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Original thread:
Post 17 made on Thursday November 30, 2017 at 09:20
highfigh
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September 2004
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On November 30, 2017 at 08:45, buzz said...
Designers have a skill that that our industry lacks — milking customers. And the designers don’t leave money for us on the table. Part of the problem is that there is a whole ecosystem supporting the designers. There is a huge markup on their goods and the designer can get the customer a discount while making a good commission for themselves. Designers expect a commission from us, but our margins are often less than the commission expected by the designer. We’ve all had experiences where the customer finds a product out on the Internet for less than our cost from a distributor, including free shipping and no sales tax.

All of this undermines our credibility and makes it difficult for us to get a fair deal.

Our tact is to provide a painless experience for the designers and GCs. A group of them know that we solve problems and will not hesitate to recommend us. It’s interesting that we are the only sub on the job that is allowed onsite, unsupervised.

The problem is that they work in a visual realm, not audio- good sound requires the equipment to have certain properties, including size. Speakers are seen as a wart on otherwise perfect skin, or worse. Designers are also huge suck-ups and their goal is to leave a trail of testiments to their design prowess, by way of telling and reinforcing their client's belief that what they're getting is right for them. Some of the stuff I have seen was horrendous or very odd and in one case, the designer assumed that the client would be impressed by her flying to NYC to meet with a new client in the middle of a project and postponing a meeting that had been scheduled months before. She also assumed the client, who is very wealthy, would be OK shelling out the money for anything recommended, regardless of cost. Wrong on both counts. $4K for each of four outdoor lighting fixtures and $1600 for a small, hammered Copper sink in the butler's pantry? Even someone with money can think that's excessive.

It's a PITA when they source things online but I won't go out of my way if it fails, even if it's something I sell. They know I'll support it if I sell it and that has value. As far as being unsupervised, it's common for people to use the same contractors who were recommended by friends and business associates and if they proved worthy before, they leave a lock box with a key. I got the keys and security code for one house soon after starting the work, originally begun more than ten years ago. I have security codes for other houses and others will give me a key while I'm working for them. The last thing I want is for someone to say that I stole from them- that would be death for any work I might want in the future.

However, I won't suck up and I won't inflate the benefits of what I sell or install- it's not hard to find out that it wasn't true.
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."


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