Career change? AV design/home automation

MeEsH BaKkA

MeEsH BaKkA

MeEsH BaKkA

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Joined
12 Dec 2002
Posts
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Hi, I'm 22 and am a qualified electrician and I'm currently employed in a very well payed job for my age. My main goal is to have my own company but in the years I have been working I have realised that to make any decent money I need to specialise in one area.

I have always liked the idea of designing and installing av systems, such as cinema rooms and multi room audio etc... I have also been working on large office automation systems but would like to focus on domestic automation if I start a company.

Basicaly my question, is there money to be made in domestic AV/home automation systems or am I too late to compete with the larger companys? It is a fairly large gamble as I am currently on good money but I would like to run my own buisness.

Thanks for any help guys :)
 
there is good money in anything

just a matter of targeted advertising building a good reputation and being reasonable on price

you will also need to know the ins and outs of areas such as construction and building control

you will need to know many different software setups.

Also you will need to setup tight contracts between yourself and the client in regards to what you will support and what you will not.

I.e you setup an awesome AV system and HC for them after three months something goes wrong will you provide warranty on this or will you charge to fix it

also do you provide DVD ripping services what is the legal pov on this?

how long will the average installation take (including admin purchasing collecting and installation)
how much will the average installation cost
how much will the average installation give you from that cost
what is your hourly rate from that?

is it worth employing somebody at a cheaper rate to yourself to speed installations up?

just a few questions to ask before starting up.
 
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Building regs and control I have covered.

Software is something I would have to get to grips with but I have no doubt that it shouldn't pose much of a problem as I deal with smart systems on a fairly regular basis.

Warranty is something I would look into as well as contracts with the client although I will speak to a specialist about this.

DVD ripping? I'm unsure of what you mean by this, do you mean my doing the ripping or supplying ripping equipment to a client.

Installations would vary and I doubt it would be easy to give an estimate of time untill I have looked at a job. Given a new build 4 bed house takes around 3/4 days max to wire and finish first I would assume roughly the same perhaps a bit less for the initial installation of a HA setup then however long it takes to programme/setup. On an existing house it is totaly variable depending on size, construction of the house, contents and how much disruption the client can deal with.

Cinema rooms probably a 3/4 days again depending on setup, lighting and how much stud work/plastering required.

Labour again a job by job basis my brother-in-law is a plaster and does partitioning/stud walls.

Buisiness wise my uncle is an accountant so free account work :D
 
Sounds Like you have decent experience with contracting within the family, so you should be fine.

what i meant by dvd ripping was that, many cases may ask for media centres to be setup. many of us here rip the dvds to our hard drives for permanent storage, this is no quick job and nor is it fail safe (missing Subtitles, audio syncing etc). Should a question come in surrounding this what would be your position?

the other questions where aimed to get you thinking about what you would charge on top of parts to make sure your time is worthwhile, but your brother in law probably knows this pretty well
 
I think its also important to factor in the location you based in. If your in or near a major city or very affluent area then you have a much bigger target audience, thinking of West London/Surry or Cheshire type areas. These areas will be well covered by existing companies so you need to factor in travel costs etc, if youre not local that could make you uncompetative.
That said, ther does not seem to be a national AV company, its mainly covered by regional or individual AV dealers.
 
Ahh I see what you mean about the ripping, I supose either rip for them and charge for my time (unsure on the law) or give them a demonstration on how to rip DVDs using a non copyrighted item and again charge them for my time.

Pricing wise I already hold accounts with a couple of electrical wholesalers with upto 60% discount on items, mark up would be dependant on clients budget. For goods like projectors, amps and speakers etc... Then these would probably be at retail price to me as I doubt I would be able to buy enough goods to get a decent discount trade. Which is a shame as these bits are the most expensive unless I can find a decent wholesaler.
 
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