This is what a custom installer is:

A friend of mine from highschool (i havent seen for 20 years) contacted me about a house hes working at. He sends me a pic of an inwall mounted AMX wi-fi panel. He wants to know how to get it working. I ask him about the "rack" and he says "looks like the old owner took the speakers from every room and all the stuff from the basement. There is a ball of wire down there".

I tell him the touch panel is pretty much worthless without everything else. He wants me to meet with the homeowner about options. Seems like a total waste of time because people who move into these homes (foreclosed) have no idea what it costs. "$25000! are you insane". Oh sorry i meant $25000 for discovery and design. The system total is mid 6 figures. "click...dial tone".

Then i think...its only an hour drive on a Saturday morning...at the very least i get to catch up with an old friend...and you never know. Maybe this is the one guy whos like "hell yeah lets do this!".