How Much Do Permanent Outdoor Lights Cost in Canada?

Permanent outdoor lights (also called permanent holiday lights, soffit track lights, or architectural roofline lighting) are individually addressable RGBW LED pucks recessed into an aluminum track that mounts under your soffit or along your fascia. Once installed they stay up year-round, controlled from your phone, and can produce warm white for everyday use, colour scenes for holidays, or dynamic effects for game nights. The obvious question before you commit is the honest one: what does this actually cost in Canada in 2026? Below we break down real, defensible CAD ranges for both routes: buying a DIY kit and installing it yourself, or having it professionally installed.

The two ways to buy, and why prices differ so much

Almost every quote you will see falls into one of two buckets. A DIY kit is the hardware only: the LED pucks, aluminum track, a WiFi controller, a power supply, connectors and mounting screws, shipped to your door for you to install on a weekend. A professional install is that same class of hardware plus labour, ladders, layout planning, wiring, and cleanup, priced by the linear foot and installed by a crew. The gap between the two is almost entirely labour and the installer's hardware markup, which is why DIY typically costs about half of a turnkey job for the same size of home.

DIY kit pricing by home size (2026 CAD)

Our DIY kits are sold as complete LED Housing Packages sized by linear footage, so you buy roughly the length you need and add a little margin for corners and offcuts. As a defensible market range across Canadian sellers, expect the following for a complete kit including pucks, track, controller and power supply:

• 50 ft kit (small bungalow front, garage, or a single feature elevation): roughly $700-$1,200 CAD
• 100 ft kit (typical single-storey home or a modest two-storey front): roughly $1,200-$1,900 CAD
• 150 ft kit (average two-storey home, front plus partial sides): roughly $1,800-$2,600 CAD
• 200 ft kit (larger two-storey, wraparound coverage): roughly $2,300-$3,300 CAD

Those ranges reflect complete, warrantied kits rather than bargain-bin strip lights. Cheaper spools of generic LED tape exist, but they are not the same product: they lack individually addressable pucks, weather-rated aluminum housing, and the controllers that make year-round Canadian outdoor use reliable. You can compare exact current kit prices on our kit sizes page and see what is in each package.

Buying individual parts instead of a full kit

If you are extending an existing run, replacing a component, or building a non-standard layout, buying parts individually is often the smarter spend. As a guide to typical Canadian parts pricing in 2026:

• 12V RGBW LED pucks: usually sold per point or in strings; budget a few dollars per point, with pucks making up the bulk of any kit's cost
• Aluminum track (available in four soffit colours to blend in): commonly priced per foot or per length
• WiFi 4-channel controller: roughly $60-$130 CAD depending on channel count and features
• Power supply (60W to 300W): roughly $40-$140 CAD, sized to the number of pucks on the circuit
• Connectors, power-injection cables and amplifiers: a few dollars to ~$40 each, needed on longer runs to keep colour and brightness even
• Soffit screws and mounting hardware: a small per-pack cost

The reason we call out power injection and amplifiers is that they are the parts most first-timers forget. Long single runs lose voltage toward the far end, which shows up as dimming or colour shift. Injecting power partway along the run, or adding an amplifier, fixes it. You can browse every component on the shop page and match colours and wattages to your layout.

Professional installation pricing (2026 CAD)

If you would rather not be on a ladder, professional installation is priced per linear foot installed. Across the Canadian market in 2026, installed pricing generally falls between $8 and $18 per linear foot, hardware included, depending on your region, home height, and the installer. That means a fully installed system on an average home usually works out to something like this:

• Smaller home, ~75-100 ft installed: roughly $1,500-$3,000 CAD
• Average two-storey, ~150 ft installed: roughly $3,000-$5,500 CAD
• Larger home with wraparound coverage, 200+ ft: roughly $5,000-$8,000+ CAD

We now offer professional installation across Southwestern Ontario, covering London, Woodstock, and the Kitchener-Waterloo region. For local homeowners that means one crew handles measurement, layout, mounting, wiring, and cleanup, and you get the same 5-year hardware warranty on the parts. If you are outside that area, the DIY kit ships Canada-wide and is designed to be installed with basic tools in a weekend. You can request a local quote on the installation page.

What actually drives your cost

Two homes on the same street can get very different quotes. Here is what moves the number, roughly in order of impact:

• Linear footage: the number one factor for both DIY and installed pricing, because it sets how many pucks and how much track you need.
• Home height and access: two- and three-storey homes, steep rooflines, or hard-to-reach peaks add labour time and safety equipment to an installed quote.
• Number of runs and power injections: complex layouts with several separate sections need extra controllers, injections, or amplifiers.
• Soffit condition and colour matching: choosing a track colour to match your soffit is free, but damaged or unusually deep soffits can add labour.
• Controller and feature level: single-zone versus multi-zone control and app features nudge the hardware price.
• Region and season: installer rates vary by market, and booking in the busy autumn run-up to the holidays can cost more than the off-season.

Is permanent lighting worth it versus temporary lights?

Permanent lighting is a larger one-time cost, but it replaces a recurring one. Buying and replacing temporary light strings, plus paying a service to hang and remove them each year, adds up quickly. In many Canadian markets a professional hang-and-remove alone runs several hundred dollars every season, before you count damaged strings and storage. A permanent system removes that annual bill and gives you everyday architectural lighting, holiday colour, and security lighting from a single install. For most homeowners the payback lands within a few seasons, and DIY shortens that further by removing labour cost entirely.

So, what should you budget?

For a realistic 2026 plan: if you are handy and want the best value, budget roughly $1,200-$3,000 CAD for a complete DIY kit sized to your home, with free shipping on orders over $500 and a 5-year warranty behind the hardware. If you would rather have it installed and you are in the London, Woodstock, or Kitchener-Waterloo area, budget around $8-$18 per linear foot installed, which for most homes means roughly $3,500-$8,000. Either way, start by measuring your roofline: that single number tells you which kit size to look at and gives any installer the basis for an honest quote. When you are ready, compare the kit sizes to find your fit, pick up any individual parts you need from the shop, or book a local installation if you would like our crew to handle it.