Permanent Lighting
How Much Does Permanent Outdoor Lighting Cost in Chattanooga? JellyFish and Bosso Pricing Explained
New Age Lights • August 2026 • Chattanooga, TN • 9 min read
What is the average cost of permanent outdoor lighting?
Two manufacturers publish real numbers, and those are the only numbers we use. JellyFish Lighting puts a professionally installed system at $25 to $35 per linear foot, with most homes landing between $3,000 and $6,000 and an average around $4,600. Bosso Smart Lighting says its average customer spends about $5,000.
Those figures are national, and they hold up in Chattanooga because the biggest driver, linear footage, does not care what city the house is in. What changes locally is the second tier: how tall the front is, how the roofline breaks up, and how hard it is to get a lift onto the lot. A Hixson ranch and a Signal Mountain brow house can have the same footage and land at different numbers.
How much does JellyFish Lighting cost per foot?
JellyFish's published guidance is $25 to $35 per installed linear foot. That covers the color-matched aluminum track, the individually addressable pucks inside it, the wiring back to the controller, the labor to mount it under your eave, and the app setup. Controllers run $650 to $850 each; one controller powers up to about 263 feet of track, and a system can expand to 2,400 feet, which matters for a large house or a commercial frontage.
Applying that math to Chattanooga rooflines:
| Run length | At $25/ft | At $35/ft | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 ft | $2,500 | $3,500 | Front of a mid-century Hixson or Red Bank ranch |
| 150 ft | $3,750 | $5,250 | Front elevation of a two-story East Brainerd or Ooltewah home |
| 200 ft | $5,000 | $7,000 | Wide front with gables and a side elevation visible from the street |
| 300 ft | $7,500 | $10,500 | Full perimeter of a larger subdivision home, or a Signal Mountain house with a long brow-side run |
The table is arithmetic on the manufacturer's range, not a New Age Lights price list. Eight gable peaks use more track, corners and labor per foot than a flat run of the same length, which is what pushes a quote toward the top.
How much does Bosso lighting cost per foot?
Bosso does not publish a per-foot rate. The number the manufacturer stands behind is that an average customer spends about $5,000. Bosso systems are built around the count of lights and controllers rather than a national per-foot figure, so the per-foot price falls out of the design instead of going into it.
In practice a Bosso quote for a Chattanooga home tends to land in the same neighborhood as a JellyFish quote for the same roofline. Where the two diverge is usually not price. It is fit: which fixture seats flush on your fascia, whether you want a dedicated true white diode, and which smart-home ecosystem you already live in. We cover that properly in JellyFish vs Bosso for Chattanooga homes.
What drives the per-foot price on a Chattanooga roofline
Every quote we write starts from the same inputs. Here is what each one does to the number.
| Factor | Effect on price | Chattanooga example |
|---|---|---|
| Linear footage | The largest driver, roughly proportional | A 40-foot-wide ranch front vs a 60-foot two-story with returns |
| Peaks, dormers and gables | More cuts, more corners, more labor per foot | Older Signal Mountain houses with dormers and additions made over decades |
| Height and access | Lift work instead of ladder work; slower on steep lots | Walkout rears in Ooltewah that sit a full story below the front |
| Fascia and eave condition | Deep or interrupted eaves take longer to seat a track cleanly | Early twentieth-century homes in North Chattanooga and Riverview |
| Track color | Minor; color-matching to trim is standard, not an upgrade | Dark bronze on a brick Fort Wood home, white on painted fascia in Collegedale |
| Controllers and zones | A second controller adds cost on very long runs | Full perimeter over ~263 ft of JellyFish track |
| Power and wiring path | Longer runs to the garage or panel add labor | Detached garages on older Cleveland lots |
Access matters more here than in most metros because Chattanooga is built on ridges. On Signal Mountain and Lookout Mountain the lift position, not the design, decides how long an install takes, and that time is in the quote. It is why we walk the property before we write one.
Front only or full perimeter: three Chattanooga examples
Most homeowners light the elevations you can actually see from the street, and that is what we recommend unless there is a reason not to. Here is how the choice plays out on three common local house types. The dollar figures are the JellyFish published range applied to the footage; your quote will be a single fixed number.
A two-story in East Brainerd or Ooltewah
These subdivisions were mostly built from the 1980s onward, with long straight fascia, seamless gutters and a gable over the entry. Straight fascia is the easiest surface a permanent track can meet, so the per-foot cost sits toward the lower end even though the peak is out of ladder reach. A front-only run of 120 to 160 feet typically lands between $3,000 and $5,600. Wrapping the whole house, including the tall walkout rear, can push footage to 300 feet or more.
A mid-century ranch in Hixson or Red Bank
Low, reachable and often with a shallow or interrupted fascia. Footage is short, 80 to 120 feet for the front, so the total comes in at the low end, roughly $2,000 to $4,200. This is also the house type where we will sometimes tell you a seasonal display is better value, because the run is quick to hang and quick to service. That conversation happens at the consult, not after you have paid.
A brow lot on Signal Mountain
The house is read from its own street and from the valley floor, so the roofline outline does most of the work. Stone and brick, steep pitches, dormers and additions mean more corners and more careful fitting, and a substantial older home often wants 200 feet or more across the visible elevations. Expect the upper half of the published range. The payoff is that nobody goes up a ladder on a wet, wooded slope in November again.
Every one of those examples starts with the same free visit. See East Brainerd, Hixson and Signal Mountain for what each area's rooflines tend to need.
The five-year math against seasonal lights
A permanent system costs more in year one than a seasonal display. Whether it costs more over five years depends on your roofline.
Typical turnkey seasonal programs in the industry run about $2.50 to $8 per linear foot per year, which puts a roofline-only front at roughly $700 to $1,500 and a full display with trees and wreaths at $2,000 to $5,000 or more. Renewal years on a lease are lower than year one, but you pay every year. A 150-foot seasonal roofline repeated five times can approach the one-time cost of a 150-foot permanent track, and the permanent track is still running in year six, ten and fifteen. JellyFish rates its lights at roughly 50,000 hours and says its earliest 2016 installs are still running. Bosso rates its lights at about 50,000 hours too, and puts that at 25 to 30 years of five-hour evenings. Running cost is a footnote either way: a JellyFish puck at full white draws under 1 watt, and Bosso describes a 250-light system as drawing roughly what five ordinary bulbs draw.
The break-even moves in permanent's favor on tall, steep or broken-up rooflines, because those are also the most expensive to re-hang every December. It moves toward seasonal on a small, simple, reachable house where you only want lights for five weeks a year. We lay the whole model out with labeled assumptions in permanent vs seasonal Christmas lights in Chattanooga, and there is a national version of the comparison on the New Age Lights hub.
How the fixed quote works
The process is the same for every Chattanooga home, whether it is in Cleveland, Collegedale or up the mountain.
- Free on-site consult. We measure the roofline, look at the fascia, drip edge and gutters, and check where the controller and power can live. Nothing is quoted from an aerial photo.
- Both systems, side by side. We show you JellyFish and Bosso for your house and tell you which fits, including when that is the cheaper one.
- One number. The quote is the price. Anything that would change it, you hear at the consult, not on the invoice.
- Order, then install. Custom color-matched JellyFish track takes one to two weeks to arrive. Most installs are done in a day; crews complete about 150 linear feet per day, so a very long run may take two.
- Warranty and service. JellyFish carries five years on parts with year one covering parts, labor and service. Bosso carries five years on parts and one year on labor. Either way, we install and service every system we sell. If a run drops out, you call us, not a manufacturer's support line.
If you want to spread the cost, ask at the consult what payment arrangements are available.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average cost of permanent outdoor lighting in Chattanooga?
Using the manufacturers' own published guidance, JellyFish Lighting runs $25 to $35 per linear foot installed, with typical homes landing between $3,000 and $6,000 and an average around $4,600. Bosso Smart Lighting reports that its average customer spends about $5,000. A Chattanooga quote lands inside those ranges for most homes; what moves it is linear footage, height and how broken up the roofline is.
How much does JellyFish Lighting cost per foot?
JellyFish publishes national guidance of $25 to $35 per linear foot installed, with controllers priced at $650 to $850. A 120-foot front elevation therefore sits roughly between $3,000 and $4,200 before site-specific factors, and a 200-foot run between $5,000 and $7,000.
How much does Bosso lighting cost per foot?
Bosso does not publish a per-foot figure; it states that an average customer spends about $5,000 on a system. Because Bosso is priced by the number of lights and controllers rather than by a national per-foot rate, the only reliable number for your house is a measured quote.
Is a front-only install much cheaper than a full perimeter?
Yes, usually by more than half. Most Chattanooga homeowners light only the elevations seen from the street, which on a typical subdivision home is 100 to 150 feet. Wrapping the whole house can double or triple the footage, and on a walkout lot the rear run is also the tallest and slowest part of the job.
Does New Age Lights charge for the design consult or the quote?
No. The on-site consult and the fixed quote are both free. We measure the roofline, look at the fascia, drip edge and gutters, show you where the track will sit, and give you one number that does not change on the invoice.
Is permanent lighting cheaper than seasonal lights over time?
Over five years it often is, especially on tall or steep homes. Typical turnkey seasonal programs run about $2.50 to $8 per linear foot per year, so a full seasonal display repeated for five seasons can approach the one-time cost of a permanent system, and the permanent system keeps running after year five. On a small, simple, reachable roofline, seasonal can still be the better value.
Get a fixed number for your roofline
We measure every Chattanooga home before we quote it, show you both JellyFish and Bosso for your house, and give you one price that holds. The consult is free and there is no obligation.
Get a free quote or call (423) 528-1240.
