This past winter, we found ourselves once again returning to eastern Tennessee. We completed our summer workamping gigs in Minneapolis and jumped right into holiday decorating with Christmas Decor of Knoxville beginning in October. Christmas Decor is a franchise and this Knoxville location hires not only locals but RVers, as well.
Christmas Decor, as its name clearly notes, specializes in holiday decorations. The company decorates business fronts and residential property with mostly outdoor lighting on roofs and trees, garland, and wreaths. With some clients, specialty decorations like giant Christmas trees, nativity scenes, or other custom-made structures are assembled and displayed.
With its ever-growing clientele, this Knoxville branch begins their season October 1st and stretches into the first one or two weeks of February. A season consists of two parts, “install” and “take down.” The year before, Levi and I were employed during the “take down” portion, but out of sheer curiosity we decided to go for the full monty and agreed to complete a full season. Since we already did a workamper review on the “take down” portion of Christmas Decor of Knoxville, this review will cover the beginning portion of the season or “install.”
Watch the video below for our “install” review!
The “install” portion of Christmas Decor runs from October to December, typically beginning of October to the first or second week of December. (“Take down” is from the beginning of January to the first or second week of February.)
As installers, our job was to display lights on roofs, trees, and bushes. Garland and wreaths were hung from doorways, windows, and balconies. Equipment like ladders, lifts, poles, and harnesses were used to reach higher places.
You have your pick, depending on comfort and skill level, if you want to work on roofs or remain a member of the ground crew. One thing is for certain, you should not be afraid of heights in this job because climbing ladders is a guarantee.
For the most part, we installed lights at a a number of companies and homes in and surrounding Knoxville. Levi was a roofer and I was a part of the ground crew (pretty much putting lights and decor on everything BUT the roof). Levi loved the views from the roof, especially when installing lights on cabins nestled in the Smokies.
We both loved viewing the locations at night and seeing our handiwork on display! The customers were very complimentary and we later learned that many installments were purchased as gifts or surprises for family and friends.
There were some unique jobs too. We assembled a 32 foot Christmas trees with giant ornaments in downtown Maryville, installed lights at the Knoxville zoo, and we branch wrapped an indoor live Christmas tree with over 2000 LED mini lights. A brand new project to Christmas Decor was decorating the bridge and main courtyard area of the Gatlinburg Sky Bridge. How neat was it that we put up lights and decorations on the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in North America!
Work days during install usually consisted of 6 day work weeks; Sundays were time off. The hours stretched depending on workload and customer demands. For the most part, we were working 10+hours days. Overtime was almost always a given. The only element that hauled progress was rain, but with the long days, it was often times welcomed. The job could be physically and mentally draining with consecutive days of long hours and tedious tasks.
As far as benefits, starting pay was $12/hour with opportunities for a bump in hourly pay throughout the season. Roofers started at a $13/hour. Time and a half was paid after 40 hours each week. A bonus was rewarded for completing the full season (install and take down) and an additional bonus was paid to returning workers.
We stayed at an RV park, Lazy Acres RV Park in Lenoir City, a mere mile or two from the warehouse (our meeting place every morning). We were responsible for monthly rent which was about $350. Electricity was a separate charge.
Wendell Redmond, the owner of Christmas Decor of Knoxville, has been running the company for 15 years. He is a huge proponent of charitable projects and uses a portion of his profits for relief efforts all over the globe.
If time allows, he encourages his employees to participate in community events like food drives a few times during the season. With our giant crew, we were able to finish the majority of assignments in early December and had the opportunity to represent the company in the Lenoir City Christmas parade. The food drives and parade were also highlights of our workamping experience!
Christmas Decor of Knoxville was one of our more unique workamping gigs. If this job interests you, give Wendell Redmond a call at (865) 769-0039 and let him know that Levi and Natalie sent you!
Till we meet again, happy workamping and happy trails!
