Atkins expands holiday lighting service

by Robert E. Thomas

November 28,2008

Juan Melecil, of Atkins, adjusts garland wrapped around Delta Gamma's 22-foot-tall porch columns. This is Melecil's second year putting up lights for Atkins. He said, "Though it's a seasonal job, I love seeing the finished product."

What started out six years ago as a way for a seasonal lawn care and pest control company to avoid laying off employees during slow winter months has turned out to be a bright idea.

Atkins Inc., a family-owned, local company founded in 1925, added a holiday light hanging service in an effort to provide many of its 33 employees with year-round employment.

“Our lawn care and pest control business is seasonal; most companies in our industry would just lay off people in the winter,” said Emily Thoroughman, vice president of administration. “But we are pretty proud that we can keep people working.”

Atkins hangs lights for about 100 customers. Twenty percent of these are commercial establishments, and the rest are residential homes.

Eight employees work full time starting Oct. 28, hanging lights on roof lines, gutters, cables and trees.

“Basically, we outline the house,” said Shaun Henry, division manager of turf and pest management. “What I find interesting is that the guys who do it are almost all afraid of heights. But it is work and better than sitting at home.”

Sometimes employees must climb 40-foot ladders to hang lights, he said, while the rest of the year they work as pest control, irrigation and turf specialists.

“We have some incredibly multi-talented people,” said Thoroughman.

From left, Jermie Gilpatrick and Juan Melecil prep the next strand of garland to make sure all the bulbs are in proper working order. Atkins will put up more than 1,500 feet of garland this holiday season.

Customers purchase the lights the first year from Atkins, choosing selections offered in a Brite Ideas catalogue. The lights are then installed and, after the holidays, they’re removed. Storage of lighting materials is required at the Atkins facility and maintained until the next year.

Materials and labor on a starter house for the first year run around $1,000. Roof design is a factor in determining cost.  Labor for the second year, without added material, runs about $600, Henry said.

Thoroughman said she expected the light hanging business to drop off due to the sliding economy, but that demand has actually grown. “We have been very pleasantly surprised,” she said.

Henry thinks customers rely on Atkins because the service is convenient.

Jeramie Gilpatrick replaces a burnt out bulb. He said bulb burn out is their biggest problem.

“A lot of people don’t have the time or don’t want to do it themselves, but they still want to have their house decorated,” Henry said. “Ours is the best way to do it professionally rather than hiring some kids down the street.”

Many of the light hanging customers are also year-round customers of the firm’s landscape care and pest control services. Atkins has never advertised its light hanging service. “It has been pretty much by word-of-mouth,” Thoroughman said. “We have such a limited window of opportunity that we really have to control how many customers we have,” she said.

Henry added, “We have six weeks to install the lights. Sometimes we have to work from 6:30 in the morning until midnight. We have a waiting list and have had to turn customers away. We give first preference to existing customers.”

For the past four years Atkins has decorated the Delta Gamma house with 12,000 lights, three wreaths and over 250 feet of garland.

Snow, ice and rain also factor into Atkins’ ability to serve their customers, Henry said. The most popular lights are the clear or white lights, which provide a clean, traditional look, he said. Multi-colored bulbs are rare, he said, and only two out of their 100 clients request them.

Other options include four-foot metal frames from the Brite Ideas catalogue, with lights forming snowflakes, stockings or candy canes.

Rick Snyder hangs a wreath from the Delta Gamma balcony. He reports that about 120 wreaths will go up this holiday season.

Commercial customers include the new Premier Bank on Diego Court, Memorial Funeral Home at 1217 Business Loop 70, Liberty Square and UMB Bank at Chapel Hill and Forum Boulevard.

The commercial customers tend to turn their lights on much earlier than the residential customers, he said. Customers begin asking to have their lights removed as early as Jan. 2.

Juan Melecil, of Atkins, adjusts garland wrapped around one of Delta Gamma

More than 12,000 bulbs illuminate the Delta Gamma house. Atkins will decorate about 110 places this holiday season.

Memorial Funeral Home twinkles at twilight. Rick Snyder reports that the home is his favorite to decorate. "You can see it from the highway and it looks really nice with its clean design and beautiful pitches," he said.