A company approached us to package systems for their commercial environment streaming music service.

On the installation side essentially one would connect an amp and some speakers to a computer, stream the music source and you're done.

The commercial environments that these are being installed into are mostly retail, showrooms, chain restaurants etc.

The company would like us to pre-pack systems and ship to their customers. We are not targeting pre-packaged systems for those systems beyond a certain size, they would be referred to a local installer.

Simple enough in concept but as we all know the devil is in the details.

Who provides support?
Who installs the system, the client or a local installer?
If local installer how do we best build that network?
Do we provide the very basic, e.g. volume control from the front panel of the amp, or the more elaborate with volume control via an App?

From an installer perspective would it be something you personally were interested in? We provide you the amp and speakers at distribution cost, you install at full retail. In and out, no fuss (allegedly).

There are a few different problems with these types of situations as I see it.  

#1.  Have you ever heard of the company before the called you? If yes, than that should give some comfort.

#2. If you have heard of them, they're probably well aware that there are companies that already offer services like this. For example, Onforce. Why didn't they call them? That would be a red flag for me.

#3.  Next, It's going to cost you $20 for background checks on installers.  It's also going to cost you to Drug test and find out they're not crack heads, plus all of the other admin stuff you're going to need.  Do you have that type of infrastructure in place, or will you need to build it?

#4.  You're probably going to need a new accountant, because you just increased your subcontractors by at least 200.  I estimate only 4 per state. 

#5.  You're going to need a new payroll dept.  That's a bunch of new payroll. 

#6.  How long do you have to wait to get paid by the company?  I had to kick a major computer company to the curb a few years ago because they pay 90 days out.  That hurts my feelings.  Can you pay installers before they pay you?  What if they don't pay you, or pay late?  Will you lose your house?

#7.  You're going to need some sort of Quality Control in place.  After all, it's your name on the projects, not some dude in a rusty truck.  It will always land on yoru doorstep.

#8.  How much are they willing to pay?  If you build the system, charge X amount, keep a portion for your company (for example 40%) are you even making money?  When you split the 60% to the contractor, will that amount of money even get him out of bed?

If the "take" on the project is going to be $100 or less for the contractor, I'd shy away.  IMO, you can't get a decent contractor to go anywhere, do anything, or install anything for $100.  You're at the bottom of the barrel.  Bottom of the barrel doesn't show up on time, ends up in jail, doesn't do the install correctly.

What happens when the installation is done, it doesn't work, and the installer vanishes?  Do you have a backup installer?  If so, what is he going to be paid?  What if you don't have anyone?  How is it going to get fixed?  Are you going to jump on a plane?

Not trying to rain on your parade.  Just trying to point out what can and will happen.

The only way i would even consider it is if you are packaging an amp you choose, a dedicated PC, surge protection, ups and anything else involved in a rack that has everything mounted and wired and ready to go.

The only thing left to do would be connect speaker cables and an ethernet cable. I would even go a step further and create a landing board for the speakers that has a breakout cable that you already have attached to your amp. Maybe 6-15' of breakout cable that they can mount on the wall and land all of their speaker cables to. This keeps fat fingers out of your rack.

I would choose a short list of in-ceiling/wall mount speakers/subs for them to choose from. The idea here is that its as plug and play as possible so that anyone can get it wired.

Make sure they have something like logmein or team viewer or whatever to give them the ability to login to the system and configure/maintain the PC and streaming service software. You don't want to handle tech support for a buggy piece of software that you didn't write. You should be connecting an ethernet cable and handing off the rest of it to them.

Support has to be handled by you because no one else will care. The local installer has no motivation to do a great job or continue the relationship. I would assume i had to hire guys who would travel to bring these systems online. I would make sure that my process was totally streamlined and thought out so that at most your guy is installing speakers and connecting speaker cables. DO NOT offer wiring as a service. Create a document that explains what to do with the speaker bracket and what wires to pull from point A to point B and let them have their electrician or security company pull the wire.

I would offer both front panel control and via an app or remote.

I have access to a nationwide commercial installer network. Actually it's worldwide but that doesn't matter to you right now.

An undertaking of this size could make or break your company. Be careful if you do go forward with this.

Do you know an Audi dealer? Check with them to see if they have installed, somewhere near the parts department, a TV that plays all day long.

I've been the sub on a couple of these. They have a dedicated box that is not a computer, that connects to the internet for programming. The TVs can be various different sizes. Mounts are supplied.

Crazy thing is that the company "organizing" this tells the dealer to supply power and internet (and they define how to set it up), then when the installer gets out there and opens that package that was sent in advance, he sees the instructions telling exactly WHERE to place the power an network connection. It has never gone right the first time, and sometimes multiple visits are necessary.

And this is without the vagaries of a computer. This is not simple.

There is one of those "Wing" restaurants that have their systems all designed and organized through 1 company in the US.
They then contract out to local CI firms to deal with the install and service as new locations are opened.
It can and is done, but certainly requires a lot of thought and planning to ensure everyone is happy, things go as planned and everyone is paid in a timely fashion.

I once subcontracted a small company to help with a large project we were working on. They were DMX music system installers. Lots of work putting in DMX music in retail etc.
Some things I recall about their business during conversations we had.
DMX designed each system and located everything on drawings for them, so there really should be nothing to think about. Go, wire and install everything exactly as the drawings state. Yea right... What was on the drawings almost never what was on site. Beams in the way, HVAC ducts in the way and on and on. Too many speakers, not enough power. Basically he would have to redesign things on site. What was scheduled for 2 days took 3 or even 4. (and his guys did good work for us, not slow or incompetent) Items missing from the shipment (who is responsible?) Not the correct TV mount etc.

There are a lot of things to plan, then oversee to ensure something like this is done well.