Verified on Sep 18, 2026
You clip string lights to a roofline or wrap them on a tree for a homeowner, then take them down after the season. You set your own price by the job. Nobody publishes what a self-employed installer takes home. You need a tall ladder and a plan for cold, wet roofs.
You clip strings of lights to a roofline, a tree, or a bush for a homeowner. You take the lights down again once the season ends.
This work covers plug-in, clip-on lights only. The federal consumer safety agency defines these as portable lights that plug into a normal outlet, not new wiring.
You find your own customers. No app or company sits between you and them.
A ladder gets you up to the roofline. Clips hold each string in place, without punching holes in shingles or gutters.
This page does not cover new outlets, hardwired timers, or any work that makes wiring rain-proof. Those jobs need a licensed electrician.
No one prints what a self-employed light hanger takes home for a season’s work. We looked at federal wage data, a booking marketplace’s cost guide, and two light-installation companies’ own price pages. None of the three names that figure.
The nearest government pay figure covers landscaping and groundskeeping employees, people who work for a lawn-care company. Their pay averages $20.33 an hour, or $42,290 a year, in 2025 data. That figure describes a landscaping crew member’s paycheck, not a self-employed installer’s take-home. Its own task list never mentions lights, decorating, or seasonal installs at all.
Companies that price this work look at the feet of roofline, the roof, and the job. A taller or more complex roofline raises the price, and so does a customer supplying their own lights. Some companies bill taking lights down as its own job, separate from putting them up. A bigger home means more feet of light and more time, which raises the price on its own. Where a customer lives can matter too, through local labor cost or a permit rule.
Naming your own price for a roofline does not mean the whole check is yours. The full amount a homeowner hands you is gross pay. Whatever is left once your costs come out is take-home pay.
A self-employed installer also owes self-employment tax, which funds Social Security and Medicare, on top of income tax. No employer withholds it for you; you set it aside yourself. Driving to a home, quoting a job, and the cold hours spent taking lights down later are unpaid. A ladder and clips wear out, too.
You and the homeowner decide together how payment happens. That can mean cash on the spot, a check, or a payment app. Cash is fine for this work. Settle on the price and the payment method before you climb a single roof.
Once your net earnings, income after costs, reach $400 for the year, the IRS wants a return filed. That income goes on Schedule C, a tax form for self-employed earnings. The added self-employment tax, 15.3%, goes on Schedule SE, a second form. A tax preparer can help match this to your own numbers.
A ladder is the main cost to start. Its duty rating, the safe weight limit, must include your gear. One retailer’s own page prices a 24-foot model at $349.99, and a heavier-duty version at $619.99.
This fits someone who does not mind heights or cold, wet mornings.
It fits people who want to price each job themselves. You are not paid a wage a company sets for you.
Carrying a tall ladder from house to house takes a car, truck, or van with room for one.
No state license was found naming this exact trade in Texas or California.
Finding your own customers comes with the territory here. No platform hands you bookings.
See more seasonal gigs, including shovelling snow and cleaning gutters.
Skip this if ladders, heights, or a second-story roofline scare you.
Skip this if you plan to add a new outlet, wire in a timer, or rain-proof any wiring. That is licensed electrician work everywhere we checked.
Skip this if you need income every month. This trade pays nothing in the off season, unless you line up other work.
Skip this if you cannot call your own city first. A city or county can add its own rule on top of the state’s.
Skip any homeowner who wants you to pay them before you hang a single string. Real light-hanging work pays the installer, not the other way around. Read about scams that look like side gigs.
Day 1. Buy your ladder. A 24-foot extension model starts at $349.99.
Day 2. Buy light clips and a tape measure. Measure a few nearby rooflines to practice.
Day 3. If that’s your state, check Texas’s electrician licensing page before you commit to jobs there.
Day 4. If that’s your state, revisit California’s minor-work limit before you book a job.
Day 5. Call your own city about any rule it layers on top of the state’s.
Day 6. Tell five people you know that you hang holiday lights. Ask them to pass your name along.
Day 7. Finish your first job, then settle payment before you pack up the ladder.
An extension ladder gets you up to the roofline. Its duty rating must cover your body, clothes, and any gear you carry, not your weight alone. One retailer’s own page prices a 24-foot model rated for house work at $349.99. A heavier-duty model, built for taller or steeper homes, costs $619.99 at the same retailer.
Light clips hang strings on a roof edge, shingle, or gutter without punching holes.
A tape measure lets you measure a roofline before you set a price. This work can be priced by the foot.
Outdoor-rated extension cords carry power from an outlet to your first string of lights. Not every job needs one.
A plug-in timer turns lights on and off on its own. It plugs into the outlet, not into the house’s wiring.
Work gloves protect your hands from staples, wire ends, and cold metal clips.
General liability insurance can help pay for damage if you break something on a roof by mistake. No source we checked names it as required for this trade.
Gross pay is not take-home pay. Self-employment tax takes another 15.3% of your profit, separate from income tax. Nobody withholds that money for you ahead of time.
Driving to a home, giving a free quote, and taking lights down in the cold are all unpaid time.
A ladder and clips wear out. Replacing them costs money no customer pays for.
This work runs for one season a year. The rest of the year, it pays nothing unless you find other work.
Falling off a ladder is a real risk. A federal ladder-safety rule binds employers with employees, not someone working alone. A federal job-safety research agency lists the fields where fall injuries are a high risk. Building cleaning and upkeep, the closest to this work, is one.
Texas licenses electrical work, and its rule is written around wiring systems. We found no line naming plug-in strings either way, and a city can add rules on top.
Any new outlet, hardwired timer, or rain-proofing work is licensed electrician work, not part of this trade.
How much does this pay? Nobody prints that number for a self-employed installer. We checked federal wage data, a marketplace’s cost guide, and two light-installation companies; none give it. Price can depend on the feet of roofline, the home’s size, and whether the customer owns the lights.
Do I need an electrician’s license to hang plug-in lights? Texas licenses electrical work, but its rule does not name plug-in string lights either way. New wiring, hardwired timers, and rain-proofing work still need an electrician everywhere we checked. A city or county can add its own rule on top of the state’s. Check your own city before you take a job.
Do I need insurance? No source we checked names insurance as required for this trade. Buying it is your call.
Do I have to report cash I’m paid for this work? Yes. Once your net earnings from this work reach $400 for the year, the IRS wants a return filed. Your income is reported on Schedule C, and the self-employment tax on Schedule SE. A tax preparer can help you sort out your own paperwork.
How many light sets can I string together? The federal consumer safety agency has a rule for this. Never string together more than three sets of incandescent lights, and never overload an outlet.
$75-300 a day
For one election day.
You help run a polling place for one long day. Pay is set by your state or county, not by any national rule. In the places we checked it ran from $75 to $300 for the day.
Per visit, storm, or season
You shovel snow and clear walks and steps for customers you find yourself. No company or app sits between you and them. A job is priced by visit, hour, inch of snow, storm, or the whole season. No one publishes what a self-employed shoveller takes home. This only works where real snow falls.
Priced per item or hour
You build flat-pack and boxed furniture inside a customer's home, hired straight, with no app in between. A job is priced per item or by the hour, and the type of piece changes the cost. A basic hand tool kit runs under $85 to start.