TL;DR. Permanent outdoor lighting in Alberta costs $28 to $32 per linear foot of lit roofline, installed, plus a $500 controller, plus travel to your address and GST. A typical 117 ft two-storey front is $3,776–$4,244 before travel and tax; a bungalow front is around $3,000–$3,400; front and sides is $4,700–$5,300. The per-foot number already includes the track, the lights, installation by our own electricians and both warranties. What moves a home from $28 toward $32 is complexity: peaks, height, fascia material and the run to power. It costs about four or five dollars a month to run.
Search for the price of permanent lighting and you get a wall of “request a quote.” Gemstone itself says to contact a dealer. Most installers publish nothing. That is not because the number is complicated — it is because most of them would rather have you on the phone before you know it. We would rather you know it first, so here is exactly what Gemstone permanent lighting costs when Stellar Upgrades installs it in Edmonton, Red Deer and the communities around them, with the arithmetic shown.
What permanent lighting costs in Alberta (2026)
Every quote we write is built from four lines, and only the first one varies by home:
| Line | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Lit roofline | $28–$32 per linear foot | Colour-matched aluminum track, RGBWW LEDs, wiring, installation by Stellar’s own electricians, 12-month installation warranty, manufacturer warranty |
| Controller | $500 | The Gemstone Hub that runs the system from your phone; one runs a typical home |
| Travel | Itemized by address | Depends on where you are relative to our Edmonton and Red Deer crews; shown before you accept |
| GST | 5% | Added on the invoice; there is no provincial sales tax in Alberta |
Nothing else. No design fee, no site-visit fee, no deposit to see the number. The written quote lists the footage, the controller and the travel separately so you can see exactly how it was built. The full breakdown, and a slider that estimates any footage, live on the lighting page.
Three homes, worked through
Footage is the whole story, so here is what the band produces for the rooflines we see most. Every figure is before travel and GST.
| Home | Lit roofline | Footage × $28–$32 | Controller | Installed, before travel and GST |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bungalow front | ~90 ft | $2,520–$2,880 | $500 | $3,020–$3,380 |
| Two-storey front | ~117 ft | $3,276–$3,744 | $500 | $3,776–$4,244 |
| Front and sides | ~150 ft | $4,200–$4,800 | $500 | $4,700–$5,300 |
| Full wraparound | ~300 ft | $8,400–$9,600 | $500 | $8,900–$10,100 |
A large wraparound sometimes needs a second controller, and a quote says so before you sign. Homes outside the typical band — three storeys, unusual access, very long runs — are quoted individually, and we say that up front rather than surprising you at the door.
What moves a home from $28 toward $32
The range is not a negotiation. It is the honest spread of labour between an easy roofline and a hard one, and four things decide where yours lands:
- Peaks and corners. Every gable, dormer and return is a cut, a join and a run back to the track. A long, straight fascia sits at $28. A roofline with six peaks sits nearer $32.
- Height and pitch. Two-storey eaves and steep roofs take longer and take more of the lift. A bungalow is a ladder job; a walk-out two-storey on a sloped lot is not.
- Fascia material. Wood and vinyl mount quickly. Stone, stucco and metal cladding mount more slowly and need different fasteners.
- The run to power. A sheltered exterior outlet near the front corner is simple. A run around the house to the only outlet at the back is not, and occasionally means our electrician adds an outlet, which is quoted as its own line.
Size, on its own, is not on that list. A 300 ft wraparound on a simple bungalow can price at $28 a foot; a 100 ft front with five gables can price at $32. That is also why a per-foot band is more useful to you than a single teaser total that never seems to apply to your house.
How to estimate your own roofline in five minutes
You do not need a ladder. Stand across the street from the front of the house and count what would be lit: the main eave, each gable’s two sloped edges, any returns, the porch or garage roofline. Then:
- Measure the width of the house along the front eave with a tape, or with the measure tool in Google Maps’ satellite view. Most Alberta bungalows are 40–50 ft; most two-storeys 38–46 ft plus a garage.
- Add 24–36 ft for every gable (two sloped edges of 12–18 ft each).
- Add 8–12 ft for each return or short side segment you want lit.
- Multiply by $28 and by $32, then add $500 for the controller.
The estimator on the lighting page does the arithmetic for any footage between 40 and 400 feet. It is a ballpark from the band, not a quote; the written number comes from your photos.
What it costs to run
Cheap enough that most people stop thinking about it. Each LED draws between 0.25 and 1 watt depending on the colour, and a typical 117 ft front elevation takes about 150 lights — so roughly 150 watts at full brightness, about the same as two old incandescent bulbs. Run that six hours a night and it is about 27 kilowatt-hours a month, which at an Alberta all-in residential rate of 16 to 20 cents per kilowatt-hour comes to about four or five dollars a month. Gemstone publishes $4.34 a month, or $52.80 a year, for the same case, and most colour and architectural scenes draw 25 to 60 per cent less than full brightness. A single string of old C9 incandescent Christmas bulbs can pull more than the whole system.
Permanent lighting versus hanging Christmas lights: the ten-year math
The fair comparison is not one Christmas — it is ten. Seasonal lights are a recurring cost, either in money (a hanging-and-removal service every November and January) or in time and replacement strings (a ladder, a cold Saturday, the box of half-dead LEDs). Permanent lighting is one installed price and then a few dollars a month.
| Seasonal lights, hung for you | Permanent lighting | |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | One season’s hang and removal | Installed price, e.g. $3,776–$4,244 for a 117 ft two-storey front, plus travel and GST |
| Years 2–10 | The same invoice again each season, plus replacement strings | About $50–$60 a year in electricity; nothing to hang, store or replace |
| Nights lit per year | About 35 | Every night you want: warm white all winter, colours for every holiday |
| Ten-year total | Your seasonal invoice × 10 | The installed price + about $500–$600 of electricity |
Put your own seasonal number in the left column. If a service charges you $400 a season, ten years is $4,000 for five weeks of light a year; the permanent system costs about the same once and then lights the house 365 nights a year. If you hang them yourself, the money column is smaller and the Saturday column is not.
Who installs it, and what stands behind it
Stellar’s own electricians install every system — the same in-house crew behind more than 550 solar, battery and EV charger projects across Alberta since 2018, supervised by a Red Seal Master Electrician. We are not a Gemstone dealer and do not claim to be: Central Alberta Lighting in Red Deer is the authorized Gemstone dealer, supplies the system and registers your manufacturer warranty with Gemstone. Stellar carries the 12-month installation warranty and is your single point of contact if anything ever needs attention. The full structure is spelled out on the lighting page.
If we are already on your roof for solar or in your panel for an EV charger, ask about doing the lighting on the same visit — one crew, one permit conversation, one trip charge.
Prices by community
The band is the same everywhere we install; travel is what changes. Each of these pages works the example for the housing stock we see most in that community:
- Permanent lighting in Edmonton — from Westmount bungalows to Windermere two-storeys.
- Permanent lighting in Sherwood Park — larger Summerwood and Emerald Hills rooflines.
- Permanent lighting in St. Albert — Grandin and Mission to Jensen Lakes.
- Permanent lighting in Spruce Grove — Greenbury, Harvest Ridge and the established west end.
- Permanent lighting in Leduc — Southfork, Windrose and the acreages toward Nisku.
- Permanent lighting in Red Deer — Timberlands, Clearview and Vanier Woods, with our Red Deer crew.
Get your exact number
Three photos of the front of your house — straight on, and from each corner — are enough for a layout drawn on your actual rooflines and a written, itemized price: footage, controller, travel, GST. No site visit, no deposit, no obligation, and if your home falls outside the typical band we tell you why before we quote.
