* HISTORY: Troy Oliver, Lifespark's owner and president, says he spent 14 years working as a subcontractor in Ohio, specializing in jobs like fireplace and gas stove installations. He says he launched Lifespark in 2007, after talking to a cousin who'd done well after starting an outdoor lighting business near Chicago in 2000. "I'm one of those people who likes to see what I've accomplished. When you put outdoor lighting on a home or business, you can see (that) right away," he says.
* SERVICES: Oliver says Lifespark's six installers do landscape lighting for about 2,100 clients across the region and holiday lighting for another 225 or so. He says holiday lighting jobs typically start in late September and dominate the calendar until mid-December. Taking those jobs down usually takes four to five weeks, he says, after which comes a brief lull until March, when landscape lighting jobs begin to pick up. Oliver says 90% of Lifespark's business is residential, with 70% landscape lighting and 30% holiday lighting. Lifespark does lighting for Ruby Falls each holiday season, he says, and recently completed a six-figure landscape project at The Hermitage in Nashville.
* FUTURE: On the heels of what he called "record" years in 2020, 2021 and 2022, Oliver says he wants to take advantage of Lifespark's "good central location" in Chattanooga and gradually raise the company's profile in Nashville, Knoxville, Birmingham and Atlanta. Find out more about the company here.