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McKlepto
02-17-2005, 10:48 AM
Hello Everyone! I was wondering if any of you have a builders incentive program in place. For example if a builder uses you for x amount of houses a year you give him a x% discount and if he dedicates to xx amount of houses a year and then you give him an xx% discount. This way the builder has an incentive to use you. I am looking to grow my business and know that builders would be a good place to start. I am not sure that my idea is a good one and was wondering what you guys thought and if you had any other ideas that you are currently using to get builders to use your company exclusively. Also any other marketing techniques that you have found to really work out well? Any ideas, thoughts or suggestions are all welcomed!

Theaterworks
02-17-2005, 11:43 AM
Why not induce builders to keep you and use you based on the quality of your work, and pocket the profit you would otherwise give up?

PHSJason
02-17-2005, 11:45 AM
Does this belong in the verifed section?

MikeCAT
02-17-2005, 12:21 PM
PHS...since we're not talking specifics in way of price, etc, we can leave it here.

ToddBAdams
02-17-2005, 07:36 PM
Hi all,

The following is a rough draft on a plan that I'm putting together for a series of ebooks i'll be putting out soon... Enjoy

If you would like a msword copy feel free to email me at todd@dipartner.com.

Chapter 3 – Developer Partnership Program
What’s Inside
Illustrating Examples
A developer partnership program
Devlopers’ typical objections and answers
How to price the plan
The Proposal


Illustrating Examples
Throughout our book, we will illustrate the principles behind our templates using illustrating examples, which we define specifically to illustrate real-world situations. Let us introduce you to a developer (your customer in the developer program) and a home built by this developer. From time to time we will refer to these same examples in future chapters.
The customer: Fred Development. Fred builds 10 homes per year that range in size from 5,000 to 7,000 square feet. The builder takes on each project as a custom home, but does not sell the property until the paint stage. At this point, the customer may pick from a wide variety of custom features as part of allowances for each area of the home. The typical homebuyer is technically savvy, married with three kids, and in the upper income bracket. The developer is looking to build a long-term relationship with a company that can provide technology solutions to his customer. Fred needs a high level of service from his subcontractors and does not want anything in the home that is not bulletproof.
The home: A 6,000 square foot home with an open basement and attic area. Both of these areas may be finished in the future. First floor rooms include kitchen, breakfast area, family room, dining room, living room, sunroom, patio, study and garage. The second floor consists of the master bedroom, master bath, and three kids’ bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, a guest room and bath, and a playroom above the garage.
Picrture this illustrating example as we discuss the developer partnership program.
What is the developer partnership program?
Wouldn’t it be great if you had a long list of qualified customers with brand new homes, all fully cabled and ready for you to install each integrated system you provide?
Well, that’s the purpose of a developer partnership program. You can be assured of a steady flow of customers by selling developers on the idea of installing low-voltage cabling in each home they build. We designed the partnership program to mate with the proposal templates that are included in this package. Master the developer program and use our proposal templates, and in short order, you can meet with your customer to find out his/her particular wants and needs , and quickly produce a proposal for a system that meets those wants and needs.
In short, the developer partnership program produces finished home cabling that you need to sell future systems, which you propose directly to the homeowner.
Typical objections and answers
Developers are extremely busy and often dismiss your proposal to them for low-voltage cabling before even thinking about it. They use a number of common objections to buying cabling installation from you. Be ready with good, sound answers.
My electrician provides the cables for TV and telephone already. In fact, he runs a structured wiring system.
The typical mission of an electrician is to provide value and services during the construction of the home. However, once the home is completed, most electrical firms provide very few, if any, services to the homeowner.
In stark contrast, the custom installer provides the bulk of his/her services to the homeowner after he/she has taken possession. Custom installers provide continual upgrades in technology and work with the homeowner to ensure services, such as broadband Internet, are functional and distributed throughout the home.
The other major advantage lies in responsibility. When a builder provides technology to the homeowner, he/she is responsible for its operation for a period of one year. This is a standard law in most states. However, if the builder supplies only the cabling, and a third party (the custom installer) works directly for the homeowner, then the builder’s responsibility for the electronics is eliminated.
It’s also likely that the structured wiring offered by the electrician is less inclusive than what you are offering. See the comments under “How to price the plan.” *
These smart homes don’t work, and I don’t want to take responsibility for broken technology.
This is where the custom installer really shines. By providing a well-thought-out service department and plan, the custom installer handles all of the technology issues of the customer. The builder need not be involved with any of it.
I typically get 20% of everything that my subs sell to the homeowner, how will I get that from you?
Here is a sticky issue. Yes, the electrician can build 20 percent on top of the lighting fixtures for the builder, but how do we do that for a television, a home theater, and other consumer electronics that already are discounted?
The answer to this lies in both the pricing and positioning of the plan. We will discuss this in detail in the following section.
How to price the plan
We suggest the following pricing policies for the developer plan.
1. Sell all materials to the developer at 40 percent of list price. This sets the materials near cost, but allows some room for shipping and administrative charges.
2. Sell all labor to the developer at full value. This allows the installation team to be paid for their work.
*With these policies in place, if the electrician is pricing his structured wiring lower than your price, then he/she must be offering less! Our example below illustrates a quick payment breakdown.
Normal Cost of Products - $2500
Developer Discounted Price - $1500 (40%)
Labor Charges - $2500
Total for the project - $4000
We recommend you suggest that the builder add an additional sum of $4900 to the price of the home for the cabling infrastructure, giving the builder an extra $900 in profit.
The developer’s payment schedule follows:
40% due upon acceptance, $1600
40% due upon completion of cabling, $1600
20% due upon minimal termination of cables, $800
However, if the customer purchases a system from you prior to the minimal termination of cables, then you tell the builder you will waive the final payment of $800, yielding an additional $800 of profit for the builder. So for a $5000 cabling package the developer can earn $1700, which is a 36 percent profit! The minimal termination only includes a bare minimum of telephone connections in the home, and blanks for all other wallplates. This is the minimum required to get a certificate of occupancy. The minimal termination is explained further in the developer template.
On the other hand, if the homeowner agrees to purchase from you an expanded set of products and services, which are detailed in the digital home proposal, then the minimal termination is no longer followed. Termination is based on the products purchased.
The Proposal
The proposal can be viewed in figure 2.1. Let’s talk about each of the rooms represented in the figure.
Kitchen – The Telephone & Networking wallplate is placed as a hanging wall phone in a centrally located area of the kitchen, while the multimedia wallplate is placed behind the kitchen built-in desk. This allows for maximum flexibility. Your customer can have a computer, telephone, or television at the desk area; in addition, a hanging wall phone can be installed. Why install a Telephone & Networking wallplate for the hanging telephone, rather than a single Cat-5e cabled telephone wallplate? Uniformity, it will make every plate in the home the same, and provide for easy upgrades and changes.
Breakfast Room, Patio, and Sunroom – Speakers and a user interface (keypad or touchscreen) are provided. While this room may share the same audio source as the kitchen, a separate keypad is usually provided to turn these speakers on/off and adjust volume.
Living Room and Dining Room - Speakers and a user interface are provided. The user interface (keypad or touchscreen) will control the speakers in these rooms, as well as lighting and other systems.
Family Room and Playroom – A Telephone & Networking wallplate is located at the wall opposite the location of the surround sound wallplate. In addition, a user interface is provided at the main entrance to the room.
Here is a breakdown of each cable for the family room system. The cables for the surround sound wallplate are listed below. It is important to design the theater as a shell at the start of the home construction. Allow for as much flexibility in its design to give you and your customer the freedom to make choices when time is not as critical as it is during the building process. A sample family room theater system is shown in Figure 2.2.
RG6QD–BK – The wallplate includes two of these cables so the customer may record and play cable programs simultaneously. These cables provide the cable-programming signal to the VCR, cable box, and the television.
RG6QD–WH – The wallplate includes two of these cables, which provide satellite reception to the satellite receiver. Devices, such as Tivo, require two connections for satellite to enable your customer to record and view at the same time.
16/2 – These speaker cables are connected to the surround speakers. At the wallplate they provide a connection for the receiver’s surround speaker output.
14/4 – This cable is used when the room is set up in theater mode. It is used if a home theater is not chosen for the room. You never know what will be deleted or changed during the construction process. If the customer asks, you can attach the 14/4 speaker cables straight through to the speakers in the room. As a result, you have the flexibility of substituting the surround speakers for music speakers.
Cat5e–PK – The wallplate includes two of these cables. The first is used to connect to the unbalanced–to–balanced wallplate device. This will send full–volume music from the centralized music system to the wallplate. A set of interconnects then connect the wallplate to the AUX input of the surround sound receiver. The second cable can be used to double up the conductors for runs longer than 300 feet. The cable also can be used to attach video conversion baluns to send composite video to/from the centralized system. It can also be used to connect a second unbalanced–to–balanced wallplate to connect a local six–disc CD player, which will play through the central music system.
Cat5e–BL – This cable provides an in–home networking connection for IP–based devices. Devices, such as Tivo and some surround receivers, now have IP–based connects to access information from the Internet.
Cat5e–WH – This cable is used to provide a plain old telephone to devices, such as satellite receivers.
Cat5e–GY – This cable is used to connect the local control system for the audio/video device that is located in the family room with the centralized integrated control system.
Study – A Telephone & Networking wallplate is floor mounted under the desk; a multimedia wallplate is place inside the base bookshelf cabinetry to make way for a television; speakers are located in the ceiling; and a user interface is cabled at the main entrance. In addition, you may wish to provide conduit from the multimedia wallplate to the wall above the fireplace, and have the electrician provide an electrical outlet. Then a plasma television can be added to that location.
Garage – A Telephone & Networking wallplate by the door allows for a hanging telephone and gives the customer the possibility of extending wireless networking into the garage area. You never know what the future will hold! In addition, a user interface is cabled to the entrance from the garage to the home.
Master Bedroom - A typical master bedroom is shown in figure 2.3. In this scenario, we have a customer who would like to have the plasma television installed over the fireplace on the wall across from the bed. The customer’s other request is that the room work like every other room in the home, so he/she can listen to music, control lights, and adjust the thermostats. The required cables to accommodate these options are listed below.
RG6QD–BK – This cable provides cable television to the VCR or cable box.
RG6QD–WH – This cable provides satellite reception to the satellite receiver. Devices such as Tivo require two connections for satellite, so your customer may record and view at the same time. If this is the case, then the RG6QD–BK cable can be used by adding a diplexer to both ends. A diplexer adds and removes satellite reception to a coaxial cable with a cable TV signal on it.
16/2 – These speaker cables are connected to the in–wall speakers located on the left and right of the television.
14/4 – This speaker cable attaches to the 16/2 speaker cables straight through to the speakers in the room. In the electronics room equipment rack, this cable is connected to the music system amplifier. The master bedroom is set up as a zone on the music system.
Cat5e–PK – Two of these cables are included with the wallplate. The first is used to connect to the unbalanced–to–balanced wallplate device. This will send full–volume music from the audio output of the local equipment to the centralized music system. A set of interconnects then connect the wallplate to the output of an audio/video switch located in the master bedroom equipment rack. The second cable can be used to double up the conductors for runs longer than 300 feet. It also can be used to attach video conversion baluns to send composite video to/from the centralized system.
Cat5e–BL – This cable provides an in–home networking connection for IP-based devices. Devices, such as Tivo and some surround receivers, now have IP–based connects to access information from the Internet.
Cat5e–WH – This cable is used to provide a plain old telephone to devices such as satellite receivers.
18/2pr–BL – This cable is used to connect the wireless touchscreen’s radio frequency (RF) receiver located in the electronics closet with the centralized integrated control system.
Cat5e–GY – This cable is used to connect the control system located in the room with the centralized integrated control system.
Master Bathroom – A hanging wall phone is provided in the commode area. Why? That’s because these customers are accustomed to fine hotel living. In addition, speakers, television and user interface are provided.
Bedrooms Two, Three, Four and Guest Room –A Telephone & Networking wallplate is provided on the bed wall, and a multimedia wallplate is provided on the opposite wall.
A Recommended Cabling Strategy
We have included a list of recommend cables, their colors and purposes. Sticking to this standard will save countless hours of toning and testing your cables. We cannot stress enough how important this is to ensuring a successful installation. This topic is described in detail in “The D.I. Guide to Structured Wiring”.
Cat5e–WH – Telephone. All cables are run from the wallplate to the telephone distribution panel.

Cat5e–BL – Home Networking. All cables are run from the wallplate to the networking distribution panel

Cat5e–YL – Keypads. All cables are run from the keypad or wallplate to the integrated system.

Cat5e–PK – Music Input and Music Output Wallplates. All cables are run from the wallplate to the whole–home music rack.
Cat5e–GY – Integrated Controls, such as lighting, HVAC, and security. All cables are run to the integrated system.

Cat5e–GR – Thermostats – All cables are run from the wallplate to the thermostat distribution panel.

RG6QD–BK – CATV. All cables are run from the wallplate to the television distribution panel.

RG6QD–WH – Satellite, FM Radio, and XM/Serius Radio – All cables are run from the wallplate or antenna locations to the satellite distribution panel.

IR20/4–BK – Infrared Controls. All cables are run from the infrared receiver to the infrared connection block, typically located in the home theater equipment rack.

S14/4–BL – Speakers from system to keypad/volume control. All cables are run from the keypad or volume control to the whole-home music rack. Select cable gauge based on the following distances.
• 16 gauge – up to 100 feet.
• 14 gauge – up to 175 feet.
• 12 gauge – beyond 175 feet.

S16/2–WH – Speakers from keypad/volume control to speakers. All cables are run from the speaker to keypad or volume control location.

ejfiii
02-17-2005, 07:49 PM
As much as I wish the builders would hire me on my merits and good looks, I am just in too big a a competitive area for that to work. Here's what I do so far. Give the builder a discount on equipment (won't say how much in the unverfied section) from list price. This lets him mark back up to list price and make a few bucks. For this small percentage, I get to deal directly with the client for each phase from the start. Everything runs through the builder so the new owner can put in in the mortgage or construction loan as part of the project.

So far I have one builder who does 20 custom homes a year. I am about ready to set up a few other meetings. My problem is that my area has some really high end and well known big shops. So the going may be tougher than I hope or think. We'll see.

Feel free to tell me what you think and shoot holes in my plan.

PHSJason
02-17-2005, 08:15 PM
When we first opened, we cut some of our builders a break. We discounted our labor by $10/hour to get our foot in the door, get them used to how we do things etc. Now our price is our price. It is worth it to our builders to have to make one call and know that everything is taken care of. We show up on time, we check in to make sure things are going okay, we stay on top of our schedule, we make sure that from our first meeting until move-in date, there are no hiccups and our builders trust us.
We do like to give our biggest and best builders "deals" on equipment for their own personal houses. When one of your builders has you and a lot of clients and other contractors over for the Super Bowl and everyone is watching it on a system you put in, it pays for itself. When everyone finds out who you are and what you do, you are the most popular person in the room. Evryone wants to know what it costs and when you can get them one.
We have had a few of our builders use other guys on jobs, and we understand that sometimes we wont get the job. Inevitably, we end up at lunch with that same builer a few months later listening to them vent about the other guys not showing up, being way over budget, or showing up when they weren't supposed to and walking all over a freshly sealed hardwood floor(love that one. Bet the other installers were glad to be able to cut in all those ceiling speakers with no one else around). All the ones that have strayed have come back and said it wasn't worth it. People will pay for service, especially builders.
Funny thing about builders: they talk about price, but they want value. Don't be cheaper, be better. Be a better value by doing the things that set you apart and you will always be busy.

Just my .04
Jason

PHSJason
02-17-2005, 08:18 PM
Hi all,

The following is a rough draft on a plan that I'm putting together for a series of ebooks i'll be putting out soon... Enjoy




Wesley???

MikeTech
02-17-2005, 08:35 PM
Wesley???[/quote]

lol - i thought the same thing when i stopped reading...

avdude
02-17-2005, 10:24 PM
he's not wesley, trust me on this one...

has 15 years in the biz, ran and owned one of the largest firms in New England (NOT BMS)

I know him

I trust him

I'm helping proof his books...

Jerry
02-17-2005, 11:46 PM
he's not wesley, trust me on this one...



I'm helping proof his books...

Now we're in for it!!

ToddBAdams
02-23-2005, 08:11 PM
I'm doing my part to help, free advise can't be all that bad! I have more of this type of content and happy to add or not your choice.

So who is wessley?

Todd

Greg_C
02-23-2005, 08:42 PM
[So who is wessley?

Todd[/quote]
Wesley http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-custom/thread.cgi?1984

Be afraid, be very afraid! :wink: