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What did you do today?
This thread has 11407 replies. Displaying posts 6661 through 6675.
Post 6,661 made on Saturday March 3, 2012 at 14:03
NEZBO
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On March 3, 2012 at 11:38, Hasbeen said...
Sold my biggest home theater to date.  Dedicated room.  It's been a long time since I did a room from studs to finish.  I'm geeked about it.  And the homeowner actually brought some really good design ideas to the table without being a pita about it.  

I am happy for you! That is a great feeling! Now make it the Best!
Better days are ahead
onesourceinnovation.com
Better days are ahead
Post 6,662 made on Saturday March 3, 2012 at 14:06
NEZBO
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Picked up a new mountain bike today at Walmart. I am going to customize it for my new Bow hunting rig. Going to have a custom trailor to haul gear and haul deer out. Can't wait to start the build!
Better days are ahead
onesourceinnovation.com
Better days are ahead
Post 6,663 made on Sunday March 4, 2012 at 01:03
Munson
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OK, not a project that I am working on, but one our company is. When I saw the pallet of equipment I was impressed.

Photobucket
Post 6,664 made on Sunday March 4, 2012 at 03:45
Indigo
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Oh my... that made me started to drool...

On March 4, 2012 at 01:03, Munson said...
OK, not a project that I am working on, but one our company is. When I saw the pallet of equipment I was impressed.

Photobucket
Post 6,665 made on Sunday March 4, 2012 at 09:42
SB Smarthomes
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On February 28, 2012 at 22:32, Neurorad said...
The pizza guy probably ended up with exactly what he wanted to spend.

Probably ended up with Wiremold or a dangling cord. I don't think the owner cares.

In total agreement.  I was bagging on the installer more because he was standing on a chair to do the work than anything else.  I'll try to drop in there again for lunch soon to see how it turned out.
www.sbsmarthomes.com
Santa Barbara Smarthomes
Post 6,666 made on Sunday March 4, 2012 at 10:40
SB Smarthomes
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I'm busy with 3 big projects plus a bunch of smaller stuff and have been chipping away at a pre-wire for the last couple weeks. House has been very difficult to work in. Main house is about 6K sq. ft and then there's a 1K sq ft. cabana and detached 3 car garage. This is remodel of an existing home so many of the walls have been opened up or reframed.

All the buildings are built on slab with absolutely no attic space. All the electrical, plumbing & HVAC was built into the slab. The ceilings are all 1.5" T&G and all the existing walls are 5/8" drywall with 1/2" ply behind them.... nothing has been easy.

The house already had extensive wiring in place for phone, cable TV & security (and it was even labeled and well documented) so I was originally just planning to run A/V and networking. The electricians came in to do their demo work one day and had a miss communication with the GC and cut all the existing low voltage wiring.

There was also a ton of 1" low voltage conduit run through the slab between rooms and a 1.5" conduit running all the way across the house between two mechanical rooms. With the conduit, I thought I'd have room for most of what I needed to run.

To try and shorten the story, there was a lot of saw cutting through the concrete to rework plumbing, HVAC, electrical, etc. and in the process they cut almost all the low voltage conduit including the big run across the house. The floors had already been filled and poured before I got back on-site again.

This is the same house where the electricians ran two 3/4" conduits in the floor where I requested a 1-1/4" conduit and had to cut the floor back up to replace it.

A few pictures...


Here's the conduit that had to be cut back out and replaced.




The thick T&G ceiling that everything has to be cut into and fished through




Because all the conduit in the slab was damaged, it required running 170ft of 1-1/4" conduit over the roof to get from one end of the house to the other.  Also have about 300ft of 1-1/4" trenched outside to connect the cabana & garage.







The wiring layout is ending up fairly complex with a DEMARC for the phone and cable TV, then structured wiring panels in three different locations.  There will be two short equipment racks in base cabinets of a pantry, a full height rack in one of the master bedroom closets and a full height rack in the cabana which will have a bar and home dedicated home theater room. 
www.sbsmarthomes.com
Santa Barbara Smarthomes
Post 6,667 made on Sunday March 4, 2012 at 16:03
SB Smarthomes
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I hung this print up in the office a few minutes ago.  It was a gift from a client that I've done 5-6 projects with.

Every project she comments about all the wiring that's going in and always asks "Isn't all this stuff wireless now.  I heard/read/saw about this new wireless technology so where is it?".

The print is a reproduction from 1913 and states "Wireless World".  She gave it to me at the end of the last project and wanted to know why all my stuff still needs wires when it was a wireless world 100 years ago!

www.sbsmarthomes.com
Santa Barbara Smarthomes
Post 6,668 made on Sunday March 4, 2012 at 20:37
cma
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On March 4, 2012 at 01:03, Munson said...
OK, not a project that I am working on, but one our company is. When I saw the pallet of equipment I was impressed.

Photobucket

You have to factor in that when it comes to Crestron, 90% of the volume of those boxes is air and packaging and about 10% product.. :D
Post 6,669 made on Monday March 5, 2012 at 05:57
Mario
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On March 4, 2012 at 20:37, cma said...
You have to factor in that when it comes to Crestron, 90% of the volume of those boxes is air and packaging and about 10% product.. :D

Ironic that you're talking about air with all those HVAC ducts in the background.

Munson- if that crate is still there this morning, it's meant for you to take home and play with ... I mean test... for few years.
Post 6,670 made on Monday March 5, 2012 at 06:37
Mario
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Paul, you need few more boxes.
I feel for you brother; hopefully the extra work you have to do due to conduit issues are change orders and you're getting compensated for it.

On a semi-different note, do you find the pre-wire stage profitable? In other words, do you bill your regular rate for pre-wire? I've had people cinch at my quotes when I figured in labor at my normal rate. Guess the thinking is that a wire monkey can pull wire, and monkeys don't charge CI standard labor rates.
Post 6,671 made on Monday March 5, 2012 at 10:46
SB Smarthomes
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On March 5, 2012 at 06:37, Mario said...
Paul, you need few more boxes.
I feel for you brother; hopefully the extra work you have to do due to conduit issues are change orders and you're getting compensated for it.

On a semi-different note, do you find the pre-wire stage profitable? In other words, do you bill your regular rate for pre-wire? I've had people cinch at my quotes when I figured in labor at my normal rate. Guess the thinking is that a wire monkey can pull wire, and monkeys don't charge CI standard labor rates.

Hi Mario,

Yeah, There are even more boxes (6-8) of wire down in the Cabana and this picture is towards the end of the pre-wire so I've already burned through a bunch.  I counted 15 different types of wire at this job with multiple boxes/spools of each.

The electrician showed up with a box of RG6, two boxes of CAT5 and a box of 16/2 and was bent out of shape when he found out I was on the job and would be wiring for the low volt.  Most electricians think it's easy (and it is for very simple jobs), but quickly change their tune when they see what's involved for bigger jobs.

I do charge my regular rate ($95hr) for pre-wires, but will also sometimes partner with the electrician on the job to get things done faster.  I also have a few electrical companies that I use as subs.  I don't sub out the work, but bring in extra hands to help me get the job done.

In this area, an apprentice electrician gets billed out at around $45-$65hr and a journeyman around $75-$100hr.  On this job I had about 12hrs help from one of the electricians and also leveraged some of the carpenters and laborers to cut in speakers and trench for conduit.

This job is T&M for the wiring so it's been easy to sort out the billing and I've been paid for all my time.  I collected a $12K deposit for the pre-wire that I'm billing against.

This job happened with no notice and little planning/design so it's been changing daily.  Because of this, it would have been impossible to create a low-volt wiring schedule and have unskilled installers pull the wire.  I've just been figuring it out as I go.

Scope of the job is also changing daily.  One day it might be adding a TV or two, next day it's adding a few more music zones, next day it's adding surveillance cameras.  Walls are starting to go up in some areas this week, so the pre-wire will start to wind down.  I've got 2-3 more days there unless more changes.
www.sbsmarthomes.com
Santa Barbara Smarthomes
Post 6,672 made on Monday March 5, 2012 at 12:15
sofa_king_CI
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Mario - One Custom Homes and Remodels we charge our normal rates, especially as these are normally more complex jobs that your security companies and electricians can't/don't want to do.

However, on more simple rough-in jobs, espeically where we are ONLY doing the rough-in, I've definitely had to be very competitive at times, offerening basically bulk rates as drops (1-5 drops = $125ea, 6-10=$115 ea, etc). This is a bit more of a gamble which sometimes pays off and others times doesn't. i've only "lost" money once, but because it was me doing the work I really just lost time. Every other has either came out fine or with just a slightly smaller profit margin than usuall. The gamble is that I will get the Final System sale and installation as well. 

I see it sort of as marketing. It gets me more face time with another contractor that I can try to make look good as well as the client. 
do wino hue?
Post 6,673 made on Tuesday March 6, 2012 at 02:55
Mario
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I lost a job last week for bidding $85/coax; $86/Cat5e per pull, in 4200SqFt single story house. Average run was about 85ft. That's pulled, tested, labeled and trimmed at each end.
A local alarm company also underbid me for full house alarm prewire, with door/win contacts at $650. There had to be at least 20-25 contact points.
Oh, well...
Post 6,674 made on Tuesday March 6, 2012 at 04:55
sofa_king_CI
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Ive seen alarm presides that included contacts for windows and doors go for about $65 per drop in our market
do wino hue?
Post 6,675 made on Tuesday March 6, 2012 at 09:55
Dave in Balto
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2,771
Just finished a lighting job, all crestron dim modules. I was pulling my hair out for two days trying to figure out why none of my modules were dimming their second loads.

Long story short, now I know what a three phase electrical panel is.
Hey, careful man, there's a beverage here!

The Dude
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