High Wiring: Top 30 Structured Wiring Dealers

#28 | Building Builder Relationships

Mesa Home Systems, Austin, Texas
Everyone knows that the integration business relies on relationships, but what better way to get involved with some of the people who can help you out than to be on the board of their associations? That has helped Mike Smith, owner of Mesa Home Systems in Austin, Texas. Mesa Home Systems' major install is structured wiring, and Smith develops relationships with local builders by sitting on the board of the local Home Builders Association (HBA), where he has just been re-elected to his third year as vice president of operations. "This puts me in a position of being involved with the presidents [and others] of the local builders and building on that relationship," says Smith. He has been on the board of directors for the past five years.

Mesa's structured wiring installations are 99 percent residential. "We have ongoing relationships with multiple builders and typically meet with a client prior to the house being started," says Smith. Meeting with the client allows Mesa the chance to sell upgrades when the homebuyer finalizes the package with the builder.

But Mesa also benefits from other factors that have helped the company flourish. "We were the beta site for AMP/On-Q structured wiring, so our market has always had high visibility," Smith says. And the amount of home technologies is high in the Austin area, which also works in Mesa's favor. "In our local market, we have a lot of high tech, and that helps drive the market in the size of houses we are involved with," he says.

Mesa doesn't do many retrofit installations, cementing that relationship with new-home builders. "We typically stay away from retrofits because of the time they require," says Smith. "We are too busy to actively work this market unless it is a large enough project to justify the labor it requires."

Through the right relationships and making the company's name known, Mike Smith and Mesa Home Systems are able to install structured wiring in 1,200 to 1,500 homes per year. -- Jason Unger

What Dealers Want

I would like to see the residential structured cabling industry develop standards like its commercial counterpart. Rather than a 19-inch rack with consistent 1U spacing, I would like to see a 14.5-inch enclosure with a consistent mounting grid that would accept any manufacturer's equipment or modules.

-- Shawn Smith, S&S Electric

The best change would be when the vendors start listening to the integrators, and we work together to provide solutions. All of the other approaches have cheapened the value we offer and allow builders more control than one would anticipate in a two-way relationship.

-- Mike Lehmann, ASI

Stop selling to electricians.
-- Joe Strang, Showcase Home Theatre & Automation

Include intercom as part of the panel.
-- David Jablonski, American Home Systems

1) Develop an end-user video presentation for product features and additional available upgrades. 2) Provide additional mounting procedures for Internet modems, routers and modulators.

-- Ali Babazadeh, HabiTech Systems

We always like to see manufacturers educating the consumer directly about their products, which in turn drives our sales.

-- David Botknecht, HW Automation

We need more dinners and better discounts.
-- Bob Cross, C&R Systems