Who does the installations for Extreme Makeover Home Edition? I'm thinking that must be a sweet deal. In and out in seven days then you get paid.

This message was edited by mrtristan on 05/01/05 21:10 ET.

IF you get paid.

We were looking at a makeover show (not Extreme... just a local version) and we had to buy quite a large ad package PLUS donate the system (meaning at cost). Unlike Extreme it wasn't for a family that was going to move right in so these guys probably do get paid... I'll bet you do it for the advertising though... I'm sure they won't pay you top dollar.

Plus... you know how majorly f----g crazy those sites are with 100+ contractors running all over each other.

True, but I've never seen them give credit to custom electronic companies and I think ABC must have the pocket to pay well. All in all, they probably spend less money on any reality show than they do paying actors...Think "Friends". Each actor got paid 1 million per episode. I don't think it costs more than 2 million for an extrem makeover.

Most of the big budget stuff that they show on TV is donated for the advertising value. I suspect the rest is paid for, but at a discount.

If you look on the website they have a complete listing of EVERYTHING that goes into each house. For instance, for last week's episode:

[Link: abc.go.com]

Hasn't the 15 minutes of fame for reality and makeover shows about run it's course?

I had a few conversations with Dean Johnson of HomeTime regarding a Lutron lighting control job on a project they were filming.

He wanted Lutron to donate the product and partially pay for advertising, and fully donated labor and programming, in exchange they offered advertising and promotion with values attached that I never understood...

I put him in touch with the marketing dept. at Lutron and stood back to think it over. Obviously it died on the vine at Lutron...

That was for an independantly produced show for PBS...
I can't even imagine the sh*t a major network would put you through.

I've never seen any good come of these "opportunities" from the dealer's point of view. If you're going to discount product and labor, much better to do it at a local Parade of Homes. Dealers tell me these are great opportunities. But don't give anything away. Discount it, fine, but never free.

Usually we do at least one home theatre at our local parade of homes, but this year the builder we had a deal with told us at the last minute he'd assumed everything would be 'on loan'.

We explained we're not a big enough operation to absorb the cost of 4 home theatres, and whole house audio, but he wasn't happy with that and gave the deal to someone else.... sigh.

That was probably for the best. Absorbing that much cost - I doubt who ever did it will in the long run, pull a profit off the jobs they did pick-up. At best they'll break even (unless they get really lucky with a job or two from it - I personally don't play roulette)

Don't sweat it...
If you ae still in the local HBA, you can probably buy reasonable ad space in the flyer/program.

We find that a lot of our bigger leads have come directly or indirectly from the Parade, and when we meet we always ask if they are Parade regulars. We don't give ANYTHING away, and basically only pass on the programs that the manufacturers offer as the only discounting.

Also, since you are making less money, you have to be more aggressive about how to market yourself with the new exposure.

Since the same types of people go to these each year, keep a list of the ones you have done in years past and list those as well as a "portfolio" of past work that the attendees may have seen.

The regulars go through each year, and many of them are collecting ideas to build their own dream homes, but not for a few years. Nowadays, it's like an annuity for us, we jump through the hoops of a Parade home or two each season, and we get a few good leads from people that saw our work and our ads in the last couple years...

It's weird, people will remember the strangest little things about each job, and if you jog their memories and they say "Oh, you guys did that??, I liked this thing from that job!!" and I have to think hard to remember what they are talking about, because it's usually some small detail like an inwall sub or oddball color matched keypad plates or something.

We have done Parade projects for about 10 years, maybe more, and we take photos and write descriptions for every one.

We have assembled quite a nice little Parade portfolio to discuss and I am trying to assemble binders of past jobs to take with me as I work the Parade site(s) this year.

I agree with Julie, this is the most productive marketing we have done hands down...

I did a Parade home when I was just getting started and fortunately I contracted directly with the person buying the house and not the builder. We did get good exposure, but we had someone there almost every day for a month. A lot of lost productivity. A few years ago I approached a Parade builder about doing his house and he agreed to pay cost (very generous). I didn't hear from him after that and when I contacted him later he sheepishly admitted that another company came along and offered to do it for free. Well, I can't compete with free. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm lucky to get net margin of 10% on full retail jobs. It takes a lot of those to cover the expense of a month long Parade.

I had one of my customers homes appear on HGTV's Before and After show. I never saw the episode (they didn't interview me) but I actually got a couple of referrals that led to jobs (this was 7 or 8 years ago when I had a little company in Chicago). Didn't cost me anything and my name must have appeared on their database for awhile. I've got to admit that I never would have paid for it, though...


Jeff

The house I live in currently was featured on a Before & After show just before we bought the place. Very interesting to see when you know the house as well as I do now. I think the builder and architect got some referrals out of the feature. The previous homeowner did the low voltage on that part of the house.

My friend bought a 'This Old House' house - ten years after... He said the place was a mess... the tile had all cracked, and the heavy tile bath in the middle of the second floor had settled, causing cracks in the first floor sheetrock, etc... A couple of nice rooms, and the rest left alone...

Norm,
Which house??
I have been an avid fan since the Norm and Bob days, and I even have nearly every issue of the magazine since it came out.

I even met Norm Abram at the Intl Tool Show at McCormick about 10 yrs ago and got an autographed picture!!

I am not kidding...