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Decking the halls as a business

It's a very busy business this time of year, with more than 200 houses on its to-do list this season.

LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — Kevin Cronauer co-owns Kringle Lights in Mountain Top. He's been climbing ladders and roofs and installing Christmas lights since before Halloween.

"We started our installs October 15 and have worked every day since, weekends included, doing lights," he explained.

Kevin and his brother Dan have been doing this for the last five years to dovetail their seasonal business washing houses and buildings. It's keeping them busier than they expected.

"Yeah," said Kevin. "This year, we'll probably do about 200 houses. We're still going. People are still calling us every day. You know, some people think the season's over because the snow fell, but we're little rain, and we're back out working today."

They are doing something many people see as a holiday annoyance, which can be a little terrifying.

"At times," admitted Kevin. "But we have safety measures that we take to make sure that everyone on the crew is safe and goes home happy to their families."

They use things like ropes, anchors, spotters, and a tool called a "goat," but there's a lot more to it than just being fearless.

"To do our layout on the roof, we have colored zip ties remote, mark all of our peaks connections, and we're walking around on the roof looking at a first-person view of being up there," added Kevin.

And they use special tools to leave the roof how it was found.

"Exactly. So it's just a plastic clip. And it just slides right underneath the shingle. It doesn't make any penetration to the shingle, and it doesn't cause anywhere damage to it," he continued.

So how much does something like this cost?

"We actually have an $800 minimum. We do certain houses that are $1,200. We do some houses, and they spend over six grand. I mean, some people they just got a lot of Christmas joy, and they like to light it up," laughed Kevin.

The fee includes the lights in some cases. Kringle will then store them for you and put them up again. The next time, you'll just pay for installation.

For more information, you can visit Kringle Light's website by clicking here.

Want to see more holiday stories? Check out the WNEP YouTube channel.   

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