About

Founder's Story

Hi, I’m Chris Gilham, founder of Balcones Lightworks.

I started this business over 10 years ago with a simple idea—take something I’ve always loved and do it the right way. Growing up in Waco, Texas, Christmas was a big deal in our family. The cooler weather, time together, and especially the lights—it always stuck with me. When a family member who owned a landscaping company started offering Christmas light installations during his offseason, I was immediately interested. I had put up lights before, but I wanted to understand how to do it at a professional level—and do it better.

Today, Balcones Lightworks is built on that same mindset: doing things the right way, every time. While this started as a seasonal business, my standards have always been full-time. From design and installation to maintenance and takedown, our goal is to provide a top-notch, full-service lighting experience that our customers can rely on year after year.

Outside of Balcones Lightworks, I own and operate Focus Install, where I build foundations for manufactured homes across Central Texas. Most days you’ll find me on the road with a skid steer, helping create the starting point for someone’s home. I bring that same work ethic, precision, and pride into every lighting project we take on.

I graduated from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas, where I studied computer science and played soccer. Today, I’m a husband, a dad to two boys, and a youth soccer coach here in Austin. Family is everything to me, and that’s a big part of why this business matters—I know the role these moments and traditions play in people’s lives.

We’ve grown every year through referrals from happy customers, and that’s something I don’t take lightly. Looking ahead, we’re expanding into permanent lighting solutions so we can offer year-round options for homes and businesses—not just during the holidays.

At the end of the day, we do this because we genuinely love it. And we’re committed to being the best at it.