last-Year Photo Log + Multi-Year Subscriptions

Repeat customer rates in this trade run 60-90% year-over-year, which means last year's photos of the property are gold. Every photo on a customer record is date-stamped, so when the install crew rolls up to the same address in November 2027, they open the customer profile on their phone and see exactly which roof lines got C9s, which trees got mini-lights, which configuration the homeowner approved last year. A 20-minute walkaround turns into a 90-second briefing. Pair that with recurring billing on the card on file — same Silver package, charged automatically every August for the next five years — and your route fills itself before September even starts. Customers love that they don't have to re-book; you love that you stopped sending re-engagement emails to people who were going to say yes anyway.

Three Things Every Holiday Lighting Pro Wishes They Had

Most "free" software either nags you to upgrade or leaves out the features that actually move the needle. We made the three biggest ones core to the free plan.

Auto Google Reviews

The moment you mark a holiday lighting install complete, the homeowner gets a one-tap review link by text. No copy-paste. No "I'll do it later." Holiday lighting reviews tend to be glowing — a family seeing their house lit up for the first time on a December evening is exactly the moment to ask. Most operators see their Google rating climb half a star in the first 60 days, and in this trade the next homeowner three blocks over is searching "Christmas light installation near me" the moment they see your work.

Included free, forever.

Tip Requests at Checkout

Customers see a 15/20/25% tip prompt right at payment — same flow they're used to from Square or DoorDash. Holiday lighting tips skew bigger than restaurant tips: a homeowner who just watched their house light up for the first time frequently leaves $50-$150 for the install crew when the prompt is right there on the screen and nobody has to ask awkwardly.

Included free, forever.

Google Calendar Two-Way Sync

Both dates land in your real Google Calendar — the November install AND the January take-down sync as separate events on the same customer record. Block time on your phone (parts run, the sub-zero day you don't put crews on a roof, holiday vacation) and Menutize won't let customers book over you. The free plans on most holiday lighting CRMs don't include calendar sync. Ours does.

Included free, forever.

Why Holiday Lighting Businesses Pick Menutize Over the $49/mo Platforms

The legacy field-service tools were built for 20-truck shops. You're a one-truck or two-crew operator running ten weeks of insanity from early November through mid-January, then taking the spring off. You don't need a dispatch board with seven-figure routing — you need tiered estimates, deposits, and recurring billing that keeps your route locked year over year.

Feature $49/mo platform Menutize Free
CRM, booking & invoicing Included Included — $0
Card & ACH payments + deposits Standard processing Standard processing — no platform markup
Google review automation Often $20+/mo add-on Included free
Estimate & invoice open-tracking Higher tier only Included free
Tip collection Rarely supported Included free
Calendar sync (install + take-down) Higher tier only Included free
Recurring billing on card on file (multi-year) Higher tier only Included free
Per-seat fees $29-49 / user / mo $0
First-year cost (1 owner, 1 helper) ~$1,176 $0

Comparison reflects published pricing from common field-service platforms as of May 2026. Card-processing fees still apply on both sides; Menutize uses standard Stripe rates with no platform markup.

“Eighty percent of our route is repeat customers, and last year I was still flipping through my own camera roll trying to remember which house got the C9s and which one wanted only mini-lights. Switched to Menutize over the summer, set up the early-bird tier with deposits due by Sep 30, and we locked 70% of last year's customers on auto-renew with the card on file. The estimate open-tracking caught two big customers who'd opened the quote four times but hadn't called back — closed both inside a week.”

RM
Ryan McAllister
Brilliant Lights Co · Kansas City, MO

Holiday Lighting Software Questions, Answered

The ones operators actually ask before they sign up.

Is Menutize really free for holiday lighting installers? What's the catch?
Yes, free forever. CRM, branded estimates with photos and tiered packages, invoicing, online card and ACH payments, deposit collection, recurring billing on a card on file, customer photo log, estimate and invoice open-tracking, automated Google review requests, tip collection, and two-way Google Calendar sync are all included on the free plan. The only thing you ever pay is standard payment processing on cards (~2.9% + 30¢, same as Stripe direct) and ACH (0.8%, capped at $5). No monthly fee, no per-seat fee, no credit card required to sign up.
Can I run an early-bird discount for customers who book by September 30?
Yes. Build two tiers on your service menu — Early Bird (book by Sep 30, locked-in price, deposit due at booking) and Standard (book Oct 1 onward, regular price). Customers see both side-by-side and self-select. The early-bird deposit hits before October so your route is locked, your inventory order is funded, and you stop scrambling to fit November bookings into a calendar that's already full. Most holiday lighting operators move 60-70% of their bookings into the early window once the discount is on the public booking page.
Can I see when an estimate has been opened? My early-bird quotes sit for weeks.
Yes — and on holiday lighting this is the feature that closes deals. A $2,500 light-rental quote sent in August can sit on a homeowner's phone for three or four weeks while the spouse looks at it and the family decides whether to do lights this year. Menutize logs the moment the estimate is opened and viewed and pings you instantly. You stop guessing and call back when it's fresh. Same tracking on invoices: when the customer opens the bill, when they view it, when they pay it. Most field-service tools either don't ship open-tracking or gate it behind a paid tier; we ship it on the free plan.
How do I price the rental model — install + take-down + storage in one bundle?
Build each package as a single line item on your service menu — Bronze at $1,500, Silver at $2,500, Gold at $3,800, Custom at $5,000+ — and the price covers the whole subscription cycle: November install, January take-down, summer storage, and the lights themselves (which you own). Customers see one all-in number on the estimate, not eight line items. Charge the deposit at booking to lock inventory, charge the balance on install day, and the customer signs up for the same package next year with one tap when the renewal estimate goes out in August.
Can I store last year's photos so I know exactly which house to install on?
Yes — and on holiday lighting, this is the feature that pays for itself. Repeat customers run 60-90% year-over-year in this trade, and pulling up last year's photos of the property — which roof lines got C9s, which trees got mini-lights, which configuration the homeowner approved — turns a 20-minute walkaround into a 90-second crew briefing. Every photo on a customer record is date-stamped. The next install crew opens the customer profile on their phone, sees exactly what went up last year, and replicates it in half the time. Photo storage is unlimited on the free plan.
Can I bill the customer's card on file for a multi-year subscription?
Yes. Set up a recurring annual charge on the card the customer used at the first install — $2,500 every August for the same Silver package, or whatever cadence and amount the agreement specifies — and Menutize charges automatically, schedules the install on your Google Calendar, and emails the homeowner a heads-up the week before. Customers love that they don't have to re-book every year, and your route fills itself in August without you sending a single re-engagement email.
What about commercial and HOA installs that need to go up before residential?
Set up a separate commercial tier on your service menu (or a flat-rate per-property HOA package) and tag those jobs as commercial in your CRM. Most holiday lighting operators install commercial properties and HOAs in late October and the first week of November before residential demand explodes — Menutize's calendar tagging lets you block out the commercial week so your crew isn't stretched thin and the property managers get the early slot they're paying a premium for. Recurring annual billing keeps the same HOAs locked in year after year.
What happens when a snowstorm hits during install week?
When the weather pushes a job, you reschedule on your phone, the new date syncs to the customer's Google Calendar, and Menutize sends a notification email. The deposit stays applied, the inventory stays reserved, and you don't lose a slot to the chaos. The customer sees the new date in their email instead of a "sorry, can we reschedule?" text that always feels a little unprofessional. We don't ship a separate weather-alert SMS sequence on the free plan; if you want automated "install rescheduled" SMS drips, the optional $19/mo Automations add-on covers that.
Can I take a deposit at booking to lock the install slot?
Yes — and you should. Set a deposit percentage on each package (most operators use 30-50%), and Menutize collects it the moment the customer approves the bid. The deposit secures inventory (the lights you own and rent out), funds your November install crew, and weeds out tire-kickers who'd otherwise tie up your calendar in October only to ghost. The deposit credits straight against the final invoice. Two-story or premium homes can carry a higher deposit percentage to cover the extra ladder time and risk.
Can I price two-story or roofline-difficult homes at a premium?
Yes. Add Standard, Two-Story, and Roofline Premium as separate menu items (or as add-ons to a base package), each with its own price, deposit percentage, and crew time. Customers see exactly what they're paying for and why on the estimate. Most operators charge a 25-50% premium on two-story residences to cover the extra ladder work, lift rental, and crew safety time — that's the kind of pricing detail that's awkward to explain over the phone but obvious when it's on a tiered estimate the homeowner can scroll through with their spouse at dinner.
How does the automated Google review request work?
The moment you mark an install complete in Menutize, the homeowner gets a one-tap text link straight to your Google Business Profile review screen. Holiday lighting reviews tend to be glowing — a family seeing their house lit up for the first time on a December evening is exactly the moment to ask. You connect your Google Business Profile once during onboarding (about two minutes). Most holiday lighting operators see their Google rating climb half a star and their monthly review volume 3-5x within 60 days, which matters because the next homeowner three blocks over is searching "Christmas light installation near me" the day they see your work on their neighbor's house.
Does Menutize sync with my Google Calendar — install and take-down dates?
Yes — two-way sync, included on the free plan. Both dates land on your Google Calendar instantly: the November install and the January take-down show up as separate events on the same customer record. Block time on your phone (parts run, holiday vacation, the sub-zero day you don't put crews on a roof) and Menutize won't let customers book over you. Most free CRMs in this space lock calendar sync behind a $29/mo upgrade. We don't.
How does Menutize compare to the $49–$79/mo holiday lighting platforms?
For a one-truck or two-crew operator, the answer is you stop paying $588 to $948 a year. The legacy field-service tools were built for 20-truck enterprise shops and bake routing, dispatch boards, and inventory tracking nobody on a small crew uses. Menutize Free does the parts that move money for a holiday lighting business: tiered estimates with property photos, deposit collection, install + take-down calendar, recurring billing, last-year photo log, open-tracking, reviews. The core CRM stays free. If you ever want drip "your install is in 2 weeks" SMS sequences, that's the optional $19/mo Automations add-on; everything else is free.
Can my customers tip the install crew through Menutize?
Yes. Tip prompts appear automatically on the payment screen — same 15/20/25% buttons customers see at restaurants and rideshares. Holiday lighting tips skew bigger than restaurant tips: a homeowner who just saw their house light up for the first time frequently leaves $50-$150 for the install crew when the prompt is right there on the screen and nobody has to ask awkwardly. The tip routes to whichever account the operator chooses, so the crew lead actually keeps what they earned.
Does it work for solo operators and seasonal businesses?
That's exactly who Menutize is for. Solo operators get unlimited users on the free plan (no per-seat fees ever) and the workflows are designed for the owner who's also the install lead, the salesperson, and the bookkeeper. Holiday lighting is the seasonal trade par excellence — you can pause your booking page during the off-months without losing your customer list, your job history, your photos, or your recurring multi-year subscriptions. Spin everything back up in August and the early-bird wave is ready before September 30.
What payment processing rates do you charge?
Standard Stripe rates passed straight through: roughly 2.9% + 30¢ per card transaction and 0.8% (capped at $5) for ACH. Menutize takes zero markup on top of that. The legacy field-service platforms typically tack on a 0.5-1% platform fee plus a monthly payment-processing access fee — we don't. On a $2,500 holiday lighting deposit that's about $73 to Stripe and $0 to us; on the same job through a $79/mo platform with a 0.5% markup, it's $73 plus another $12.50 plus the monthly fee.
What happens to my customer data if I leave Menutize?
You own your data. Export your customer list, jobs, photos, recurring subscriptions, and invoice history at any time, no upgrade required, no waiting period, no support ticket. We've never built clunky exports on purpose to lock people in — that's the kind of thing we built Menutize to get away from. Cancel any time and walk out with everything.

Lock your November route before September 30.

Tiered estimates with property photos, early-bird deposits, install + take-down calendar, recurring billing, last-year photo log, open-tracking, Google reviews — all on the free plan, all the time. Set up takes 10 minutes. No credit card.

Start free — no credit card

Set up in 10 minutes. Free forever. Cancel anytime (but you won't need to — there's nothing to cancel).

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