Permanent LED Light Installation in Texas

Permanent LED light installation is a category that barely existed ten years ago. It grew out of two things getting better at the same time: LED bulbs that could finally survive outdoor Texas weather, and powder-coated aluminum extrusions cheap enough to install residentially. Put the two together and you get a system you can mount once, power from a small transformer in your garage, and never touch again.

Mechanically, the system is four parts. First, the channel — a thin aluminum track that runs along your fascia behind the gutter line, color-matched so you cannot see it from the curb. Second, the bulbs — commercial-grade LEDs rated for 50,000 hours of operation. Third, the low-voltage wiring that snakes from the channel down to a small transformer box. Fourth, the smart controller and app that let you pick colors, patterns, and schedules.

It replaces three different things in a homeowner's life at once. It replaces the temporary Christmas lights that come out every November and go back in January. It replaces the landscape accent lights that never quite lit the second story the way you wanted. And for a lot of homes, it replaces the floodlights whose yellow color temperature made your house look jaundiced at night. One system does the job of all three — and looks like none of them during the day.

The channel is extruded 6063-T5 aluminum, powder-coated to match your fascia (we stock black, white, bronze, cream, and custom color match for anything else). It is not glued. It is mechanically fastened at specific points with stainless fasteners into solid wood. It does not peel off in a hailstorm. It does not sag in the heat. It handles thermal expansion because aluminum is what aluminum is.

The bulbs are 0.6-watt commercial LEDs, rated for 50,000 hours of operation and IP65-rated for outdoor weather exposure. That is the same rating used on restaurant patios and commercial signage — not the residential-grade rating that big-box Christmas strands carry. At five hours of nightly use, 50,000 hours is more than 27 years. In practice, most failures we see are from storm damage to individual bulbs, which are replaceable individually in under a minute.

The wiring is 12-volt low-voltage, which matters for three reasons: it is safe to touch if a bulb is ever damaged, it cannot start a fire, and it does not require an electrician for repairs. Power comes from a small transformer box that tucks into your garage or an exterior-rated box under an eave. The smart controller lives next to the transformer, speaks to your WiFi, and runs the app you use from your phone.

A typical Texas single-story home has 150 to 250 linear feet of roofline. At our base rate of $22 per linear foot for a standard single-story install, that works out to $3,300 to $5,500 before complexity adjustments. The cost calculator on this page scales the number honestly — larger homes, more stories, dormers, and complex architectural features all push the price up. A 6,000 square foot Southlake estate on a complex roofline often lands between $10,000 and $16,000. We would rather you see that number on the calculator than be shocked by it on a quote.

Operating cost is where the math surprises people. A typical install of roughly 540 bulbs running five hours a night draws about $18 to $30 per year in electricity at Texas residential rates. That is less than a single month of your HVAC in August. Over the lifespan of the system, the electric bill is a rounding error.

Against the temporary-lights alternative, the payback math is honest. Year one, you are underwater because you paid upfront. By year four, you have broken even against the cost of strands, storage, and labor. Every year after that is pure win — and every November, you save the weekend.