Sounds like you're leaving too much valuable information out of your question and that you may be jumping in way over your head. You stated that you want an easy to use touchpanel to control a few basic devices.

There are numerous controls that can be programmed to do what you want. The problem is you need the proper equipment to make a system work properly 100% of the time. Do you have a budget for this job? How many bids did you actually receive? What exactly did you ask for, and what were you promised this system could do? What type of equipment was spec'd in your proposal? Does this job need to be wired from start to finish? Since you say you got bids for $80,000 i have a feeling you may have made it seem like you wanted more than may actually be needed or you're leaving out a ton of valuable info.

The proper programming is key to making a system work correctly. Is this something you really think you can jump into so easily. Also, do you actually have all the free time necessary to do it.
Good luck, it sounds like you will need it.

Mike

This message was edited by MikeTech on 12/12/04 21:59 ET.