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Hidden Income
by
Skip Degan
Add to your profit with voice and data wiring
Residential electrical contractor owners and managers must
often push aside their efforts to increase business and
improve the bottom line to make way for bidding projects and
managing jobs. Outside of additional jobs or adding
line-voltage work to a current job, your choices are limited.
Add-ons and change orders can help, but what most contractors
have to do is think outside the box. Usually you want to get
the job finished, inspected and move on to the next residence.
Finding a way to add to your bottom line, with a minimum
capital investment and training, while using your current
worker base, would be ideal. You can do this by working in an
area where you already have expertise, but are not bound by
electrical codes and inspections.
Installing residential telephone, data and cable wiring inside
the home is no longer something local phone companies do or
cable/satellite providers want to do. Telephone providers are
required to run their lines only to the demarcation box
outside the residence. Cable and satellite providers will work
in the home, but they prefer to bring their lines near the
demarcation box. Independent telephone installers or
homeowners run the internal lines, connecting to the
demarcation box. It is similar to a power company feeding the
load center and you, the contractor, distributing the load
within the structure. This is where you seize the opportunity
to add profitability to your bottom-line while still on a job
site.
What is different about installing residential voice, data and
CATV wiring is that, except for some basic building and wiring
codes (plenum versus nonplenum wire, for instance), there are
no building or electrical codes or inspections with which you
must comply.
Pulling voice, data and CATV structured wiring follows some
very straightforward standards established over the past 20
years as the industry’s commercial side has evolved. They
were put into place to encourage “futureproofing”
commercial and government structured wiring. By doing this,
buildings wired to current standards could be billed as “wired
for the future,” in that the structured wiring will handle
advances in voice and data technology. Also, one installation
would be similar in performance to an installation in another
part of the world. This would enable, to some extent, a new
owner or tenant to move in and “plug and play” their
telephone and data network without much more than a few visits
to the telecommunications closet. In many cases, project
managers are used to ensure everything runs smoothly once the
installation job is won.
Residential structured wiring has evolved on a similar but
smaller and less competitive scale. With many contractors
aiming at bidding and winning large commercial jobs, the
residential side has been left virtually unattended. The
structure size, number of “drops” and ability to design
the job with the customer makes preinstallation easy work.
There are residential standards that, when followed, enable a
person to plug and play telephones, computers and CATV at
their new home. They can move them to another residence and
have the same plug-and-play success, if both are wired
properly. The standards include minimum numbers of outlets per
room, outlet configuration, types of wire to use and
suggestions on how to route wires and cables. Because these
are standards and not legal code, you are free to install
jacks, faceplates and wiring wherever and however you and your
customers choose. Following the standards will help ensure the
job is completed with the future in mind. Your job will be to
work with the customer to make reasonable suggestions as to
how to lay out the cabling plan. Complying with the standards
should be the rule, rather than the exception, as doing so
justifies the added income warranted by futureproofing the
residence.
The residential standards are basic and not difficult to
follow, but compliance requires training. Most residential
product manufacturers will gladly put on a free training
session in anticipation of your using their products. Local
distributors also sponsor training sessions. These courses
usually include a short classroom session, including hands-on
training, product training and perhaps a demonstration of the
wiring techniques used in residential structured wiring. The
learning curve for residential structured wiring is relatively
short—a few terminations and cable runs is all it takes to
see how it all comes together.
One of the great benefits of being an electrical contractor is
that you are already on the site where the structured wiring
will be installed. Your installers already have the basic
tools and items in hand drills, gem boxes and wire cutters.
You will need some additional tools, but the investment is
relatively inexpensive compared to the possible profit
generated by doing residential communications wiring. Although
the structured wiring can be installed either before or after
the electrical wiring, it is suggested that it be done after
the electrical wiring is pulled. That way it can be routed to
meet residential-voice and data-wiring standards while
limiting electrical interference. As your installers
understand the difference between the electrical and
voice/data wiring, they will be able to comply with the
proposed standards very quickly.
In order to optimize the selling and marketing of this new
profit center, you should approach the builders you currently
work with. Tell them what you are considering doing to enhance
not only your business, but also their business. You want to
offer the builder a way for them to make their home more
appealing to the buyers. Communications and entertainment
wiring is something that the customer wants, but it is rarely
brought up by the builder. Having a communications-wiring
package will make the builder stand out from competitors. You
will also separate your company from your competition by
making the same offer to the builder. The builder wins and you
win. Work closely with your builder and the customer, covering
all the bases and letting them know installing all the wiring
at the right time is the most cost effective.
Start to think about expanding your business, but within your
area of expertise: residential wiring. There is no magic
formula, but you must get into the business properly. In the
next installment, you will read about the training, tools,
basic standards and what it will cost to begin profiting from
residential communications wiring.
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