Hey all,

I use the word “Trunk Slammer” tounge in cheek.  I have all permits ect. ect.  I just laugh when a guy with a showroom calls me that.  The guy doing two jobs a month.  What are you doing the rest of the time to make money?

Mistercee,

I have a residential remodeling company.  Our specialty is kitchens, bathrooms and basement remodeling.  Additionally, on occasions we do whole house remodeling too.

Our whole house audio business is secondary.  Why do you ask?

mistercee,
I really enjoyed your commentary and It seems like you take all this jabbing in stride. rather than getting caught up in the issue, you roll on with “I’m better and cheaper so all of you can either adapt or not”. I use the same methodolgy. I’m not in business to own a 150 employee corporatation, so if I can pay my bills and gas up my boat on the weekend, I am happy. I am cheaper than others and have literally NO overhead (no office, have demo room in my home, local distributiors) and live off my website and customer referrals.

“sell to the rich and live with the masses or sell to the masses and live with the rich”

Well thank you K.I.S.S.

The only people I really answer to are the 4 kids I have.  3 are in college (on Scholarship)  whew!
Can you give me your website address,  I don’t have one currently and frankly not in a hurry to
get it going.  Anyway, thanks again.

1 panel, some audio,  and a pre-wire tomorrow

I think this conversation is a symptom of of a bigger trend going on in the industry - commoditization of technology.

With the introduction of any new technology there’s a period where it’s only available or relevant to the few. Given that we’re all about selling non-essential items (well except when the guy’s TV dies the day before Superbowl), that means folks with a lot of money to spend on having the coolest ‘toys’. The volumes are low but the margins are high so it all works out. But technology has a habit of moving on and what was ‘bleeding edge’ and only for the very richest last year rapidly becomes par for the course this year. Also customers’ expectations of what they expect to have in their own home and at what cost to them move just as rapidly.

This is a long way of saying there needs to be a range of business models out there to servicee the range of customers that want some sort of Home Theater install. From the $1m totally custom, whole house system including robot servants (well maybe not the servants) to the guy in an apartment who is stretching to a big panel but doesn’t feel comfortable hanging it for himself. Of course the initial post implied that ‘Trunk Slammers’ represented a negative force in the industry - stealing your business with their minimal overheads and resources. I think the truth is that they have a place in the market, dealing with customers who would never have dealet with an installer in the past but who want something beyond a place to simply purchase AV kit.

I honestly believe these are incremental customers for the industry so the perceived cannabalization isn’t happening. Sure the market as a whole is shrinking currently but these ‘low end’ customers are new to that pool of customers. If the more established or larger players want to get some of these customers to make up of decreasing business at the higher end (or even just to grow their overall business), they have to recognize that they are a different type of customer with different expectations and pricing models they will support.

What it all boils down to is ‘different strokes for different folks’ in a business sense. Sure some of the Trunk Slammers are dodgy but I’m sure many of them are honest people trying to deliver a good service. The people who come from the the more up market ‘traditional installer’ world should either focus on delivering the ‘bleeding edge’ and marketing what they are good at better. Or they can learn from the smaller guys to understand how to run a part of their business to address that market segment and they economics it supports.

Wow sorry for such a long-winded post

Hey Jez,

All you corporate guys are long winded.  We expect that.  By the way, let’s have a meeting to discuss next weeks meetings!!!  lol
Thanks and well said.

Mistercee, should I be in on that meeting?  I’ll have to check my schedule, I might have overlapping meetings, but I could conference in.   How did the install go?  And when you say “panel” - what are you installing?

Jez, your sentiment is what I was trying to get at when I brought it up.  The term Trunk Slammer is one that has been around.  I too think there is a fit for them in the market.  And there are dodgie installers at every level.  From the one man operations to the bigger shops.

Sincerely, the guy who isn’t sure if he should write more and feel like a corporate mukity muck or keep it simple… like our K.I.S.S. posting buddy.

Morgan

perhaps we should define “trunk slammer”. Traditionally I would regard these folks much like the “white van” speaker guys. They are not really part of the industry, but they find a way to make a quick buck and then move on so some other venture.

Just because we are small (1-4 people) does not give us any less credibiltiy that a much larger company, it just means that we cannot do as many jobs. But like we hae said - that is not our goal. I personally enjoy my relentless focus on quality control. I’m not sure I will every trust someone else to do work under my brand - I’m very controlling like that - but it works for me and I am aware that will keep me from growing larger (which is OK with me). Just like plumbers and electricians, I have a specific skill that is marketable. Have you ever seen a Mercedes dealer lose business to a Ford dealer? NO. My average install job is about $3,000 and I have literally no overherad and maintain a 30-50% margin (incl labor). It is taken me years to figure out how to maintain this and I am literally on cruise control.
If the “big” dealers (not high-end) are worried about us small guys taking thier business - you should be. I love a free ecomomy.

I need to go earn my car payment…. Cheers!!

I was using the amount less as an exact amount to charge and more as a round figure to illustrate the point.

But try this:

Articulating wall mount $400
Adding electrical outlet $150
Conceiling cables $250 (includes HDMI and component cables 20’)
Labor $200

Total $1,000

Happy Hanging,

Morgan

Wow..you rock….Now that I see that about $500.00 to $600.00 is materials I can see the $1000.00 install. It also sounds like a full day labor.  I found that it takes me about 3 hours to go over and up about 6 feet or so from start to finish. Including patching any cutouts. I dont paint thats up to them. Mistercee only has to do 3.4 flat panels a day to take home the 160k a year in a 5 day work week.  No problem if you can find that many flat panels to install.

foxdrg
Simulation prêt

Hey guys all this time later, I started looking at the trunk slammer replies.
This is where I am at now.  I have a partner and our company name is
Elite Audio Video,  I know very creative   anyways
our website is eliteavdayton.com not much is on it now but will be soon.

Still hanging panels and trying to get a theater when I can.  Business is good but
not great.  That $400 flat panel is now being hung for $250 or less by my
competitors and the big box.  We are working hard and trying to spread the
word about our business.  I am still trying to meet and shake hands with as many
people as possible, I will block out time in my schedule to attend events and make
them as important as an install.  I hope this finds all of you well.

Mike

I find the progression of this thread is absolutely fascinating. Theres seems to be many of the indicators that we were discussing in the ” Is Resi CI Hitting a Wall” thread. I will keep my eye on this for new posts.

’m not sure what the max should be but for me my whole audio business will generate more than 80k in gross sales this year.  After expenses I am on target to clear about 27k in profit.  This scenerio is based on installing an entry level 4 zone 4 source distribution system.  I do 2 installs a month (probably could do more), charge a 35% mark up on materials and a $1,500 flat labor rate fee.

brianI
Simulation prêt

brianiron - 20 October 2009 08:55 PM

’m not sure what the max should be but for me my whole audio business will generate more than 80k in gross sales this year.  After expenses I am on target to clear about 27k in profit.  This scenerio is based on installing an entry level 4 zone 4 source distribution system.  I do 2 installs a month (probably could do more), charge a 35% mark up on materials and a $1,500 flat labor rate fee.

Now this is something i find very interesting. I look throughout this thread and see a variety of people posting their earnings for their installation businesses. I find some of these admissions down right sobering. May i ask the fellow above how long he’s been in AV? 27K is not even a livable wage in most American cities. This leads me to ask anyone who would care to comment, “trunk slammer” or not, what is the minimum amount of earnings (by this i mean true take home pay) that you would accept to stay in business? If you do earn little money & youre no longer new in the biz what motivation is there to continue to take the risks when you can get an entry level job anywhere & make the same or more? Finally, people who are partaking in low return ventures—are you for the most part obligation free? (no mortgages, family to support etc)

Livable wage??
I thought about this question and the minimum I will accept is to clear 3000 per month after all expenses are paid.
I live in a midwest city and you can live a middle class life in a 150K home with 3000 per month cleared.