Finally done with the permanent lights, only took me three weekends

Did mine on a single-story ranch so at least the ladder work was easy, but I ran into the same thing with the factory connectors. They bulge out enough that you can see them from an angle, and I gave up trying to hide mine and just accepted the look. Two winters in and the solder joints I sealed with adhesive heat shrink have held fine, but the factory end caps on two runs let in moisture and the diffusers got foggy from the inside. Govee sent replacements under warranty without much hassle, so keep your order info handy if that happens. One thing I'd flag from my own setup: the adhesive backing on the pucks let go on the south-facing wall after a hot summer, even with the clips. I went back over everthing with the clips screwed every couple feet instead of trusting the tape, and that fixed the sagging. If your winters get ice like mine do, the weight of an ice ridge on a half-stuck strip is what kills it, not the cold itself. The spacing thing around corners drove me nuts too. I ended up standing at the curb with my phone camera on while my wife cycled colors til the transitions looked even. Not scientific, but it worked better than measuring.

Funny reading this because my two-story colonial took me about four hours total, and I think the difference was I stopped trying to make it perfect. I skipped the channel entirely and used the plastic clips screwed into the fascia, wires and all. From the street you honestly cannot see them, and my wife thought I'd hired someone until she looked straight up from the porch. The bump-out problem I solved by just treating each face as its own run and letting the spacing reset at each corner instead of carrying the count around. Looks intentional even though it was relly just me giving up on math on a ladder. I did keep one thing from a buddy who did his place first: he told me to plug every run in and test it BEFORE clipping anything up. Saved me twice when a segment was dead out of the box. My worry is diferent from yours though. We get hail here in Colorado, and I keep picturing the lens covers taking hits. A neighbor across the cul-de-sac has had his up three summers and they survived, so maybe I'm borrowing trouble. His advice was to leave a little slack at each clip so the strips can flex instead of snapping tight against the fascia. Seemed to work for him, and mine made it through last spring's hailstorm without a scratch, so I'm calling that method proven enugh for me.

I definately agree about the adhesive failing on the south wall. I experienced that exact issue during my project last year. Even when using the clips, if the mounting bracket wasn't fully tightened into the channel, the thermal expansion caused the bond to slip under weight. I ended up adding a bead of construction adhesive inside the bracket housing itself before securing the screws, which kept the puck from sagging. That fixed it for good.