Home Theatre/ Pro PA installation and Setup company startup.

[Jadams639]

First of all, I'm sorry if this is in the wrong section of the forum. I want to start my own sound intallation company the provides services to home and commercial facilities installing surround systems, in wall speakers, PAs, Control booths, mounting TV/Projectors, and Installing automation systems (Like Extron MediaLink products). I would charge by hour plus parts, I live in Orlando FL and from my research there is not many companies around here like that, except the big box stores services, which are not as comprehensive as what i wish to offer. I have lots of experience with both HT and Pro setups in Churches, Theatres, Home, etc... and I've done my fair share of cable pulling in attics, and I'm very confidant in my skills.

Do you thing there is potential in this market?

What certifications do I need to obtain? Electrical Certifications? Etc...

I've already came up with a name and a Logo



What do you think?
Do you have any experience in this field?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[museav]

First, I would decide whether you want to work in the home theater/residential market or the pro market as they are very different in terms of clientele, legal requirements, products, general approach and so on and it usually takes a big company with significant resources to effectively serve both.

What is your background? You say you have experience but what is that experience, were you with established companies that worked in those markets or were you a freelance installer or was it helping out friends and acquaintances? What do you have in terms of transportation, tools and other resources?

What form of business are you thinking of using; Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, LLC, S-Corp or C-Corp?

Especially for pro work, are you familliar with the local building codes and any related requirements?

Have you researched or are you familiar with what may be required or typical in terms of licensing, insurance, business registration, etc.? These can differ by location, the scope of services offered and the type of business as well as by the type of clientele served.

Are you going to sell equipment or only installation services and the related hardware? If you are going to sell only installation services then your actual clients will probably be local dealers and Contractors, do you have existing relationships with such parties? If so, then not only would they be a source of work but they could also probably provide you input on what they want to see in terms of the company, insurance, licensing, etc.

You might want to talk to the local Small Business Administration and also to a good business Attorney and Accountant, they could be invaluable in helping you start not only legally but in a way that makes sense for you.

 

[StradivariusBone]

My first job was running low voltage cable for a business telephony and networking company in the Orlando area. I worked for a mid-sized company (that's since long out of business), but one thing I noticed while working there was that because of our size being in the middle of the pack we'd have trouble trying to compete with the little guys who'd run spools out the back of their F-150's and put in drops for $50 each. The big dogs in town had large enough crews to backbone a whole hotel with fiber and run the copper on the floors in a weekend if they needed to. Being on several jobsites, I also noticed there were quite a few people/companies doing what you're describing with sound reinforcement and multimedia integration (granted on the corporate side of the fence), and at that time there were a bunch of the similar one or two guy operations since they could run cable cheaper than anyone in town because they had little or no overhead. We would even install some of the architecture for them too, being that it all runs on low-voltage cable anyways. It depended on the customer and the job.
This was almost 15 years ago however.

I would be careful to underestimate your market though, there's a lot of little companies that do exactly what you describe in Orlando and then there are a couple bigger fish that will too, granted with a bigger price tag for the consumer. Googling "AV installation Orlando" produces a bevy. I'm thinking in addition to the great advice from @museav you may want to think about how much your time in doing this work is actually worth and how much it will cost you to stay in business and still be able to eat. If you find that you can do it cheaper than some of the other guys in town and can establish a solid reputation that would help too.

I watched my boss from that first job become very bitter and eventually sell off the business as a result of bad luck, bad choices and one or two bad salesguys that tanked him. That all being said, I'd be interested to hear about what you learn in beginning this process! Good luck!

 

[IAmLumenator]

I find that most small business owners call their friends, so try to make friends. Once you have friends, figure out how you can make their life easier. Note, I don't mean make their system better, you just want to make their life easier. Don't try to set up the coolest thing since sliced bread, just go in there and mention how you could automate their boardroom for only 200$, or how you could give them simple buttons and inputs at a podium to connect a laptop and change the projector and sound input/volume. Don't go for big contracts at first, establish yourself. Once you have friends that like you, find new friends and use your old friends as references. Try to put together a nice flyer including a simple list of your services and a couple of great quotes from customers, then mail it out or hand deliver it to local companies. HSBC might not need a new corporate boardroom, but your local credit union could probably use one on the cheap. Learn about any related technologies and branch out. Never stop learning new stuff to sell to customers. If you're doing projectors and sound, learn how to do conferencing and meetings too. If you're working for a theatre, learn their house lighting systems by just a cursory browse, then look up the manual online later. Figure out how you can integrate stuff for them in an easy, straightforward way.

Sorry for the ramble, I was in a hurry.