The Owner Is Still On The Job
28 seasons in, Bill still walks the properties, still runs the crews, and still answers the phone.
Twenty-eight seasons, same phone number
Bill has given 30 years to a local paid fire department and holds the rank of Captain. He is still on shift today. Ladder work, fall protection, and working at height under pressure are not a training module for him. They are Tuesday.
He has run South Custom Lighting alongside the firehouse the whole time. Thirty years of shift work and twenty-eight Christmas seasons, side by side, which tells you something about the work ethic before anyone gets to the lights.
He started South Custom Lighting in 1998, in Pilot Point, where the company is still based and where our storage building sits today. That is 28 seasons of North Texas rooflines, and the number on the truck has not changed in any of them.
It is also why nearly every one of the 30 reviews on Google names him rather than the company. When you call, you get Bill. When the crew shows up, he is usually on it.
Pilot Point, TX
What a fire background changes
"Firefighter-owned" gets used as a bumper sticker in this industry, and there are two other companies in this market using it. On its own it means nothing. Here is the part that is real.
Working at height safely is a set of habits, and habits are built by repetition under consequence. Crews here work roped to anchors on steep pitches. Ladders get set at the right angle and footed. Nobody walks a wet roof to save fifteen minutes, and nobody is on your house without knowing what to do if something goes wrong.
The practical version for you: a crew working carefully is a crew that is not damaging your shingles, denting your gutters, or trampling your beds. And nobody gets hurt on your property, which is a problem you never want to find out you own.
Twenty-eight seasons in, he still goes to training
Bill sat through the ChristmasLights.io in-person installer course this year, alongside contractors half his age, to see what had changed since the last time he checked. New clip systems, new controller tech, new ways to build a mega-tree.
Most people with three decades behind them have stopped asking that question. That is the part worth knowing about who is running your job.
What the work looks like
The Crew
Same people, season after season. They know the routes and they know the houses.
The Rig
Everything needed for the day, on site. No trips back to the shop mid-install.
The Owner
Walks your property, designs the display, and answers when you call.
Talk to Bill directly.
No call center, no sales team. The person who answers is the person who does the work.