For those of you who include the alarm system in your pre-wires, how are you pricing it?

We have not included this in our pre-wires as the local alarm company has always done it, but we would like to offer it as an option.

We don't want to overprice it, but we also need to make a profit.

Our normal pre-wire is priced per wire run. It seems like it would be pricey if we did it this way, but if that is how most of you do it, that's what I'd like to know.

Most of our systems would have anywhere from 30 to 60 sensors. At $100 per run that could be $6K.

Thanks for the input.

First, I don't and won't do alarm stuff.

Every alarm company I've dealt with will not accept or use wiring unless they install it themselves. They are taking a risk wiring up anything; why would they take the additional risk that an outside installer made a mistake or cut a corner too sharply? Be sure to check with the alarm company first.

You're at a pricing disadvantage since you're only doing the prewire, a job with only one return. An alarm company can offer a client free installation by jacking up the monthly price. When I discovered the alarm company had done that at a retail chain I once worked for, I was able to force the alarm company to take an immediate payment for the installation and lower the monthly. We got a savings totaling $20,000 on several stores by changing the contract terms. But not every company has the capital to pay for installation up front.

You're right: your installation might be $6000! If so, you need it all at once but the alarm company could spread it out over several years, and again you're at a disadvantage.

Then... let's say someone breaks into the client's place, the alarm system malfunctions, and they find a way to pin it on your wiring. Is that the business you want to be in?

For alarm prewires we typically charge $30.00- $40.00 per wire run (door/ window sensor, kp, siren, etc.). The wire cost is minimal for alarm stuff.
We have an alarm license as well but doing the prewire for a builder/ spec home doesn't guarantee getting the finish work when it sells.

PSS is pretty much spot on. $30-$40 per wire is the going rate unless the house is very large and spread out. Our price goes up a bit in that case. That's only for the pre-wire. Does not include contacts, switches, or PIRs.

Ernie, I believe that we have liability risks even with the AV stuff. A receiver can overheat, catch fire. A flat panel can fall off the wall, etc. We now live in a very litigious world.

As for the security risks, it helps to have comprehensive and thorough contracts prepared by expert attorneys such as Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC. That law office specializes on the security industry. Thanks for that great tip Julie!

Cutting a corner too sharply? Have you seen how some of these hacks run their wire up, through, over, and in romex, a/v wire, and plumbing??

Other than that you are spot on!!

Let's say on average you are charging $150 per wire run, including wire and labor, for a phone/data jack. It includes 2 cat6 and the labor to run it.

Alarm wire is cheaper per foot, but the labor is the same. You are still pulling the wire. I understand it's probably industry standard to charge $30-$60 per alarm run, but why such a steep discount from normal pre-wire pulls? Is it to compete with the alarm companies who do it cheaper to get the contract?

If that's the case, it would make sense to explain this to the client, because the alarm pre wire could cost almost half as much as he whole pre wire.

Those of you doing alarm pre wires, are you doing it as a loss leader? If not, how are you making any money on it?

Ernie, I do not believe for a second that any security company seeing house prewired for security would not use said wiring and instead insist on a wireless solution.

Second, security signal is not susceptible to EMI noise as is A/V wiring. As such, you'll see small gauge 22/2 and 22/4 wires ran in same chases as romex, which not only 'protects' wire from insulators and dryeallers, but also saves installation time by using stud & top plate holes already drilled by sparky.

Lastly, depending on how you count your wires, 5 windows in a room could count as 5 separate runs, even though they are daisy chained from window to window.

When I was in your neck of the woods we generally pulled the alarm wire on prewires. Never had an alarm company refuse to use our wiring. We did not do the alarm install or monitoring though so we charged about 10% less for alarm contacts prewire. Since we did high end homes all wiring was home run so our Crestron layouts could show every contact individually.

Ian was in business for 20 plus years, I was with him for over 8 years. And it was a good business to be involved with. Hopefully others can succeed with this plan.

Keypad busses certainly can be.

We charge our security prewires as a per drop basis with a minimum of 4 drops. We estimate about 22m and 30min per drop (with an average sqft of 2000'). If larger houses then we up both the wire length and time.

The difficult part is if you aren't going to finish the security you have no understanding of how a security system works and what limits you have for wire lengths, thus you don't know how many sub panels you should account for and where they should be located to maximize efficiency of the security system.