I am just curious what other experts would estimate the man hours to be on this job.

"sports room"
3 Plasma displays, wall mounted
3 identical HD receivers
1 dvd
1 tivo series 2
MX-800 programing
*** no existing wires***

Living room
HD reciever set up
tivo
dvd
prewired

Master
1 Hd receiver
1 tivo
1dvd
equiptment mounted remote location,

I realize, a lot of missing details make a huge differnce on how much time this job would take, but just curious what the "rough" estimates would be.

Sorry, that's way too little information and I have not taken enough time walking the premises and checking out just how I am going to run all the wires.

How about you provide your estimate and we will comment on it based on what we all know about the building....

If this is all retrofit, there is no way to know what will be required until we know the construction of the room. Even then, there are always suprises in what we come across during installation.

This is how we get ourselves in trouble. there is NO F*ING WAY to even get close without seeing the job. When someone in here says "OH hell, it can be done in 40 man hours - no problem" someone else ends up not getting paid. When in fact the reality of the job is that it may take 100 man hours or more based on the building or customer's requirements. I've been hurt a few times with this. My advise to RTH, get a second or third estimate from QUALIFIED installers in your area. my 2c

Two years, give or take a couple of years.

Seriously, your question can't be answered based on info provided.

Shades of "Name That Tune"......lol

I can do that install in ...........(insert your best guess).....hours.

474.3 hours. Not one more, not one less.

I think you may have struck a nerve!

Aside from the running the cables. Has any thought been given on how the equipment located remotly will be controlled (hardwired IR or RF) and weather or not the HD recivers are to use DVI or component cables and will you have to re-run the cables prewired in the living room because someone did not realize TIVO requires two LNB feeds separate from the HD IRD's LNB?

I think that is exactly what EVERYONE was thinking, that's why no one can give a good response with the information provided.

Man, I have never heard more stupid whining and bitching from a bunch of pro's. The "control" is an MX-800 as listed in my post, and as listed in the first post, its a series 2 tivo, ie: not a satellite receiver. I also said that i realize there are a lot of variables not listed, however, i was just looking for a guesstimate to check my own installation speed. Nice to know if im installing at the right pace. by the way the job took 24 man hours. All of your replies were worthless, and in my opinion said to toot your own horns.

This message was edited by RHT on 09/14/04 02:23 ET.

I'm guessing that most of your wire's are stapled up the wall if you can put up 3 plasma's, 2 TV's and program an MX-800 in 24 hours.

And they weren't bitching and whining, just fed up with one too many people ask ridiculous questions like "What car should I buy? I know I need one that has 4 wheels and at least 4 cylinders, would be nice if it ran on gas, but diesel or anything else would be fine for the right price. I hope it will at least get me from point A to Point B, And I would like it to carry passangers."

It's impossible to answer without a WHOLE LOT of follow up questions. (How many passangers, How much cargo, How fast, How roomy, etc.)

Don't come around here bitching back at us, because we took you to the mat for poorly phrasing your question.

Better apologize or your going to get a reputation around here like Wesley and NB Deer, and that other dumb-ass, what ever his name was.

That is somewhat amazing....I need to get up to speed on my installs apparently......


and that

Must not be me you're talking about......I get called dumb-ass, but NOT "that other dumb-ass".......lol

Ok, Im not looking for a bad reputation, so if my shot back was too harsh I apoligize. I was just looking for a rough guesstimate as stated and got answers of "impossible question to answer". It is possible to guess all day long, impossible to be dead nuts with the info I provided yes, it is more complicated then I mentioned, but come on, we all pretty much now how long certain install activities take on an average. I emailed pics to a couple of you, and if anyone else would like to see the "stapled wire job" just let me know

RHT, I think your question is actually somewhat reasonable. What we do and what you need to decide is how much does each PIECE take. For instance, we can generally wall mount a plasma in 4 hours (2 guys, 2 hours). Does it need additional wiring? Once again, we charge, $65 per wire drop, retro-fit multiply by 3. Just add up your starndard labor rates for each part plus trip charges and you'll have a pretty good estimate. We usually try to estimate worst case scenarios so we don't get stuck. The down side is that we do lose jobs to guys that say "well, I guess it should take about 24 man hours" without doing due diligence. Most of the time we catch these customers on the rebound anyhow.