You have too much free time.

If he's so smart, they should have their friend do it. The friend should deal with all of the problems when it doesn't work correctly, too.

Yeah, I have a hard time with this one. In my eyes, I true DIYer would do their own research, procure, install, program, and service their system. As soon as I start helping them, it is no longer a DIY project and the lines get blurry.

I tend to shy away from these types of projects. They have been no win situations in the past.

I have dozens of examples, but just starting with the comment; "these cables are not clearly identified" and "I though you were going to terminate the CAT5".

I think the best advice I could give someone, who needs advice, is; "Hire a Pro"!

To whom is this addressed, Sir Willis?

The client agreed they don't really need us. All is well that ends well.

DIYs can be great clients since labor is billed (or should be billed) by the hour and therefore profits are predictable.

But make sure you sell them DIY products (irule, Sonos, etc.) rather than those (RTI) that they are not allowed to tweak.

How interesting that a journalist can tell us what will be a good client vs. a difficult one.

Wow, the dickery continues...

And it will continue as long as non experts continue to insult pros by acting as an authority on something they no little about.

You have your opinion (dickery)

I have mine, I call it a disagreement. You want to speak as an expert on my field, resign your job at your publication and go open your own custom installation firm, then in five years you can tell me whose a good customer or not.

+1


And or a Marantz or Pioneer Elite AVR with BD from Marantz or Pioneer or even Yamaha since they all have iPhone & Android apps.

And by the way, I never called you a dick when you stated in another thread that pot smokers are worthless no good dead beats.

Half the guys on here smoke or have smoked, I had a guy who worked for me who smoked every hour on the hour and you could never keep up with him even on your best day.

But if you make rash statements, controversy is bound to follow.

:)

Too many DIY-ers come back with comments that begin with "But, I read.....", "I heard...." and questions starting with "Can't you just....?" to make most of them worthwhile. If they get in trouble, I have no problem getting the equipment to work (if possible) but some want to be the expert and that's a royal PITA.

I have no problem with customers who inform themselves- they're more likely to know what they want, anyway, but when someone doesn't understand any technology or bother to read up on what they're dealing with, they can't even tell us what they want, much less get it to work. These people also try to change the scope of the project mid-stream and that doesn't necessarily work out well. If they're willing to pay for un-doing a lot of cabling, fine, but that isn't always the case. They seem to think that the end result determines the price, when they disregard the intermediate slow-downs for reversing/adding technology. In some cases, it can require changing a lot of the equipment that was original to the design.

I wouldn't call my brother worthless, but he is a heavy pot smoker and living in my parents "basement" (there really is no basement, but he lives on the lower level so that counts), and he will be 37 in January. I am not saying its a direct correlation, but it seems to have reduced any drive he may have. He will work hard, for other people, in basic labor based jobs, but nothing that pushes him mentally in any way. He's not a bad guy, but I wish he would have quit that habit many years ago and seen if there would have been a difference in his drive.

I understand your point and agree with you, but would be willing to bet that pot is not the determining factor in making your brother lazy, maybe a contributing factor.

Pot heads usually aren't Type A's over-achievers.

Maybe your brother is just lazy without the pot smoking :)

Likewise, a DIY client isn't a good client solely because he's a DIY person.

Some DIY'ers are intelligent and smart enough to do what we do for a living, but work in another field they find more interesting or pays better.

Most are a real pain in the ass based on all the reasons in Highfigh's post.

I am addressing the guilty party.