by Crayton Harrison
staff writer of the Dallas Morning News
Harold Hand has the good fortune to own a Christmas decorating business in a city where appearance the major priority.
“In Dallas, it seems to be who can outdo who, whose car is better, whose house is shinier, whose Christmas is bigger,” said Mr. Harold Hand, who has been dressing up Dallas homes, lawns and business offices for the holiday season for the last five years. “It’s as if I was running the business in Beverly Hills.”
Mr. hands company Harold Hand Creative, is one of many to capitalize on Dallas’ is competitive Christmas spirit.
Some specialize in decorating residential areas and small offices, others in designing elaborate displays for major office buildings and shopping centers. For many of them, Christmas is a year-round business.
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The high demand has allowed residential decorators such as Mr. Hand to be choosy about whose house they want to decorate.
Mr. Hand – who has made as little as $50 and as much as $180,000 to decorate a single house – starts scouting prospected clients in the summer. He drives through Highland Park and similar neighborhoods to drop brochures at houses that stimulate his artistic vision.
Spring and summer are Mr. Hand slow season, and he stores his finances up by decorating a few bar mitzvahs and other special events here and there.
“If you don’t have that nest egg put away, it feels very scary the rest of the year,” he said, “You have to be very careful to make that nest egg during the holiday season.”
Early Start
This Christmas work begins in August, when he gets busy designing for new customers, making sure that his ideas are in line with their preferences. Late-summer is also the time to order custom-made garlands and other props, which he stores in his warehouse on Production Drive, just a few blocks south of Highland Park.
The Christmas installation rush begins just before Halloween. And Mr. Hand keeps laboring at full speed through the first few weeks of December. Then, after New Year’s Day, it’s time to start taking everything down and packing it in the warehouse again.
It’s a hectic schedule, but the financial rewards are huge, and all the business creates more business, Mr. Hand said.
Word-of-mouth
“Most of the people that see or hear of my name are calling me and asking me to do their homes,” he said. “I’m now the new interior designer of Christmas.”
“All the extras Mr. hand provides make the high priced tags sensible said Connie Howell,” a Dallas resident.
“What made it worth it was the quality of decorations he proposed and actually put up and the fact that it’s full service – buying ornaments, putting everything up and taking it all down afterwards,” she said. “It’s just such a hassle at this time of year, the quality of what he’s done is just overwhelming.”
