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Must-Read for Clients: Myth of the $99 Install
At the end of the day, you should be able to charge about the same price as the geeks are charging, and make some happy new customers as well.
The consumer version of this editorial appeared recently in Electronic House magazine. If you want an easy way to warn customers about the mythical $99 install, send them this link: http://www.electronichouse.com/nocheapinstalls.
Here's an excerpt:
Add $50 to connect to the home network, and $99 each for anything special, like an additional component, unusual mounting surface, motorization, multiple-stud bay, remote control programming … you get the picture.
So that ends up being, oh, maybe $600 or $700 for a modest install. You bring the mount and the cables. And although they might be able to “neatly dress” your power cords, the Geeks certainly can’t plant them behind the walls. For that, you’ll want to hire an electrician at $100 per hour, bringing the installation to at least $700.
Now, $700 is a great deal for mounting a nice TV, as long as it is done well. It should be a two-hour job for the pros and possibly a four- to eight-hour job for the uninitiated do-it-yourselfer (or in my case a couple of days and a whole lot of frustration, resulting in a crooked TV with cables all over the place, several misplaced pilot holes, and an I-told-you-so look from my TV-deprived husband).
If that price works for you, why not give your local A/V shop a call?
How to use this article
We invite all CE pros to publish excerpts from Electronic House, and link to the complete article on electronichouse.com, in this case http://www.electronichouse.com/nocheapinstalls. For permission to reprint the article in its entirety, please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). CE Pro VIP members are invited to reprint the entire article at no charge; however, please attribute the story to Electronic House and include the appropriate link. A pdf of the original article is also available.
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Article Topics
News · Business Resources · Big-Box Retailers · Geek Squad · Electronic House ·About the Author
10 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
ON another note, Tom ... is that YOUR surveillance camera that caught a bear in the backyard? If so, details please! Would love to do a short writeup.
Thanks Julie! Great article.
I was shocked to see a Geek Squad install truck (yes, truck, not “Bug” or van) pull out of Isleworth in Windermere, FL (you know, gated community, home to a recently-divorced famous golfer.) That should be exclusive CE Pro territory! There is such an opportunity for upgrades in this community. I am at the fringe of the “business” and remember walking into one of these mansions a decade ago to assist the proper hookup of a VCR to a very large RP display, all built into a custom wall unit - which, apart from these two items, was empty!
Talked to a guy there today and he aid to install a projector and screen would run about $800. Seems high, are most people really going to pay that??? Have they tested the market enought to know they will???
$800 to install a projo & screen is CHEAP, especially if it involves hiding all of the wiring. I wouldn’t install a screen & projector for less than $1200…
I used to work for a big-box store that offered low prices on Flat panel mounts, but by the time all of the add-ons and details were worked out, it usually ran at least $700 to install.
It’s kind of a come-on like the “free brake inspection” deals you see at the big franchised garages!
Sandrews—$800 is not an unreasonable fee for a projector and screen installation, depending on the configuration of the room.
@sandrews:
Seems high? To me it sounds like a bargain and a half…
Mounting & projector & screen, (while it’s a, “no brainer,” & “walk in the park,” install for any pro), still requires the following:
1. Running any combo of A/V cables from the equipment location up the wall and across the ceiling to get to the projector. The amount of time needed to do this also depends on if it’s a drop or finished ceiling. A finished ceiling is more difficult & time consuming to run the wires/cables, yet a drop ceiling cannot carry the weight of a projector. Thus, (in a drop-ceiling scenario), the projector mount needs to be hung from the rafter/floor above the drop ceiling tile/panel, and then that ceiling tile/panel has to be custom cut to make a clean install.
2. Who’s installing the AC outlet for the projector, (which requires a home run of Romex from the projector to the service panel in order to prevent AC ground interference from other appliances in the home)?
3. Is the screen, “fixed,” or, “drop down?”
Obviously, “fixed,” is much easier, but it still requires proper assembly and fastening to the wall. If it’s an electric, “drop down,” then you need another AC outlet. Next, is the casing of the screen recessed or exposed?
These are just the basics… I have not even delved into the time it takes to properly align & calibrate the, “projector/screen system,” once physically installed. Not to mention the programming time into whatever remote to make everything work in unison.
I would do this job for $800.00 provided that I was allowed to staple all wires/cables to the exterior of the walls & ceiling, (along with the extension cord for the AC), use an entire roll of duct tape to affix the projector & screen into place, leave the projector in the factory pre-set, “vivid,” mode, and leave a competitor’s business card because I wouldn’t want to sign my name to it.
There’s no cheap way out when you hire a true professional. However, in this economy, $800.00 is $800.00. If you wish, e-mail Julie Jacobson for my phone number because I always have rolls of duct tape, extension cords, and boxes of nails on our vans at all times.
And yes… we have tested the marketplace. The one thing our clients have never heard is, “Attention K-Mart Shoppers…” 
Great post.
http://www.bagsuperman.com
anyone notice that geeksquad (online) has removed most of their “installation” services beyond just basic “plug in and connect” set-ups? No more projector hangs, hiding wires in walls or “real” integrator work…..
I wonder if it was too much for thier “PRO’s” to handle properly. if you read the reviews on their TV install services, I can only imagine what a disaster anything more complicated would have turned out like.
Thanks, Julie for quantifying some things that we tend to forget—things that we do w/o thinking but add tremendous value to our work. Also, to charge fairly for things we deliver. Indeed, you open our eyes to what others charge for and we “just do”.