Christmas Light Installation in Bee Cave, TX
Warm white rooflines, wrapped oaks and full front displays for Bee Cave homes and businesses, built to fit the city's Dark Sky lighting code, then taken down in January. Text a few photos and get a price without a site visit.
Christmas lights for Bee Cave homes and businesses
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What do you install? | Rooflines, wrapped oaks and crape myrtles, bushes, wreaths and garland, entries, and trees at shops and offices |
| What does it cost? | Single-story front roofline from $500, two-story from $1,100, full front from $1,800. $500 minimum. See prices |
| Trees? | $150–$250 for a small or medium trunk, up to $5,000 for a boom-lift oak. Tree light wrapping |
| City rules? | Seasonal lights are exempt at or under 125 lumens per foot and 2700 K. No holiday date window. What that means |
| Colored lights? | The code is unclear on color, so we confirm with the city first. See the FAQ |
| When do they come down? | January 2 to January 15 |
| Landscape lighting too? | Yes, after we confirm the rules for your lot with the city. Why |
| How do I get a price? | Text daytime photos of the front of the house and each tree to (737) 777-9099 |
What we light in Bee Cave
Most Bee Cave displays are a warm white roofline plus one or two oaks out front, with a wreath at the door. Every install includes a design for your house, commercial-grade lights and clips, the install, service if anything goes dark, and takedown in January.
Wrapped oaks
Trunks and limbs wrapped by hand at an even spacing, in warm white that stays inside the city's 2700 K limit for seasonal lights.
Rooflines, entries and garland
C9 LED rooflines cut to each run, plus lit wreaths and garland on doors, gables and porch rails. Clips are matched to stone, tile, metal or shingle.
Shops, offices and HOAs
Parking lot trees, entries and signs for businesses and neighborhood entrances, kept within the city's limits and quoted per property.
- A custom design for your house, sent back with your quote
- Commercial-grade warm white LED lights and clips, supplied by Sapien
- Installation by our own crew, without drilling into stone
- A dusk timer set for the nights you choose
- Service during the season if lights we installed go out
- Takedown between January 2 and January 15
We do plug-in seasonal lighting only. If a display needs a new outdoor outlet or circuit, that is a job for a licensed electrician, and we'll tell you before install day. More about our seasonal service is on the Christmas light installation page.
Bee Cave's Dark Sky lighting rules, and how we plan around them
In April 2023 Bee Cave became Texas's seventh International Dark Sky Community. Its lighting rules are in the Unified Development Code, Section 6.2. Holiday lights are exempt from most of them, but the exemption comes with two limits: brightness and color.
| Rule (UDC Section 6.2) | What we do |
|---|---|
| Seasonal string lighting is exempt if it gives off no more than 125 lumens per linear foot (§6.2.1.C.2) | Standard LED strings, no high-output floods or projectors |
| Seasonal lights must be rated at or below 2700 K | Warm white bulbs only, unless the city confirms a colored option |
| No holiday date window in the code | Up in October or November, down January 2–15 |
| Low- and medium-density residential properties are excepted from the midnight curfew (§6.2.2) | A dusk timer set to the hours you want |
| Temporary lighting over 20,000 lumens per fixture or 160,000 lumens in total needs a special permit (§6.2.7) | We flag large commercial displays before quoting |
What this means for your display
The 2700 K limit is the one to watch. A lot of store-bought lights are "cool white" or "bright white," which run well above it, and many color-changing sets have white modes that do too. We use warm white LEDs rated at or below 2700 K, so a classic roofline and wrapped oaks fit the exemption.
Colored lights are the gray area. The code sets a Kelvin rating for seasonal lights but doesn't say how that works for red, green or multicolor bulbs. If you want color, we confirm with the city's planning department before we order anything.
This summary is based on the City of Bee Cave Unified Development Code, Section 6.2, Lighting (Ordinance 475, June 28, 2022, amended by Ordinance 522, November 14, 2023) and the city's residential lighting brochure. The city can change its code, so check the current version or call Planning at 512-767-6678 if you're unsure. Your HOA may have its own rules too.
What's different about lighting a Bee Cave home
A Dark Sky Community
Bee Cave is certified by DarkSky International, and its code is written to match. Displays here should look warm and soft, not bright, and that's how we design them.
Warm white only, by default
The 2700 K cap on seasonal lights rules out cool white and bright white. We plan every Bee Cave display in warm white from the start.
Oak trimming dates
The city only allows oak trimming from July 1 through February 1, and tree businesses need a city permit to trim. We don't prune, so your trees are wrapped as they are.
No holiday curfew for homes
Low- and medium-density homes are excepted from the city's midnight curfew. You choose the hours, and we set the timer.
Stone, stucco and tile
Bee Cave's own City Hall is built in stone Hill Country style. Whatever your house is made of, we use clips made for that surface and never drill into masonry.
Homes and a town center
Bee Cave has neighborhoods and an open-air town center around the Hill Country Galleria. We light both, and businesses are quoted per property.
Christmas light installation prices in Bee Cave
Bee Cave is priced the same as the rest of the Austin area. These are Sapien's typical 2026 starting points for the front of the house.
| Scope | Sapien 2026 price |
|---|---|
| Single-story roofline, front | From $500 |
| Two-story roofline, front | From $1,100 |
| Full front: roofline, trees, bushes, wreath or garland | From $1,800 |
| Small or medium tree, trunk only | $150–$250 |
| Small tree, canopy lightly wrapped | $150–$300 each |
| Large live oak, trunk or trunk plus some limbs | $500–$1,000 |
| Very large oak, multiple branches | $1,500–$3,000 |
| Boom-lift or maximum wrap | Up to $5,000 |
| Removal only (lights someone else put up) | Usually about 20% of the install cost |
| Businesses and HOAs | Quoted per property |
| Minimum job | $500 |
Your quote depends on feet of roofline, height, slope and trees. More detail: Christmas light installation cost in Austin and what it costs to wrap a tree.
How it works in Bee Cave
Text us photos
Daytime photos of the front of the house from the street, each tree, and your outdoor outlets, to (737) 777-9099. If you want color, say so.
Get a design and price
We mark up what we'd light and send back the plan and the price, all in warm white that fits the city's limits. Anything we need to confirm with the city, we tell you up front.
Install in October or November
Earlier dates are easier to get. The lights go up and stay off until the night you pick.
Switch on
Most people start on Thanksgiving night, November 26, 2026. The timer turns the display on at dusk and off when you choose.
All season
If lights we installed go out, text or call and we come back to fix them.
Down in January
We take everything down between January 2 and 15 and leave your roof, trees and stone as we found them.
Tree wraps take the longest install slots, so if oaks are on your list, book early. The month-by-month plan is in our Austin holiday lighting timeline, and here's what a good quote should show.
What our customers say
Every review below is from Sapien Lighting's Google listing, word for word. Read them all on Google.
Landscape lighting in Bee Cave
Sapien also designs and installs landscape lighting: path and step lights, patios and pet areas, soft accent light on stone and plantings, and shadow mapping that plans each light around how the sun and shadows fall on your property.
In Bee Cave, we'll be straight with you: the code is unclear for residential landscape lighting. Section 6.2.1 lists "Low Voltage Landscape Lighting" as exempt, and the residential rules allow low-voltage landscape lighting aimed away from neighbors. But the table of limits for each landscape fixture says landscape lighting is "Not allowed" in the agricultural and single-family districts (AG and R-1 to R-3), while allowing it with lumen caps in denser districts.
Because those sections point in different directions, we confirm with the City of Bee Cave's planning department what's allowed on your lot before we design anything. Whatever we build follows the citywide basics: warm light at 3,000 K or less, fully shielded fixtures, controls that turn lights off in daylight, and the residential brochure's 25,000 lumens per net acre. Landscape lighting is quoted per property. See our landscape lighting page and how shadow mapping works.
About Bee Cave
Bee Cave is a Hill Country city about 14 miles west of Austin, where State Highway 71, RM 620 and RM 2244 (Bee Cave Road) meet. It borders Lakeway to the northwest.
- Settled in the 1850s. Dietrich Bohls settled near where Barton Creek and Little Barton Creek meet in the early 1850s.
- Named for the bees. The town takes its name from a large cave on the creek banks that was swarming with Mexican honeybees. The "Bee Caves" post office opened in 1870.
- A small farm town. By the mid-1880s there was a gristmill, a cotton gin, a store, a church and a school. About 50 people lived here from the 1940s through the 1980s.
- From village to city. Bee Cave incorporated as a village in 1987, became a town in 2006 and adopted a home-rule charter in May 2013.
- Fast growth. The population went from 241 in 1990 to 3,925 in 2010 and 9,144 at the 2020 census.
- Parks. The 50-acre Bee Cave Central Park was donated by Robert Baldwin as part of the Hill Country Galleria development. The 7-acre Sculpture Park on Highway 71 has a spring-fed pond and some of the city's largest oak trees.
- Dark skies. In April 2023 Bee Cave became Texas's seventh International Dark Sky Community. How that affects your lights.
Sources: Handbook of Texas, Wikipedia, City of Bee Cave Parks, DarkSky International.
Map of Bee Cave
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. View larger map
Bee Cave and nearby areas we serve
Bee Cave sits where Highway 71, RM 620 and Bee Cave Road meet, with Lakeway just to the northwest. We install throughout the city, 78738 and western Travis County:
- Bee Cave
- Lakeway
- Barton Creek
- West Lake Hills
- Steiner Ranch
- Austin
- And nearby: just ask
Bee Cave's lighting code applies inside city limits. Lakeway has its own Dark Skies rules with a midnight curfew, and homes outside both cities follow other rules and their own HOAs. Tell us your address and we'll plan for what applies to you.
Bee Cave Christmas lights: frequently asked questions
Are Christmas lights allowed in Bee Cave?
Yes. Bee Cave's lighting code (Unified Development Code Section 6.2) exempts temporary and seasonal lighting, like string lights, as long as it gives off no more than 125 lumens per linear foot and is rated at or below 2700 Kelvin. We build Bee Cave displays from warm white LED strings chosen to stay inside both limits.
Is there a date range for holiday lights in Bee Cave?
No. The code doesn't set holiday dates. The limits are about how bright and how warm the light is, not when it goes up. Homes in low- and medium-density residential areas are also excepted from the city's midnight lighting curfew. We still put every display on a dusk timer, and takedown runs January 2 to 15.
Can I have colored or multicolor lights in Bee Cave?
Possibly, but the code isn't clear. The seasonal exemption requires lights rated at or below 2700 K, which rules out cool white and most bright white modes. The code doesn't say how that applies to colored bulbs, so if you want color we confirm with the city's planning department before we order or install.
Can I get permanent Christmas lights in Bee Cave?
Yes, we install permanent track lights in Bee Cave. Because they stay on the house all year, we design them to the city's regular residential lighting rules as well as the seasonal ones: warm white at 2700 K, low output, aimed at the house and on a timer, with colors saved for the holidays. The code doesn't say outright how year-round string lighting is classified, so we confirm your plan with the city's planning department before install.
How much does Christmas light installation cost in Bee Cave?
The same as the rest of the Austin area. In 2026 a single-story front roofline starts at $500, a two-story front roofline starts at $1,100, and a full front with roofline, trees, bushes and a wreath or garland starts at $1,800. The minimum job is $500. Businesses and HOAs are quoted per property.
What does it cost to wrap an oak in Bee Cave?
A small or medium tree, trunk only, is $150 to $250, and small trees with a lightly wrapped canopy are $150 to $300 each. A large live oak, trunk only or trunk plus some limbs, is $500 to $1,000. A very large oak with multiple branches is $1,500 to $3,000, and boom-lift wraps run up to $5,000.
Will you trim my trees before you wrap them?
No. Sapien doesn't prune. In Bee Cave, tree-service businesses need a city permit to trim or cut trees, and oaks may only be trimmed from July 1 through February 1 unless the city grants a waiver. We wrap your trees as they are and remove everything in January.
Do you do landscape lighting in Bee Cave?
Yes, but honestly, Bee Cave's code is unclear for residential landscape lighting. One section exempts low-voltage landscape lighting, while the table of fixture limits lists landscape lighting as not allowed in the single-family zoning districts. So before we design anything, we confirm with the city's planning department what's allowed on your lot. Landscape lighting is quoted per property.
Do you light businesses in Bee Cave?
Yes. We light trees, rooflines and entries for shops, offices and HOAs, quoted per property. Very large temporary displays need a special permit from the city, over 20,000 lumens for one fixture or 160,000 lumens in total, and we'll tell you if your plan gets close.
Are you insured?
Yes. Sapien is fully insured, with general liability coverage on every job. HOAs and businesses can request a certificate of insurance.
Get your Bee Cave Christmas light quote
Text a few daytime photos of the front of your house and any trees to (737) 777-9099, and tell us the night you want them on. Prefer to talk? Call us, 9 am to 11 pm daily.