On December 1, 2018 at 13:17, Richie Rich said...
Our bread and butter was:
Panasonic Pro or Pioneer Elite plasma
Integra AVR
Integra DVD or
Escient DVD-M with Sony changer
Integra CD
Paradigm 5.1 speaker system
Panamax surge pro
Ultralink cabling
URC or RTI remote and gateway/processor
Middle Atlantic SRSR rack(s)
Labor was to retro tv and speaker/sub wiring, cut in speakers, build/install rack, mount display, program remote etc.
So, a bunch of products that all had margin on them and had a pretty profitable amount of labor.
I see no reason you can't sell essentially the same package, only utilizing Sony OLED or Z-series televisions, a Sony ES UHD Blu-Ray player, and higher-quality streaming audio sources. I do it all the time. Sure, the margin on the TV isn't as big, but that's why I also bill install labor at a rate that is 35% higher and programming/networking at 50% higher than it was 15 years ago.
These weren't $300k Crestron systems but day in and day out they kept the doors open/lights on/bills paid in between big customs. Like I stated before I did tons of this exact system in condos and upper middle class tract houses.
I think most people that were in the business back then did a lot of that as well. But again, that's not "big, involved home automation systems"...that's a basic single-room media system with a universal remote.
That is what got replaced by no margin, low labor, high frustration streaming boxes, disposable tvs, soundbars and little circles that you yell at.
The people who want "good enough" weren't buying that $15-20k package you listed 15 years ago...just like the people who actually want something good aren't running with a TCL TV and a $500 sound bar today. The issue is that a lot of our industry has gotten lazy with actually being able to sell better quality experiences.
