# Getting into more structured wiring systems



## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Couple of days ago I was lifting out some ceiling tiles in a building that I used to do work in decades ago. And I saw a bunch of token ring twin ax cables with vampire taps strung around in there that I think I might have been the one to install it all. I was so on my game back then.....


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Probably 15 years ago I took a couple steps of the BICSI installer certs. I thought it was the thing to do. I can't honestly say that the money spent was worth it, particularly since they want CEU's to keep the cert up.


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## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

A lot of what you ask is controlled by state law and local AHJ's requirements. Some are required by the RFQ like BICSI and ESA certification. Used to be Kansas didn't require much but recently we had two FA takeovers in Wichita. Not installs, takeover monitoring of their systems. We had to have a NICET 2 on site for both.

Home automation I would go with ADI Answers to help engineer the systems.

Home theater, I would really hate to get involved in that because you would be working with different manufacturers that sometimes do not play well together some requiring different cables for interconnection and tech support would be a nightmare. Besides, audio is very subjective and different to each customer. Some like true sound representation and some like piped in or hidden speakers.


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## GrayHair (Jan 14, 2013)

Kansas fire alarm licensing info available *here*.


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## sparkiez (Aug 1, 2015)

Thanks for the updates guys! Looking into the fire alarm certs right now with my boss. We had some recent flooding here too. About to redo the data for a medical facility. Unfortunately, the company has their own IT people that are going to set the stuff up, so it is really just labeling and terminating wire. Home audio systems are such a nightmare. The only reason I was thinking about them, is that our local low voltage companies tend to do all the low voltage areas, including home theater, so if we were to bid a package, it would likely have to include that too, which is almost enough for me to not want to do it. I think for now we are just going to focus on fire alarms, networks and gate access systems as they come up. There would for sure be a market because the closest techs are over an hour away. That is a few hundred off the top for any service/maintenance/commissioning gig for the customer. That alone is a selling point.


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

sparkiez said:


> That is a few hundred off the top for any service/maintenance/commissioning gig for the customer. That alone is a selling point.


That alone is loosing a couple of hundred dollars in revenue lost. Charge the same , but be sure to advertise that you are locally situated and then they think they are getting a better deal when not really. Make up for it to them with higher quality, better work. That's the true selling point.


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