I have a thread started on the “Installation” forum regarding what kind of vehicles people are using for their installs.  Check it out.

My next question is what kinds of buildings, shops, offices, showrooms are you guys working with.  Do you just have an office and do all the install work in the home or business? Do you have a shop to put stuff together? What about any kind of showroom or show house to show off your products? Feel free to post pictures. 

Thanks, guys!

Started working from home.  That’s difficult for all the usual reasons.  Moved to a small office, no warehouse.  That was nice - but became cluttered quickly with all the product moving in and out as well as the ebb and flow of boxes of wire and other consumables.  We are now in a nice industrial space with office, conference room and warehouse.  I forsee being able to operate from this location for the next 5 years easily.

Bottom line, working from home when you have to in order to start out is fine, but get a dedicated office as soon as possible.

500 square feet or less works for a custom installation business doing less than $300k annually.  When you get busier than that you should really get some more space.  I would recomment 800-1500 square feet for companies doing $300-$1M.  When you get to the $1M-$5M mark you then need to really dial in your operation and you will likely need 1500-2500 square feet to handle the people and products.

A showroom is an entirely different discussion.  It depends on your business model.  I think most A/V companies are not focused on retail and therefor a showroom doesn’t make sense.  But for those that want to compete with the walk in consumer purchase market it’s a must.

Having a show house is a nice idea - but if your work covers a large geography that only helps when you’re selling near the show house.  I vote for using a video tour of work you’ve done and having samples of keypads, remotes, etc. you can let them touch.

Very interesting.  How much work do you do actually in the warehouse?  Also, how often do you meet with vendors or customers in your office?

...any other thoughts from anyone else?

Work in the warehouse - not much.  I look forward to the day when we have enough time and resources to actually setup and research more products in house.  We’ve started this, but we don’t ever seem to have much time for it.  AND it’s amazing how few technicians have taken advantage of coming in and working on equipment on their own time to improve their skills.  I’m sure if we gave the ok for staying on the clock we would have more takers.  But keeping billable hours up is too important to being able to stay in business.

We probably have a meeting twice a month at the office.  But it’s never with customers.  We have been in this industrial space for 5 years and haven’t had a customer come once.  Then again, most of our work is too far away.  We are about 30 miles from most of our clients.

Is that ever a pain being so far from your customers?  Every get there and realize you forgot something crucial?

Anyone else have input on their shop or office?

office!

We have a higher end business model and starting a shop or showroom is kicking yourself in the face in my opinion. There are way to many integrators that have a good yea or two and think a small theater and a few other set ups are going to make it so much better profit and client wise but they almost, at least around here end up failing. e have clients 1to 3 hours away and not once have we ever even considered a showroom . Its worked so far.

losboskie - 05 October 2010 06:16 AM

office!

We have a higher end business model and starting a shop or showroom is kicking yourself in the face in my opinion. There are way to many integrators that have a good yea or two and think a small theater and a few other set ups are going to make it so much better profit and client wise but they almost, at least around here end up failing. e have clients 1to 3 hours away and not once have we ever even considered a showroom . Its worked so far.

So do you install everything in the home? Or is some rack building and such done inside the office? What about all of the shipments that run through the office? Overwhelming?

the office is 1500sq. We have things pre tested there and products are not a problem to store. We keep inventor low as we like to buy as needed to keep cost lower.

Awesome, anyone else?

Our office is 1300 square feet. It’s ideal for storing inventory and has a couple offices and a showroom area.
we don’t get much walk in traffic so it’s iperfect for our needs.

Gman-north - 06 October 2010 03:31 AM

Our office is 1300 square feet. It’s ideal for storing inventory and has a couple offices and a showroom area.
we don’t get much walk in traffic so it’s iperfect for our needs.

What do you have in your showroom? How is it set up? Also, where are you located in your city? Downtown? It doesn’t seem like many businesses in this industry would utilize a storefront for attracting customers. How has it been working for you?

Keep posting, everyone.  If anybody has pictures of their set-up that they’re proud of, post them.