Builder's (2) biggest lies:

Lie # 1. We need you guys to finish asap! Dreywall is going up day after tomorrow.

Lie # 2. Oh yeah, I think my office manager just sent out your check today, you should be getting it soon.

Last time I heard this I told the builder I was not afraid to pull the drywall right back down to prewire the house. Showed him this picture:



A $4.2 million dollar house the day after escrow to do things properly...

We do some pretty cool stuff too. Here's a couple of pics from a few weeks ago. It's a Boston flush mount that had brown stuff oozing out of the edges. Turned out to be a possums private toilet. What you don't see in the pics is how much poo actually fell out as i was removing the speaker.
It's not all big amps and expensive displays folks.

Simon.

Rear wall of the room is mostly glass, as is the right wall. Flat drop down blinds to cover windows. Left side is a walkway from the front of the house to the back of the house that opens up into a large room at the rear. Ceiling is quite high and timber floors.

Simon.

I was wondering about this. I saw that setup and those floors and couldn't help but think what a waste that must be. I don't do a lot of high end anyway, but definitely wouldn't even consider putting it in that room. Perfect example of "big sale does not necessarily equal the best experience".

rule #1 give the customer what he asks for. end of story.

and dont spend your money, spend with your clients.....

if a customer wants to spend 7k on a speaker and 20k on a sub..... i will find his a 7k speaker and a 20k sub.............

I'll agree to a point.

Customer wants that level of product, I would have sold customer on the need for sound dampening, motorized, window treatments and maybe some room defining motorized walls, so when customer uses that fantastic stuff, it'll not only look great, it'll sound great.

The customer does NOT know what the customer needs/wants. That's why the customer "hired a pro"......

Today i got screwed by a samsung DVD player that couldn't seem to get along with a samsung plasma via HDMI. DVD kept retuning to factory defaults 4:3 letterbox and S/Video out every time i turned it off. Disconnect HDMI, no more defaults. I don't use samsung or HDMI usually. It was the clients equipment and he REALLY wanted HDMI connection. In the end he got it, but with a Pioneer DVD player instead. No pics today.

Simon.

Sure THAT's not a problem. But they should be properly set up, and if the customer has that kind of dough, some room treatment should have been put into the equation.
Those are simply superb speakers, but I can guarantee you they sound like crap under those room conditions.

Of course it's easy for us to view these pictures and be armchair experts! Kind of like Monday morning quarterbacks.

I have ran into the Samsung HDMI issue twice with different displays. I don't use HDMI and Samsung any more...

Damn, sounds like that was a frustrating day! Were you able to charge for any of the time it took to mess around with the stuff?

Today (July 3rd)... went to finish cutting in some speakers at this builder's house.
Got there, and he went on a long rant about all of his subs (except me), are always hitting him up for massive additional charges for Painting, Cabinetry, Electrical, Landscaping - you name it. He also went on about all of the delays they cause when one or two of them don't return when they say they will bla bla bla...

It is a large custom home with tons of solid walnut custom cabinetry, trim molding and all kinds of stuff. He then went off on how as soon as he pays each sub a good chunk of $$$ --- they disappear and go off to other projects until he has to raise hell to get them back to his house!

It was interesting to see and hear things pretty candidly from a builder's viewpoint...
He also felt that since there was so much ornate work and expensive materials and junk going into the house he felt like some of these guys were taking advantage of him, because they all know he is quite wealthy.

Damn... and I was going to give him my bill today for work done up to today, and quietly slip out the back door and go out with my kid and buy a bunch of illegal fireworks at the indian reservation --- but after hearing that speel, and nodding my head in agreement.. I had to tough it out and work!!!

Yep, all the time i spent on it will be on the bill. He supplied the screen and DVD player.
I was there till 10.30 last night. He went out and swapped over the DVD player at 8.30 and specifically asked me to stay to finish it.

Simon.

These 2 pics are of a job i completed today. 65 inch Pana with Marantz SR-9600 amp and Jamo D7 THX speaker system. 50 inch plasma with decent surround in another room. Samsung 42 inch LCD in ceiling lift in Bedroom. Remotes are marantz RC-9500 with rf extenders. 16 zones of sonos.

Sorry about the quality of the Phone pics

Simon.

Samsung makes some of the worst optical players. We never use the DVD players due to a multitude of issues.

On the display. I noticed a odd issue with the one I was working on yesterday and found there was some sort of HDMI control enabled. So When I turned on the DVD player the display flipped to HDMI 2 (Where the Pana DVD was plugged in.) Went into the menu under settings and found something that said to me "HDMI something or other..." turned it off and that cured it. Sorry if its late.

I was working on a room with 2 electricians, 1 floor guy, 1 painter, 1 plumber around the corner, and a GC that we are not attached too. I was there to finish the automation system and had to sit in a corner, behind a couch, on the floor with my laptop as that was the only place they were not working at the time. The electricians cut the power several times when I was testing things and left it off for 20 minute stretches. Pics are on my camera phone...