I kind of got away from doing that a long time ago, but I've had a couple builders mention that they'd like a budget friendly audio package recently. I'm not a big fan of it because, well, not every job is the same. Anyone still actually use this tactic these days? How's it working out for you?

There are a few companies making builder money. But I think the majority of integration companies stay away from production building. And focus on custom builders. In my beck of the woods the security companies are doing the production homes. Because they can get paid from the security contracts.

Yup.
Very little money in it and the ROI as a "business card/ foot in the door" with homeowners doesn't seem to pay off for the most part. At least in the tract house world.

Now doing it for semi/full customs and high end spec builds, that can bear fruit.

But it is cutthroat as all get out and you run the risk of the homebuyer bringing in "their guy", Geek Squad or whatever.

I agree. With tract builders it's going to make money for the tract builder and not for the installing company. As a rule that is the norm.

For custom builders, if you can convince the builder that what you do will help with the sale of his spec builds, it can become a very worthwhile endeavor.

Most builders don't want to deal with it. Those that attempt it themselves fail miserably. Having said that...it never hurts to try.

For wiring i would come up with a per square foot of house price. So if the house goes from 2000sqft to 15000sqft the price of your wiring goes up equally. Make sure you price this so that you cant lose money and so that its worth your time because chances are that you will never hear from most of the homeowners. You will be able to knock out a wiring quite in 30 seconds once you know how big the house is.

Wire it yourself, not label anything and keep the documentation...unless you can get them to pay you for it as a line item. Otherwise you will just be providing the builder with your blueprint and then he can pay his clean up guy to pull wire he got from amazon or home depot.

Then i would make it super easy to get those systems into homes just like when you visit the "design center" where you pick shutter and door colors and whether or not you want carpet or hardwood. Put the options on a poster board in the design center or contact SalezToolz to see if you could use their software on a large touchscreen monitor to let agents walk clients through the pricing http://www.saleztoolz.com/

I would come up with a set of base "modules" like...

Audio Zone
Video Zone
Source
Control Device

Then come up with a $number that represents each. So pair of speakers & brackets & wire & labor & amp channel = $XXXX and thats your per Audio Zone cost (for example).


Then another set like...

Audio Upgrade Silver/Gold/Platinum
Video Upgrade Silver/Gold/Platinum

The upgrades move you from basic speakers to higher end speakers or from HD to 4K etc. So a customer picks Audio Zone then ads the upgrade to it.

Wiring the house with no labels and holding the wiring map hostage is unethical. I am in the middle of relocating a client's system from his old house to his new construction house. The builder had his guys come in and wire, and did exactly this. Zero labeling on anything. We toned everything out and are good, but was a time waster for sure which cost the client money. The second our client bought this house, the builders guys lost any chance of a system sale here. Even if we were not moving his system, he would be buying through us. His entire family uses us and is our most loyal and best clients. Personally, I think it is a dick move to try and control who gets the sale by not labeling. Make your money on the wiring, hope the right client gets in there that does not have their own people already, and then sell yourself.

Capitalism is unethical.

We sometimes work with a high end builder who recommends us for jobs that are located at the fringe of our service area. We let him do all of the rough wiring -- to our spec and he does a great job. There are advantages for us, the builder, and the client. This reduces our travel, the builder is constantly on-site, has some skin in the game, and we are kept up to date with all of the little and big changes that usually don't get reported to the A/V guy -- until it's too late.

Years ago we tried being more commercial and work with BOSE to develop some condo and tract projects when BOSE first introduced their whole house line. We beat the bushes, developed contacts, lined up projects, then had the developer bring in the BOSE factory guy who under bid us. Not being terminally stupid, we backed out of this and let the BOSE factory guy develop his own leads.

I've also had contractors come to me and suggest that I pre-wire his houses on pure speculation. In his vision we'd wire the houses (for free), he could promote "wired for A/V," and he would leave our card. I've worked on enough pre-wired (by others) new homes to know that this probably does not work out well for the pre-wire dealer or the client.

IMO, a custom home gets a custom AV system. Having said that, it's easy to put a set price on a package that might include, say, 4 rooms/zones of audio. We also start out with a basic security package that includes x door contacts & y motion detectors, which we add onto as needed. FWIW, all of the builders we work with do almost all custom homes, and probably 95% of the time we get in front of the homeowner before rough-in. Usually the builder gives a low-voltage budget, and anything beyond that is handled directly with the homeowner.

Shame on you, Mac!

It's not just unethical, it's STUPID.


Label everything AND have a wiring diagram using a blueprint you got from the builder.

Charge accordingly. Accordingly meaning that you will make money regardless if you get the installation or not.

This way yours will be the company that gets recommended by the builder, not the company the builder fires for being such a slack ass outfit.


No better way to harm your business than doing half ass work. I know it's hard, but use a little bit of common sense.

I hate going to "pre-wired" houses. 99% the wires are all 6" out of the wall and nothing labeled.

When I wire a house I label everything and terminate all wires (coax, phone, networking) at wall plate & in media can.

Every house I go into that is "pre-wired" nothing is terminated in the can or labeled and I'm lucky if the wall plates are terminated.

FML

I always "blind" wired, and noted locations on a diagram that went to the builder, or remained in my files.

Never terminated anything beyond the telco and coax since they may never get used, unless I had a contract for the system.



I saw lots of this over the years, and sadly it cost everyone something. Cost the client more due to the time toning out the wiring and trying to figure out where everything went. Cost the builder because his image was damaged. Cost the installer since he lost that builder.

You labeled the wires at the head end, right?

Not sure I would terminate anything ever in a prewire. Never have, likely never will. Dont see the benefit there at all.