Is this a joke? Didn't most guests have Porsches? ;)

Paul, although your expertise is in delivering a high end solution on a budget, you may want to consider pursuing the jobs where cost is not the biggest factor, where clients will pay a premium for detail. Maybe Crestron training is in your future?

Nice, Heather and I went to a party a client threw for everyone who worked on the house yesterday.

Those parties are so much fun. The fiancé and I went to my first one a few weeks ago. Fireworks live band and lots and lots of fun. Can't wait until the next one!!!

I think Indigo was taking a friendly jab at me.  I've got a 911 Turbo, but after the recent thread about letting customers see you personal car, we drove my wife's vehicle :)


I'm really happy with the niche I've fallen into providing kind of 2nd tier solutions.  Most of the clients I work for can afford anything they want, but just aren't interested in full blown Crestron or AMX systems.  Mmany of them already have (or have had) these systems in other homes and just never saw the value.

This job is a perfect example.  They originally had a bid for $270K for Crestron, but just weren't interested.  It's not that it cost too much, they just didn't want or need all the features.  The architect recommended me and I came in with a solution that only included what they really wanted for less than half the price.

A lot of people don't really care that much about the technology we provide, they want TVs and music in some rooms, lighting control and maybe an intercom system and they want it to be reliable and easy to use but don't really want all the bells and whistles.

If I pursued becoming a Creston dealer, I'd be competing against some strong competition in my market that's well established and I'd also have to staff up to take on even larger jobs (which I don't really want to do).  I enjoy doing what I do now and I think it's a big part of what's made the company successful. 

This was my first party in No. Cal, we went to several in So. Cal. I was there for many years though... It is interesting taking tequila shot with your client and for sure.

This was one of the nicer client parties I've been to.  They checked names at the property entrance and then had valets waiting to collect your car at the front entrance of the main residence.

From there you were greeted by a tour guide that took guests through the house and answered questions and provided detailed information about the construction and appointments.  This was really nice so the home owners didn't get stuck showing everyone around.

After the tour you were led out to the backyard area where the bars, food and tables were setup around the pool and two patio areas.  Event was catered by Wolfgang Puck and on top of the approx 300 guests there were around 60 staff.

The clients main home is in LA so many of the guests were from there.  Shuttle buses were provided from LA and Santa Barbara to Los Olivos where the home is located for any guests that didn't want to drive.

Lots of compliments on the TVs which is about the only thing visible aside from lighting & music keypads.   Clients recently returned from a trip to the Galapagos so I looped a BBC documentary Blu-ray of the Galapagos islands on all the TVs.

Live music amplification was all handled by a pro-audio team that setup the day before, so didn't even use the distributed audio system.

Met some interesting people and passed out a few cards, but most of all just enjoyed a nice relaxing evening.











One of my favorite client parties was last December.  At the end of the job, the
client chartered a 70ft sport fishing boat and took all the contractors for an overnight fishing trip.

Wow.

I hope the tour included the equipment room. Put your name on your racks!

There, I fixed it for you :-)

My company info is on the racks, but the tour definitely didn't include the mechanical room.  The guides did mention "integrated audio, video, intercom and lighting control" during the tour, and they also knew the TV in the media room was 80" when people asked.

My wife was the only person I took down to show the rack.  She rarely gets to see an of my work or the properties that I work on.

Man, That is exciting. I hope your wife is like mine and at least pretends that she is interested an proud of me. Most of the time I look the the folks on here to pat me on the back. We are the only ones who truly get it. Great job and this had to make you feel good. I am always a little stressed that everything is going to work well! It always does but I still stress.

LOL i feel your pain. No one understands my job when i try and explain it. When i show them photos of racks they say things like "we use our imac for music in every room...why do they need all that stuff". My girlfriend uses the MX-980 in the family room to turn the system on then she uses the cable remote or apple tv remote to control the source. Drives me insane.

Mac, there are not two ways about it; you got to drop her.
Leave her now, before it gets worse... 

I've gotten custom air grilles from Pattern Cut before.
[Link: patterncut.com]

Here's another I just came across too.
[Link: ccairgrilles.com]

When we first started dating (10 years ago) i lived in an apartment in Chicago. I had a TS-1000 programmed to control the light/fan/av gear in the bedroom. Fan & light were X-10. Every day she would unplug/replug stuff so that she could manually turn things on or off vs using the remote. I should have ended it then lol.

Walked into this beauty today, the end users were having "some issues"...



Golf Club, Bar area, dining area, Mens/Womens locker rooms, Nice looking Place.

Jukebox iPod dock was sound source for flat panel TV in lower level dining room.
(Speakers in the ceiling weren't working after a construction project)

Speechless...