Buford Christmas light installation, Tannery Row to Lake Lanier
Professional Christmas lights installation for Buford homes and businesses. We create holiday displays across Lake Lanier, Mall of Georgia area, and Gwinnett County neighborhoods. Simple designs, LED lights, and full service from start to finish.
The Leather City lights up differently on every side of town
Buford earned the nickname the Leather City back when the Bona Allen tannery, opened in 1873, made it one of the country's largest producers of saddles and harnesses. That history still shows: brick storefronts along Main Street, old factory buildings at Tannery Row now full of artist studios, and a downtown that wears December well.
The rest of the city spreads out from those blocks in three directions. Golf-course subdivisions like Hamilton Mill sit to the northeast, retail stacks up around the Mall of Georgia, the largest mall in the state, and Lake Lanier presses against the north side above Buford Dam, which has held the lake in place since 1956. Few cities we serve pack this much variety into one route: century-old commercial buildings, shoreline docks, and two-story subdivisions that did not exist five years ago.
Buford has been on our schedule since 2018, and across all our cities the count passed 7,500 homes some time ago. Every job here runs on the same fixed points. The LEDs come from our stock, timers handle the nightly schedule, repairs during the season are free, and January takedown is part of the price. Install weeks run late October to mid-December and go fastest around Thanksgiving, so booking early buys both the calendar spot and the early-bird 10%.
Knowledge of Buford’s neighborhoods and Lake Lanier
A crew that hangs lights on a Main Street parapet in the morning and a Hamilton Mill two-story after lunch has to know both kinds of building. Ours do. Buford has been on the route since our earliest seasons, and its quirks are familiar ones.
Nothing pierces a Buford roof
Nothing pierces your roof. Clips ride shingle edges and gutters, cords route away from walkways, and the circuits carrying your display are tested and ground-fault protected. Wind coming off the lake gets planned for in the design, not discovered in December.
Flexible designs for homes and businesses
The design changes with the building: garland and a straight C9 line on a downtown storefront, light aimed at the water side of a lake house, a warm white outline on a subdivision two-story. Each is priced to the actual structure, never to a package tier.
Book once, and one team runs the season
You book once. We design the display, supply the LEDs, install, set timers, fix whatever fails, and return in January to take it all down. The number you approved at the start covers that entire run.
Buford routes: downtown, Hamilton Mill, the lake side
Our December map of Buford has three busy zones. Downtown around Main Street, where commercial and residential jobs mix on the same block. The subdivision belt out toward Hamilton Mill and the Mall of Georgia, heavy on two-story rooflines and wrapped maples. And the lake side along Buford Dam Road, where every design answers to docks and water sightlines. Crews cross all three zones daily, so no Buford address waits long for a quote, an install date, or a mid-season fix.
Shoreline homes above Buford Dam
Buford Dam has held Lake Lanier in place since 1956, and the neighborhoods along the water treat the lake as a second front yard. Displays there get planned from two angles, street and cove, because a lit roofline doubles itself on still water. We run lines on both faces of the house, wrap shoreline trees, and carry C9 down dock frames when owners want the full effect. Lake humidity works on connections all winter, so every plug gets sealed and every run gets a drip loop. Boaters notice these houses all December. That is usually the point.
Storefront lighting, Main Street to the Mall of Georgia
Buford's commercial season runs on two poles. Downtown, the brick buildings around Main Street and Tannery Row take garland, wreaths, and straight rooflines that suit architecture from the tannery years. Out by the Mall of Georgia, opened in 1999 and still the state's largest, traffic moves at car speed rather than foot speed, and displays scale up to match: bigger bulbs, longer runs, entries lit for drivers instead of pedestrians. We install both kinds of storefront display after hours and keep every commercial display serviced through New Year's.
How a Buford job runs
First contact gets you a walk-around and a written number with each line priced. Approve it and pick an install week; the crew arrives with everything, because lights, clips, cords, and timers all come from our stock. A strand that quits in December brings a free return visit. In January the same team removes the display and, unless you would rather keep it, takes it to labeled storage, so nobody hauls bins up a pull-down ladder. The process stays simple on purpose. Buford homeowners have enough on the December calendar already.
The Leather City's historic downtown
Bona Allen's tannery opened in 1873 and grew into an operation that outfitted cowboy stars like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry; its surviving buildings at Tannery Row now hold studios and galleries, and Main Street keeps its early-1900s brick face. Lighting buildings like these takes restraint and the right anchors. Masonry gets clips and standoffs, never new holes. Designs stay period-appropriate: warm white, straight lines, garland with real depth. Older wiring gets its circuits tested before carrying a single strand. Done right, a lit historic block outdraws any shopping center in town.
From mill-town cottages to brand-new two-stories
Housing in Buford spans about 120 years. Streets near downtown still hold homes from the tannery era, modest frames with deep porches and steep little gables. Ring outward and the decades tick forward until you reach subdivisions where the sod went down last spring. Our installers adjust to each: gentle clip work and light electrical loads on the oldest houses, quick clean measurement on the newest, ladders sized for everything between. From the street the result reads the same either way, a straight bright line where the roof meets the sky.
What Buford homeowners and shop owners ask
Answers for downtown, Hamilton Mill, and the lake side of town.
Can you light the lake side of my Buford house?
Yes. Lake homes above Buford Dam get lines on both faces of the house, wrapped shoreline trees, and C9 down the dock frames when you want the full effect. Every plug is sealed and every run gets a drip loop against lake humidity.
Do you hang lights on the historic brick buildings downtown?
Yes. Masonry around Main Street and Tannery Row gets clips and standoffs, never new holes, and older wiring has its circuits tested before it carries a single strand. Designs stay period-appropriate, with warm white, straight lines, and garland with real depth.
Why does a lake home cost more to light than a cottage near downtown Buford?
A tannery-era frame near downtown measures short and keeps the crew close to the ground. A Lake Lanier home adds a second lit face of the house, wrapped shoreline trees, and dock frames, and each piece is its own line on a free written quote, 10% lower before November 1st.
Is mid-November too late to book a Buford install?
It can be. Prime Buford dates are usually gone by mid-November, so reserve before November 1st for first pick and the early-bird discount. Installs continue into mid-December on whatever dates remain.
Do you light storefronts out by the Mall of Georgia?
Yes. Traffic there moves at car speed, so displays scale up with bigger bulbs, longer runs, and entries lit for drivers. We install after hours and keep every commercial display serviced through New Year's.
Reserve a Buford install date before mid-November
Downtown storefronts, Hamilton Mill two-stories, and lake homes above Buford Dam, all on one crew's route. Call or text (470) 777-7443, or send photos through the contact form, for a free itemized quote.
Get a free quote for your Buford house
Text us a photo of the front of the house and your address, call, or fill out the form. You get a written, itemized quote, usually within one business day.
