I understand your point and I don't disagree if that is your business model.

Some time ago I made a bad decision to install an Elan system for a client who bought on Ebay. While the overall profit on the project was good, it cost me alot of time. For 6 months something was breaking down. Equipment had to be sent to Elan for repair, blah, blah, blah. This delayed other projects being finished which ultimately affected my bottom line.

I made the decision to never do it again. I don't want my company to be known as the company that will do it on the cheap. My focus now is to market to the higher end. The jobs are larger and fewer but overall more profitable. The techs are happier as well.

To be quite honest i cant wait until amazon is selling crestron amx and control4. I cant wait to just show up at a jobsite with my tool bag and have everything there waiting on me. I cant wait to put orange stickers on the stuff that is DOA and tell the client to deal with it. I cant wait to not feel like i am somehow responsible because an HDMI cable doesnt work or because a control system product needs a firmware update that may or may not brick it causing me to have to return it and make another trip to the clients home.

I'm with you. Another thing to think about is tomorrow. How will you service this client in the future? Did you make enough to cover any service nightmares? Did you make enough to make this client a priority when the economy picks up again?

I don't want to become part of the story about how "the CI screwed me" even though the client was the problem. I bet that client doesn't show up at the steak house with a bag of tbones. And i bet there isn't a restaurant in the country that would cook up his steaks fearing that money is being left on the table.

Even if you get the client to sign a declaration that he knows that RMAs will have to be run through the guy he buys it from, the illogic of us people-types is that the last guy to touch it owns it, problems and all.

That said, it seems to me that showing Crestron's written warranty policy to the client, and having him sign such a document, which would include disclosure of your labor rates for all troubleshooting, removal, shipping, replacement, and reinstallation at least gives you something that you can remind the client about.

Tell him before he signs it that it's the nature of the situation that you are very sensitive about these things as they cost you money down the road, and you're just trying to have the client be equally sensitive to how his saving money now will cost HIM, not YOU, money down the road.

Then go make some money.

Mario,

That's a good set of logical choices. Just the other day I took a referral for installing 3 displays on mounts that the client already purchased at Costco. It's T&M, neat and clean, and it worked out for me.

Doing it on a larger project with integration, I'd think long and hard. Looking at it from a long term perspective, I worry about the risk to my 'brand' and the ability to maintain what I perceive to be 'my system' that the client happens to own. When the client makes all the equipment choices and sources equipment haphazardly it's not a 'Mario's Company' system. It's the client's system, you're just an asset they hired help it along.

In setting expectations, make it very clear that this is not a 'Mario's Company' system and that you don't want your name or company associated with the end result. If things go south, they'll still likely complain about you or the company, no matter how little it's your fault and how much you warned them of the risks they were leveraging.

But hey, if you got to eat.....

I agree with all of you in that given a choice I'd rather be the A-Z solution provider.
I was simply stating that given a choice of sitting home or working T&M, the choice to me is clear. Let me also state that currently I'm a one man shop, so my overhead, communication deliverables, he said / she said excuses are different than someone that has schedulers, field workers, designers, etc.

As for the t-bone comment; it reminded me of that great video we have here somewhere, where the people are trying to get a deal at CD shop, barber, etc.

There's pretty much no way a client can buy every single piece of Crestron equipment, unless you gave them a detailed "shopping list".

The thing to do is make them aware that you are not responsible if anything goes wrong with the hardware. If a processor or interface goes down a day after you have it fully-functional - they have to deal with it, pay you to remove it, ship it back and reinstall it. If they buy everything from you, let them know how you will support the hardware if something goes wrong.



Thank you,
Damon

 I'd like to share an example. (hopefully this will translate).  Years ago, my business model included installing DirecTV.  We installed alot of them.  We weren't a dealer, just a contractor.  But the money was very good. $150 for an 18" dish and 1 receiver, $50 for each additional receiver. 

As time went on, the contractors started to cut each others throat. I can picture them saying, "I'll do it for $10 cheaper" then the next guy cuts his throat and so on down the line.  Meanwhile, DirecTV was still paying the same.  

Fast forward 15 yrs.  the average pay in Michigan for a DirecTV contractor is $70. for the dish and 1 receiver, and $20 for each additional receiver.    

Moral of the story, if you are willing to work for customers who purchase on Ebay, Amazon, etc.  YOU WILL work for those customers, because you are effectively killing the industry.  

At some point, you have to look at the big picture.  You might get paid today for working for Ebay customers, but you'll starve to death tomorrow.  

The thing that they don't get when they purchase from Ebay is YOU.  I don't know how long you've been in business, but I guarantee that you've never had a customer say to you (when bidding against another company)...I'm going to go with the XYZ system.  They ALWAYS say, "we're going to go with YOU."  that's what you're selling, not the product, you're selling your service.

I'm not directing this toward any individual.  This is just a blanket statement.