Met with the homeowner yesterday to walk her house room by room to go over her low voltage needs throughout a 6,000 square foot home. It was completely framed and dried in so it was easy to determine the best TV and speaker placement compared to the other two companies she had bid on her job. We made many changes from her original locations because the way she was utilizing her rooms dictated better equipment placement.

The pricing from the other two was in the $35,000-$40,000 range.

When I asked her what was the feedback she received from the other two companies that walked her house she told me they told her they didn't need to come out and only worked off the her floor plans. Based on many changes we made in equipment placement I was surprised the other guys didn't come out to the house.

Am I wrong on this and has the business changed in this regard?

Thanks

I don't know how you could do more than a budget off of just floor plans, and it would probably still be wrong.

Anytime we are asked to quote a job we will walk the house. Electrical is a little different for us as it is hard to walk a house when there is no framing so we will go off drawings for that with the customer.

If you are quoting a basic distributed audio system I don't think walking a house is required. Once you add phone/data, TV, and other automation aspects you need to walk the house to get an idea as to the layout of each room and how the owner thinks they will utilize the room and where they think the furniture will be situated.

lol. um, no. Are you saying you did not prewire it? On projects this size and especially if we did not do the wiring, every inch gets scrutinized or we don't do the project.

Aren't there always surprises? Just last week we walked a $half-mil home with coax wire above a fireplace.

I always walk the job site. There is always something that the plans don't show you.
Plus its the best way to build a "relationship" with the client - in person.

+1

A great opportunity to build a relationship with the client, maybe up sell, at least plant the seed of up sell. "You know, we could put an iPad right here in the wall so you can control the whole audio system"

And why are builders letting electricians out a single coax in a blue box over the fireplace now, you would think after the last 5-10 years that would have been a lesson learned. They are building around the corner from me, one cat5 looped to four outlet locations, coax over the fireplace, not a mansion, but a $425,000 house. Someone is going to be disappointed.

It depends on how early you get involved. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to design something before the plans were drawn? Everything would be in the right place before you started roughing it in. Other trades would be on the same page from the start.

Ok back to the real world. We normally get pulled into a job as it is already being framed. So we can do an estimate off a set of plans, yes. But regardless of when you get involved, always walk the house with the client before starting. Then after they leave, walk it with the builder, electrician, hvac, etc. so they can provide the required infrastructure for your systems.

We encourage and almost demand a walk through. Most customers appreciate it and like others have said, it builds the relationship. Any time you have the opportunity to get more face time with a client particularly when competitors are not, it increases your likelihood of getting the job AND the referrals. Its the BEST opportunity for upgrades (as is clients visiting showrooms/demo rooms/demo houses).

We always walk through before the wire, but for the quote? Not that often.

many homes we quote dont even have a foundation yet, let alone framed.

Is putting a TV location on the north wall instead of the east really going to change the job so much in the quoting stage?

I create proposals before the job site exists by reviewing the document sets.

If there is a job site when I bid, I'll look it over.

I hope you get the job, I and hope she appreciates the free design consultation you gave her.

 

That is the double edged sword of doing this.
IF they are a person looking form advice, direction and to form a business relationship with someone working on their home, it can pay hige dividends.

But, they could be doing just what you said, using your knowledge to design a system that they can hand the plans to the electrician, the homebuilder or their self proclaimed "tech expert" brother in law.

It does give you some time with the potential client, if you pay attention during this time, it can give you a lot of insight as to how working with this person is going to go.

We still mostly walk potential projects with the homeowner. It used to be the exception that people would use us for free design and a shopping list, now it has become all too common. We have taken some steps to prevent us from being used for free design work.

Walking the house is mandatory. I would never give a quote without it.

Meeting the customer is the first step in any sales process.

We ask for floor plans or pictures for jobs that we think are tire kicking or cheap. Basically those that we do not want.

Sounds like a waste of time, creating a proposal before the job site exists. Busy work for a salesman.

We always walk the job with the client and or builder. Most of our resi jobs have plans but walking the site gives you much more insight into what your labour costs will be.
So you're the 3rd man in to quote? Sounds like she's shopping price. Good luck.