I am going to try and make the leap into Home theatre consulting/install.... focusing more on helping people get what they want within budget and hookups and whatnot.

I have some friends who do construction for some very well off people. They need someone to figure out speakers, receivers hd/dvd players and connections. The construction guys would do all the labor (ie holes in walls for cables) I would just tell them where. I have heard people rave about blue jean cables...... would this be a good source for all my cables?

the most important question thouhg is money........... what is a good way to charge people for this? by the hour, a percentage of the equipment, a combination of both???????? any advice is highly appreciated as I meet with them in 1 hour and realized I hadnt thought that part through..........

Thanks!!

Well, I'm not a Home Theater/AV Expert but I would imagine that whatever you decide hourly or per job I would recommend that while you start out keep your prices fair and respectful. It will get you a start while informing the people you work for, and with that your not out to slash any one's throat.

Only bit of advice I have for ya bud-

Ya, but what would be a good price....

I definatley want to keep it affordable/reasonalbe to begin with and get the good word out.

20$/hr plus 10% equipt fee?

15$/hr 15% equipt fee?

Imagine I would spend maybe 7-8 hours reasearching, buying, hooking up and designing the HT room. I would saya good average for a settup with the people I will be dealing with would be at least $2,000

If i was hiring someone, i would much rather go with someone that charges a flat fee and not a percentage of the equipment that i (they) buy. it takes you the same amount of research to find a $700 reciever than it does a $5,000 receiver.

I wouldnt trust you had my best "bang for the buck" in mind if you are getting a percentage of all the equipment you pick out if i am reading that right.

If i was hiring someone, i would much rather go with someone that charges a flat fee and not a percentage of the equipment that i (they) buy. it takes you the same amount of research to find a $700 reciever than it does a $5,000 receiver.

I wouldnt trust you had my best "bang for the buck" in mind if you are getting a percentage of all the equipment you pick out if i am reading that right.

Very good point, but one thing I want to try and do with the people I work for is really sit down and develop a list of what they really want tailored to the budget they have.....

amazing sound, screen size not that big of an issue

big TV, skimpy sound

big tv, absurd bass, sound quality not that important....

I guess the good thing to do would be to base my rate off of the budget they have maybe?

Very good point, but one thing I want to try and do with the people I work for is really sit down and develop a list of what they really want tailored to the budget they have.....

amazing sound, screen size not that big of an issue

big TV, skimpy sound

big tv, absurd bass, sound quality not that important....

I guess the good thing to do would be to base my rate off of the budget they have maybe?

IMO that should have nothing to do with it. You should sit with them and figure out what their budget and their needs are at the consultation, then a day or two later propose a flat rate to them. If you want to use equipment percentage as part of your formula thats fine, i just would keep that to yourself.

I guess you don't need liability insurance in case you accedentally damage their home since they are well off people. And, oh yea, how about a C7 low voltage license.

NOTE>>>>>>>>The following comments do not reflect those of other Hard Working AV dealers or CI's. No associations should also be made to professionals in the AV industry from this post as it may, but should not reflect poorly on them. I realize many intelligent people participate here. I am my own walking opinion machine and sometimes people step on my trip wire and they get blown up. Especially people who are skipping through a mine field singing "Joy to the World" dreaming of the day when the whole world can join hands for cheap gear and bankrupt service providers. Wheeee!<<<<<<

dude you are a complete moron

I have a friend that owns a major company and he needs new computers and a server farm.

Does anyone have any ideas on what to use? I'm going to make this a new business! Where can I buy parts. I hear netgear is pretty good.

You're either a) going to look like a complete douche in front a of a smart guy who builds homes for millionaires. or b) your going look smart to a dumb guy who builds homes for millionaires.

Either way, in the end you're going to get sued for not being licensed. You're going to look like an idiot becuase you have NO CLUE as WTF you're doing and it may not show now, but it will later, when you've totally f'd sime poor homeowner who gets stuck with your lame ass excuse for a system.

Just becuase you know how to hook up a cable box doesn;t mean you know jack about this industry. The questions you posed prove you live in this stupid little AVS universe with a bunch of cheap ass sycophants patting each other on the back for saving $100.

I can't wait till you fall flat on your ass and go broke realizing it takes a lot more than 15% markup and $20 an hour to survive as business.

Wait till the builder asks you for your workers comp cert and General Liability cert before he can you cut you a check.

oh, and make sure you trim it out at night so the inspector doesn't throw your ass in jail and fine you $5,000 for doing this without a license.
I'm laughing so hard at you right now.

I think I'll start building cars. Know where to get any fuel injection tubing?



HAHAHAHA! I just read your quote about "$2000" The average system we do is over $40K for a $1Million home. You are pathetic dude. Did you come up with a business plan on your to the meeting? Did you sign up any new lines? What kinda product do you rep? "

learn to crawl before you walk...

Ya, but what would be a good price....

I definatley want to keep it affordable/reasonalbe to begin with and get the good word out.

20$/hr plus 10% equipt fee?

15$/hr 15% equipt fee?

Imagine I would spend maybe 7-8 hours reasearching, buying, hooking up and designing the HT room. I would saya good average for a settup with the people I will be dealing with would be at least $2,000

WOW.... you want to charge your client what I pay my installers.....

I would say you are also about 15 hours light on your HT project.

2K... OK that will get you a Panny 42"... what about the REST of the stuff?

You have GOT to be kidding me.

Oh some one else already mentioned this... BUT Ins. Workers Comp, permits, licen......

you are going to be soo screwed if you drill through a LVL and have NO insurance..... And mistakes DO happen....

Leave this idea for others......

Ya, but what would be a good price....

I definatley want to keep it affordable/reasonalbe to begin with and get the good word out.

20$/hr plus 10% equipt fee?

15$/hr 15% equipt fee?

Imagine I would spend maybe 7-8 hours reasearching, buying, hooking up and designing the HT room. I would saya good average for a settup with the people I will be dealing with would be at least $2,000

I guess you do not eat or pay any bills then do you?? x that by 4 and you will be breaking even in California if do this legit.

Sorry but you are going to go broke with the "business plan" you have outlined.

We have guys that have pulled wire for us for years, and they are efficient at it, but if there is a mistake in design they for the most part are not able to pick up on it and make the correction. How are your "Construction guys" gonna do?

Thats just the tip of the iceberg. What kind of boxes are gonna use Carlon, P&S, how much do they cost? What kind of plates are you going to use, Leviton, P&S? What is the electrician using, most people would like this to match, which brings us to color, Almond, Light Almond, White, Ivory etc. Is the White, White, Snow White, Gloss White? How does the Radio Ra Decora dimmer match with the P&S plate? Do you know what Decora is?

License, Bonding, Insurance? Gas, Vehicle ins, tires, wear and tear, tools? Where do you think the money for these things comes from? Service calls?

You probably have a grand time hanging here and tweaking on your personal system to all hours of the night, but whos going to do that for your paying customers? You are.

Wait till you start getting calls at 9:00pm "Why cant I watch this DVD I just rented?" Then you kick yourself for using HDMI.

High end? Are you going to Distribute all Video sources from the Head end to the zones? What about a control system, sure its all plugged in and setup right but can anyone actually use the system?

Ok so your an AV genius but now you are talking to a builder. Do you have any idea what the hell he is talking about? You better have a conversation with Sparky about your power requirements, you dont want to spend the rest of your life troubleshooting ground loops. How much power do you need at the HE.

Thermal Management, theres a whole page here. Data? Wireless access? Interior Designers? Architect, can you read plans?


Sure here at AVS you can buy a product at near cost from some internet reseller, put it into you own system and cross your fingers that you never need any kind of service. Then when you get lucky sneer at the Custom guys for charging what we charge.

So here is a hint.

$75.00hr minimum
ALL EQUIPMENT AT FULL RETAIL
Charge for your design time. It really sucks when you spend 40 hours on a system only to have them take your line item to the Alarm guy who reads AVS.

NOTE>>>>>>>>The following comments do not reflect those of other Hard Working AV dealers or CI's. No associations should also be made to professionals in the AV industry from this post as it may, but should not reflect poorly on them. I realize many intelligent people participate here. I am my own walking opinion machine and sometimes people step on my trip wire and they get blown up. Especially people who are skipping through a mine field singing "Joy to the World" dreaming of the day when the whole world can join hands for cheap gear and bankrupt service providers. Wheeee!<<<<<<

dude you are a complete moron

I have a friend that owns a major company and he needs new computers and a server farm.

Does anyone have any ideas on what to use? I'm going to make this a new business! Where can I buy parts. I hear netgear is pretty good.

You're either a) going to look like a complete douche in front a of a smart guy who builds homes for millionaires. or b) your going look smart to a dumb guy who builds homes for millionaires.

Either way, in the end you're going to get sued for not being licensed. You're going to look like an idiot becuase you have NO CLUE as WTF you're doing and it may not show now, but it will later, when you've totally f'd sime poor homeowner who gets stuck with your lame ass excuse for a system.

Just becuase you know how to hook up a cable box doesn;t mean you know jack about this industry. The questions you posed prove you live in this stupid little AVS universe with a bunch of cheap ass sycophants patting each other on the back for saving $100.

I can't wait till you fall flat on your ass and go broke realizing it takes a lot more than 15% markup and $20 an hour to survive as business.

Wait till the builder asks you for your workers comp cert and General Liability cert before he can you cut you a check.

oh, and make sure you trim it out at night so the inspector doesn't throw your ass in jail and fine you $5,000 for doing this without a license.
I'm laughing so hard at you right now.

I think I'll start building cars. Know where to get any fuel injection tubing?



HAHAHAHA! I just read your quote about "$2000" The average system we do is over $40K for a $1Million home. You are pathetic dude. Did you come up with a business plan on your to the meeting? Did you sign up any new lines? What kinda product do you rep? "

I do believe a lot of what you said is true, but you are such a JERK in the way you present it, it's ridiculous.
How about telling this inexperienced person what he needs to do or not do.
Instead you just tell him what an idiot he is. I'm glad your not my HT installer or as you would probably call it, "Home Theater Elitist".
You remind me of the people I used to meet when I went to audition High-End Audio equipment. You know it all and I know nothing. I need to get new ears(The ones God gave me are pathetic, can't you hear the differecne in that cable).
How about responding in telling him, kindly, what is wrong with his business plan and he should go back and rework it.
Oh, that's right, I doubt an idiot like him could eventually get to your level expertise.

This thread is actually scary, there are so many guys out there just like the OP here, I would not pay anyone to make equipment choices or to understand what I want to accomplish or what I like.
and clearly there is less knowledge here then many of the clients, which again unfortunately is too often the case.

I am certainly not lumping him in with the Dennis Erskines and others of his ilk on this site.

Someone indicated in another thread that on Aug 5th of this year the OP posted:
"im kind of a newb,

bass traps? sound treatment? sounds expensive. please elaborate."
And now he's going to advise others on designing theaters. Sounds like a plan to me.

I do believe a lot of what you said is true, but you are such a JERK in the way you present it, it's ridiculous.
How about telling this inexperienced person what he needs to do or not do.
Instead you just tell him what an idiot he is. I'm glad your not my HT installer or as you would probably call it, "Home Theater Elitist".
You remind me of the people I used to meet when I went to audition High-End Audio equipment. You know it all and I know nothing. I need to get new ears(The ones God gave me are pathetic, can't you hear the differecne in that cable).
How about responding in telling him, kindly, what is wrong with his business plan and he should go back and rework it.
Oh, that's right, I doubt an idiot like him could eventually get to your level expertise.

scotty no amount of advice would even begin to help this guy except the rude awakening i posted. for someone who just a couple months ago posted things like "I'm a newb, room acoustics? need help!" to designing systems for a high end builder is preposterous and should be sumarily flamed accordingly. thanks Q.

yes, i may have sounded like the jerk who so rudely asked you to leave his showroom because he had an $80K proposal to put together, but the truth is I'm a very happy guy who treats his small and big customers the same, with respect.

So get out your verbal winchester and fire at the delivery boy!

I mean really, there is no amount of postings that could help this guy. Great kid I'm sure, but positively clueless. As I am to spinal surgery, backhoe manufacturing, internet security and about a billion other things.

I think I might have not explained my situation as thoroughly as I should have.

To clear some things up I have outlined the following:

1.) I currently have a a full-time job as a project engineer in a local environmental consulting firm and am also a small business owner, so yes, I pay a few bills and don't really consider myself a complete moron.

2.) The people I would be doing this for are friends who own a construction company. The owner of the construction company is currently building two houses in a beach community for himself. All fo the TVs are already purchased. The 4 rooms i would be helping out in are already built (framed out) and the basic layout is set.

3.) These guys literally know nothing about home theater, avrs, speakers. I am just gonna come in, see what I think, advise on what speakers, subs, and receivers they should buy and placement of it all and try to save them some money in the process. I will also come in and connect it all and familiarize them with it all. I will not be doing any "construction" or "demo" work.

4.) by rereading my original post, it does sound rather absurd the way I made it sound, I apologize if I may have offended anybody in the business, but I didnt see any reason for some of those replies.....

5.) briremo..... *sniiff snifff* you stink :)

I think I might have not explained my situation as thoroughly as I should have.

To clear some things up I have outlined the following:

1.) I currently have a a full-time job as a project engineer in a local environmental consulting firm and am also a small business owner, so yes, I pay a few bills and don't really consider myself a complete moron.

2.) The people I would be doing this for are friends who own a construction company. The owner of the construction company is currently building two houses in a beach community for himself. All fo the TVs are already purchased. The 4 rooms i would be helping out in are already built (framed out) and the basic layout is set.

3.) These guys literally know nothing about home theater, avrs, speakers. I am just gonna come in, see what I think, advise on what speakers, subs, and receivers they should buy and placement of it all and try to save them some money in the process. I will also come in and connect it all and familiarize them with it all. I will not be doing any "construction" or "demo" work.

4.) by rereading my original post, it does sound rather absurd the way I made it sound, I apologize if I may have offended anybody in the business, but I didnt see any reason for some of those replies.....

5.) briremo..... *sniiff snifff* you stink :)

Sorry Bud....
I know that you are well intentioned, and you seem to be passionate about this as a hobby.... But if these truly are friends with these builders, you should strive to get them connected to a conscientious professional that can service their needs and the needs of their customers....

As mentioned, a decent professional company will have verifiable licensing (in States that require it), insurance, workers comp.

In addition, look for well maintained contractor grade tools, numerous members if the staff holding respected industry credentials and certifications, an on call troubleshooting/service specialist (in addition to installation techs), system designers with the ability to work from project documentation (which may include in-house CAD/drafting capabilities for creating new and modified plans for the LV cabling, home control, and entertainment systems), a staff comprised of individuals from not only electronics backgrounds, but also contracting backgrounds to be taken seriously by GCs, the other trades, and the local inspectors, years in business and a decent business plan to STAY in business to service the projects long term, the majority of the employees having been with the company for more than a few months (high turnover is a bad thing), the ability to return calls and schedule client meetings and site visits on a timely basis to keeo the project on schedule (which is hard to do with a seperate FT career in another field)...

Ask your friends if it's OK to have the electronics consultant push back the insulation on a project for 2 weeks while mulling over product decisions and pre-wire locations during evenings and weekends.....

In the case of spec, that builder OWNS that house, and that construction loan payment is due every month whether the house is on schedule or not...

In the case of custom built on the homeowners' site, they are STILL paying for the house, plus where they are living during the construction...

Don't be the guy to cost either of them an extra payment or two on numerous projects or you won't be friends with these builders for too much longer.

BTW, this barely scratches the surface of what a real pro considers day in and day out...

Once you find a few pros who have real businesses and are good at what they do, THEN you can begin to see if you agree on system design philosophies, equipment preferences, etc.

Perhaps as a referral for dropping a high line builder in the lap of a reputable firm, you may find someone who will allow you to buy some of your own gear from them on a "friends and family" rate....

20$/hr plus 10% equipt fee?

15$/hr 15% equipt fee?

1.) I currently have a a full-time job as a project engineer in a local environmental consulting firm and am also a small business owner, so yes, I pay a few bills and don't really consider myself a complete moron.
I find the two quotes above unusual. Why would a full-time project engineer and small business owner wants to branch off so they can work for $15 - $20 hour? Get a barbers chair and do a few haircuts on the side and the worst you can do is mess someones hair up and it'll grow back. Stick with male clients, I hear they are much less concerned with bad haircuts. Otherwise you may end up with some woman suing you on Judge Judy.

I find the two quotes above unusual. Why would a full-time project engineer and small business owner wants to branch off so they can work for $15 - $20 hour? Get a barbers chair and do a few haircuts on the side and the worst you can do is mess someones hair up and it'll grow back. Stick with male clients, I hear they are much less concerned with bad haircuts. Otherwise you may end up with some woman suing you on Judge Judy.

LOL, it would be something to do on the side, hobby/slash extra minor income. But my girlfriend does give me some dam good haircuts..... now there's a thought.