Best Value for Permanent Lights: 6 Reasons Darren Does That and Watts Lights are Killin’ It.

The word is out about permanent lights. More proud homeowners want them, and more businesses and side hustlers want to sell them. Overall there’s been a trend downwards in pricing for these systems. Competition is doing what it’s supposed to and resulting in better value for tightly guarded consumer dollars.

But value isn’t measured only in the dollars you spend. However little you spend, if what you buy doesn’t meet your expectations, you’ve spent too much. And when shopping for a permanent upgrade on your home that you expect to get decades of use out of, the lowest bid can be costly.

If you want the best value for permanent lights, you want Darren Does That and Watts Lights.

1. Watts Lights are Designed for Alberta

These lovely, glowing, colourful little gems are engineered and designed in Calgary. The drawback of this is we have to scrub the Flames stickers off all the hardware after they ship it to us. But boy howdy do these ever stand up to our climate. During our -50 snap early this year, I had not a single failure across hundreds of installations.

I’ve pressure washed the soffits on homes with these lights on, and they were solid, bright, and flicker free throughout. We’ve run wire transitions across black asphalt roofs on 30+ sunny days without a hint of a problem. What value are you really getting if your lights can’t handle the weather?

2. The Maintainability of Watts Lights is Value Down the Road

Every single light in a Watts permanent light system has rubber gasketed water proof connectors on both sides of it. Every light can physically separated on it’s own. When tabulating cost of production of Watts Lights, the connectors actually cost more than the lights themselves. So, a competitor that produces their lights in 5 or 10 or 25 light strings will save on material costs. But the homeowner who buys that product will pay for that shortcut.

With the Watts system, if a light fails prematurely, only that light has to be changed out. We don’t even have to take the aluminum track down. Loosen a couple screws, flex the track open, and swap the puck. It’ll take us longer to set up the ladder than to change the light. When the lights come in longer lengths, they need to be repaired in longer lengths, driving up material and labour costs for what could otherwise be a 5 minute fix.

It’s easy to quote cheaper prices with a cheaper product. But these lights are supposed to be permanent. For the best value for permanent lights you need longevity, and for that maintainability is critical.

3. Darren Does That Compensates Installers So You Get the Best Value for Permanent Lights

It’s very common in Edmonton and area for Permanent Christmas Light installations to be sold by one company and installed by subcontractors. This manages risk for the company, but does not benefit homeowners. I’ve been asked to subcontract by several of the big outfits in town, and for me to earn a living at what they’re willing to pay per foot, I’d have to take every shortcut I can imagine during installation.

A relationship like this incentivizes the fastest possible installation, and the minimum acceptable quality. It also confuses the liability for quality and warranty concerns. Who’s going to take responsibility for that accidentally dented gutter or the lack of WiFi connectivity? Horror stories abound of contractors and subcontractors each blaming the other and the homeowner left with a terrible experience.

At Darren Does That our installers are employees, not subcontractors. We provide health and dental benefits, thorough training, and excellent compensation so they are incentivized to take their time and do the work right. We provide them vehicles, tools, and access equipment so our installers are equipped for top notch quality. And if there is a problem, we own it, and we fix it. We want you to have such a great experience with your lights that you hire us for our cleaning services for years to come, so we train our staff and pay them to take the time to get all the little details right.

4. You Want One Install for Decades of Service, So We Mind the Details

We insist on little details that only make a difference well beyond the warranty period.

• coating wiring connections with Anti-oxidation paste to prevent corrosion decades down the road. 
• filling wiring connections with dielectric grease as an additional waterproofing step.

We go farther than anyone else to hide wiring for an exceptionally clean installation.

• We pass wiring transitions that cross eavestroughs behind the eavestroughs instead of over the face of them.
• We bring custom coloured aluminum channel to cover long transitions. It looks so much better than loom. 

Darren Does That has a safe platform for superior workmanship.

• Last year we invested in a brand-spankin’ new 55’ towable boom lift. We no longer have to do the math about whether renting a lift will save enough install time to pay for itself. We’ve got the right equipment to complete your home safely. Also, there’s simply no way lights can be installed as cleanly one-handing it from a ladder as from the firm stable hands-free platform of a lift-basket. 

Fear No WiFi Headaches with a Darren Does That Installation

• When your install needs it, we will provide a WiFi booster at no extra charge. A permanent lighting system without a good WiFi connection is like a truck without gas. It can be in excellent condition, but it just won’t work. The last thing we want is to leave your home telling you the lights will start working better when you get your WiFi fixed. When we finish your system will be solid and ready to go.

5. We’re a Business with a Track Record of Exceptional Customer Service

A business that is a lighting company only, wants to sell you an installation, get it done, get paid, and then hope to never hear from you again. If you’re ringing them up after, chances are it’s a problem they don’t want to have to fix. Our focus on details that improve the look, function, and longevity of your system isn’t just because we’re real nice. We are a service company.

We hope that when you find you can trust our work with your lighting you’ll call on us for more. We’re invested in creating long term relationships with our customers. There are a lot of outfits that are weekend warriors cashing in on a perceived gold rush but they’re not going to be around when homeowners with their systems need them. 

Darren Does That has won the 2023 and 2024 Consumer Choice Awards and had maintained a perfect 5.0 star rating on Google. That’s our expectation for our customer’s experience, and we’re not going anywhere.

6. The Best Warranty and the Best Value for Permanent Lights go Hand in Hand

When it comes to comparing warranties, check the details. A warranty on materials is nice to have, but if the warranty does not include labour, it’s limited in value. I’ve seen companies that offer 5 years materials and 1 year labour, 5 materials and 3 labour, even one company that offers 10 years materials and only 1 year labour warranty. They can proudly proclaim “10 year Warranty!” on their marketing and it looks really good.

But, the big cost to the homeowner in the event of a service call is the labour portion of it. If a single light fails on an installation, the material cost to replace it is less than $10, though it might be substantially more if the lights are in strings instead of individually connected. The labour charge, however, to get a technician (or two for safety) into a vehicle, travel to your home, and complete the repairs costs hundreds.

There’s a window manufacturer/installer in Edmonton that offers a 20 year warranty on their windows, but there is no labour coverage in the warranty, so every time a seal fails on a window and the window goes foggy, the homeowner pays $300 to have the technician replace it. 

We offer 5 years on materials and 5 years on labour on our installations. We do not reserve a back door to bill you during the warranty period. We simply do exceptional work so your lighting system stands the test of time.