07.24.2008 — Michael Murdock had a successful integration company, which he guided with core principles. Then he got greedy and sold it to a group of investors.

The company was run into the ground. Now Murdock has his company back, and it's more successful than ever -- thanks largely to those core principles.

That's the short story.

The long story starts in 1984, when Murdock was in the U.S. Navy. That's when he first worked with integrated systems.

"I was in charge of the Missile Guidance Radar Systems on the Destroyer USS Coontz (DDG-40)," Murdock recalls. "We worked on electronics that literally ran the entire length of the ship."

High-level military experience more than prepared him to troubleshoot whole-house systems. His next step out of the Navy, however, was into the corporate world -- and he wasn't prepared for that.

Everything in the corporate world, according to Murdock, is viewed as a B2B relationship. He saw poor employee treatment and, ultimately, outsourcing.

The corporate experience, negative though it was, probably kick-started Murdock's customer service vision when he started Aurora, Colo.-based Time Direct Inc. It began as a service company, installing and providing in-home computer and software training to homeowners.

"I wanted that person with a $250,000 house to feel special," Murdock says.

Customer Service Is King

Time Direct evolved into a full-scale integration company.

While it remained focused on middle-market clients, providing affordable control, audio/video, multiroom audio and home networking, it also catered to extremely high-end clients. Meanwhile, it established relationships with builders doing both high-end and middle-market homes.

In doing so, the company viewed its builders as clients not unlike homeowners.

It was during those early years that Murdock developed Time Direct's guiding principle: Stop at nothing to make clients happy.

"I try to concentrate on two things: our builders and our homeowners." Therein lies Murdock's simple philosophy.

"If I worry about my builder's business, I don't have to worry about mine. Plain and simple, if they don't sell houses they don't build new ones and there are no homeowners to provide services to," Murdock says.

Time Direct aims to position itself such that its builders don't view it as a subcontractor. Murdock says the goal is for builders to think of the integrator as part of their team.

"I make my marketing materials look like the builders' existing materials," Murdock explains. "I use their logos and their layouts. I scan their floor plans and overlay the outlet and service locations.