Holiday Installs: 5 Tips for Taking Them Down

If you recently added holiday installs to your interiorscape services, you may have discovered it’s not as simple as it seems. You’ve likely already accomplished the first phase, which is designing and installing all your displays. Now, with the holidays fast approaching, it’s time to prepare for how you will remove and store every item until next year.

When I started in this field, I overlooked the additional labor expenses involved in the design takedown—a huge mistake. The good thing about removing holiday installs is that it takes much less time and manpower than setting up. So, if you did forget to add in that extra labor cost, at least it won’t be as detrimental. It’s also important to consider additional storage expenses when submitting holiday installation quotes. In the early days of my career, I was able to keep all my seasonal displays in the back room. However, as my clientele expanded, I had to lease storage units, which quickly added up to several thousand dollars a year.

One thing I can’t stress enough is that organization during the removal phase will result in less costly mistakes next year. The following are five tips that will help you survive the holiday installation removal phase.

1. Invest in Clear Containers

Using transparent containers or plastic bags will save you many headaches. When I began offering holiday installs, this wasn’t something I thought about. In fact, I purchased containers based purely on price. Then, when it came time to find a certain item in stacked storage bins piled four to six high, it was a lot of physical stress—not to mention a waste of time—moving containers around just to pop the lid off to see what was inside.

2. Create Detailed Labels

When your crew arrives on the scene ready to remove all the seasonal items, it’s a natural desire to get it done as quickly as possible. This used to mean placing all the decor items in bags, stuffing the bags into plastic containers, loading and transporting the containers, and then stacking it all away in a dark corner until the following year. Years ago, I could remember which wreaths, garlands, trees, and various other decor items went to what company, along with their exact placement. However, after I acquired more than a few seasonal accounts, I found myself spending too much time wondering whether the bag of garland belonged to the lobby in ABC’s building or if it decorated XYZ’s staircase.

To save myself hours of stress (and money), I create a detailed label when removing decorations stating which building, room, and floor the items come from. For example, if XYZ company had garland swagged along a staircase, I would label the container as follows: Swagged garland/XYZ building/1st-floor/staircase/left side, facing stairwell

Note: Marking the left or right side is important if the lengths are different. This will save labor and material so you’re not cutting and reattaching sections.

3. Don’t Remove Ornaments

With a typical client, I remove everything from trees, wreaths, and garlands, place the items neatly in boxes, and label them well, but it takes an enormous amount of time to separate every ornament into a container. If I have holiday accounts that are strictly labor—setting up and taking down client-owned holiday design decorations—or I know a client sticks with the same design each year, the entire setup and teardown time can be halved by leaving decorations in place.

In essence, don’t waste your time on decor items that don’t need to come apart. You can wrap trees and wreaths with stretch or shrink wrap, which comes in 20″ x 1000′ rolls for roughly $25 each. This protects them from dust and holds the delicate ornaments in place for next year. When the holidays roll around again, you simply remove the plastic, make a few adjustments, and they’re ready to go.

4. Take Photos of your Holiday Installs

When I first started, there weren’t smartphones with awesome cameras that could take panoramic pictures or videos. I still have some of those blurry photographs of my first jobs and wonder how those years passed by so fast. Taking a moment to document every display will be exceptionally helpful. Was this garland swagged or did it hang straight? Did this tree need presents under it instead of a skirt? Where did the poinsettias go? It’s details like this that will make your job so much easier when you can refer back to a picture.

5. Hire Seasonal Holiday Design Staff

The majority of my holiday installation crew are just that—seasonal. They help out for a couple of months during the holidays. Finding people willing to give up their important family or vacation time is challenging, but I’ve found that making the work enjoyable and sharing the financial rewards will help bond them to you and your company. Creating a loyal seasonal crew is invaluable. When employees know the accounts and how displays should look, you don’t have to stress trying to do it all yourself.