Decorating Specialists Calm The Holiday Hubub In Area

Dana Robinson of McMurray likes her home decorated at Christmas. But there are limits.

"We are in our 60s and 70s," she said about herself and her husband. "There's no way we are going to get up on the roof or use ladders to get to second-floor windows." This year, that upper floor and roof are decorated. She is one of several dozen clients of Christmas Decor, a Richland-based franchise that decorates homes for a fee.

"This is a service that is worth it to many people. Not everyone wants to go to Home Depot, buy lots of decorations and spend days stringing them up in cold or rainy weather," said Maury Frankel, who runs the Christmas Decor franchise, the only one in the Pittsburgh area and one of 415 in the United States. Displays set up by the company run from Dickens to Disney. One area home decorated by the company features a scene with prancing reindeer followed by Santa seated on a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

A few lights are all some people need.

"They came and met with us, showed us tons of pictures and really worked with us. It's great because I am afraid of heights," said Colleen Anthony of McCandless, who moved into a newly built house this year and had her home decorated by Christmas Decor.

For Frankel and his wife, Elizabeth, taking on the franchise this year was a perfect supplement to their other business, E.L.F. Entertainment Inc., an events company with 10 full-time employees that sets up inflatable games and attractions at fairs and community events.

That business thrives in the warmer months. The decoration jobs have given Frankel the opportunity to stay busy during what had typically been his company's off season.

Frankel paid $30,000 for the franchise fee and bought $50,000 in Christmas lights. He and his wife attended a weeklong session on how to run the business.

So far this year, Christmas Decor has decorated 30 area homes and plans to decorate at least 40 or 50 more. Demand has been so high that Frankel says the company will stop taking reservations for its services early this month.

An average Christmas Decor franchise decorates between 80 and 125 homes, said Brandon Stephens, director of marketing at the Lubbock, Texas-based company, which has been in business for 14 years.

Outsourcing home decoration is becoming a boom business, said Stephens, who added the company's business has grown 800 percent in six years.

The minimum cost for the service is $1,300, and the company does only exterior decoration of homes.

"This is really a growing trend nationally and is just hitting this area. Customers really love this," said Audrey Guskey, a marketing professor at the Duquesne University School of Business. The Pittsburgh region lags behind other parts of the nation because its population is older and usually more traditional, she said "I expect to see more and more companies doing this," she said.

Most of Frankel's advertising this year was done with fliers, which is how Robinson found out about the service. "I was reading a local magazine and the flier fell out. Sometimes that kind of ad can be quite useful," she said.

The business is not without some risks, most of them related to weather.

"It's the rain that kills us. It delays us, and our customers usually are particular about having their home decorated by a certain date," Frankel said.

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