"now I wait for sparky to get in over his head and sell our superior retrofitting skills along with actual system design skills that the customer has obviously not been exposed to yet."
I'v encountered that more than once. But as a twist, sometimes it makes a lot of sense to have sparky do the prewire ( he charges the builder and makes some profit). You become the consultant with the design and a future stake in that plan. What is the risk? a few hours of your time ( you use that opportunity to make an impression as to the more sophisticated services you can provide) Sparky purchases the wire ( to your specification) , and now your costs are about zilch. Not to mention, sparky likes you becuase you just increased his income, and in many cases, deep down, he is relieved not to have to delve into waters he's really not completely comfortable swimming in, and in many cases, doesn't really have the time for. Of course there will be times when this will backfire and an ambitious electircal contractor looking to diversify into AV will use it as an opportunity to do just that. But hey, nothing in life is a guarantee
