By Todd Pierson, Larry Epperson, Sam Guarino & Tim Balvanz – Custom Electronics
So now, you’ve finalized your plans for your new home and you’re wondering what to expect during the construction process. As the homeowner, you will be the driving force concerning the direction of your project. You will need to maintain constant communication with your contractor (Job Superintendent). Your ESD (Electronics Systems Designer) should coordinate with your contractor and act as a project manager to make sure that project needs are being met. It would be a good idea to confirm with your contractor that your ESD is working in accordance with your wishes. This will help avoid conflicts with other disciplines.
Before all plans are finalized, coordinate with your cabinetmaker, so they can allow for any specific equipment requirements. Today’s amplifiers, cable boxes and Blu-ray Disc players can generate an appreciable amount of heat that will need to be vented in order to keep the equipment operating at peak efficiency. In some cases, your ESD may be required to order equipment early and pre-rack your A/V system, so that your cabinetmaker will have accurate measurements for the final cabinet designs (Pre-racking is when all the various components are mounted into a rack system that will later be installed into some type of cabinet or enclosure).
Your ESD will want to be in on the electrical walkthrough to make sure that all the electrical needs for your systems will be met. This will be especially important if you are having the ESD integrate lighting, motorized drapes or HVAC control. This usually occurs two weeks prior to electrical completion.
Shortly after that, there will be a low voltage rough-in walkthrough. This should be done with the homeowner present, as well as your interior designer, contractor, and possibly your electrician. At this time, your ESD will work with you to finalize speaker placement, TV locations, telephone and network outlets, and any control systems interfaces, such as keypads and touchpanels. As far as your ESD is concerned, A/V quality and functionality is paramount, but changes due to esthetics can sometimes offer similar results with only minor compromise.
The actual rough-in will likely occur sometime after electrical, plumbing and HVAC are completed. It may also start in the final week of electrical work, once rough-in lighting fixtures have been set. Make sure your contractor has allotted enough time for the A/V rough-in to be completed. Depending on the scope of your project, a rough-in can take anywhere from one day to multiple weeks. Your contractor should make sure that your ESD is given at least two weeks notice to arrange for all materials to be ordered in a timely fashion and the proper amount of labor to be scheduled. In some cases, in-wall/in-ceiling speakers will also require pre-construction brackets to be installed. This will make the finish installation of those speakers go much more smoothly.
Next comes the trim phase, if your system has any in-wall/in-ceiling speakers, they should be painted to your specifications and installed before the painting of interior rooms begins. When the electrician starts installing switches and outlets, your ESD will oversee the installation of cable/satellite, phone, and network outlets. You should expect to be billed for all of the products, along with installation labor used in this phase, one month prior to delivery.
Finally comes the finish phase of your project. Starting with your equipment, expect it to be ordered about one month prior to final installation. This typically allows a two-week buffer prior to install to make sure everything is ready to go. Depending on the contract with your builder, this phase is usually done after “closing”. Sometimes, equipment may be included in the mortgage and this phase may actually take place prior to “closing”. This process can again take from one day to multiple weeks depending on the amount of work required. You should expect to make a final payment, to be due upon substantial completion of the project (meaning almost all of the equipment is installed and working). Be aware that there may be additional changes that occur over the next few weeks, or months (i.e. – calibration and adjustments to software and hardware, as well as personalization of some buttons/controls that require engraving).
After the finish phase, your ESD or installation technician should be willing to spend time with you, going over the operation of your home A/V systems. This might take as little as 20 minutes, or it might take a couple of hours to cover all the training necessary. As in the beginning, we’d highly suggest you keep a notepad handy to reference any issues or questions that arise after your installation. These notes will help your ESD to resolve those issues quickly, and to your complete satisfaction. At Custom Electronics, as with any reputable ESD, you should expect a 1-year warranty on the system operation, programming and all the installation components (wiring, etc.). Equipment warranties will vary with each manufacturer. At Custom Electronics, we also keep programming and remote backups at our location, should any control panels or remote controls become accidentally damaged. By doing this, we can get your system up and running in a timely fashion with a new replacement remote or control panel. This also allows us to do minor updates for your remotes when new equipment is swapped out for the next generation of home entertainment.
At any time during the process, you may elect to do something different from the planned bid proposal. Sometimes these changes can also come from the contractor, interior designer or other trades. If this happens, communicate with your ESD the desired changes. Your ESD will then generate a “Change Order” form that you will be asked to sign. This makes sure that your wishes are being met and that you have been made fully aware that there may be changes to your final bid amount, due to those modifications. You should also be prepared to pay for those changes as they occur.
As we’ve stressed throughout these articles, communication is key. If you have any concerns, you must establish a good working relationship with your ESD early in the project. This can insure that all your desires are met and that you will have a home entertainment system for which you can be proud. Custom Electronics has a web site where we highlight systems we’ve installed to give our customers ideas of what to expect with their finished project. Good luck with yours!
"This article will be in Omaha Living Magazine in a future issue"