Installation Prices

[keefe007 0]

I'm just wondering if someone could give me some ideas on how much to charge for camera/server installations.

 

How much do you normally charge for an installation and how do you calculate it?

[FredB 0]

Somewhere between double and 4 times the equipment cost. Depends on what the customer is willing to pay.

Would include a few pdf files if i knew how to.

[keefe007 0]

Could you email me that? My email address is in my profile.

[wahloon 0]

Somewhere between double and 4 times the equipment cost. Depends on what the customer is willing to pay.

Would include a few pdf files if i knew how to.

 

Send me a email also, I would like to check yours out.

[scottj 0]

Your selling price is dictated by market demand, service support, your competition, and most importantly what it is worth to you.. Then again, do not use Ebay to compare your pricing to, as you will be out of business shortly there after, unless you move some serious volume.

 

Typical installation companies near my midwest location ask for a 30% profit margin on equipment, then determine labor rates based on difficulty of work, etc. I have seen people who will bid installs at a 10% margin before, we consider them "idiots" for lack of better terms. They are the ones that will not be able to afford to support what they sell and eventually close the doors.

 

 

scottj

[jisaac 0]

i would like those pdf files also.

jisaacmagee@sbcglobal.net

Also when you guys do your bids do you include labor in your bid?

What we do is give them the equipment cost and then say we charge $50 dollars an hour per technician and then give them an estimate on time. Not sure if that is the best way to due it but that is how we do it. Obviously for government applications we have to give a total bid including labor. But the reason I hate to include labor on a bid is that alot of times the time it takes to do a job depends on the end user. " I need to get by you guys." "Or, oh wait a minute I want this to go over there" "or I dont understand how to play back my dvr, can you explain it to me for the nineteenth million time!"

Know what mean?

[DataAve 0]

Your selling price is dictated by market demand, service support, your competition, and most importantly what it is worth to you

That is it in a nut shell. Dang, I hate to agree with this guy.

[jisaac 0]

dang 30%? wow you must have alot of competition. Or its just we have very few. I am not even going to say what we do just in case some of my competitors in my area are in here and seeing as how they hate me they would love to relay that percentage back to my prospects. Seeing as how they relay everything else they can make up in there failing businness offices because I can bid a job fo twice as much and almost always get the job. Competitors around here will do anything to bad mouth me and probly anyone else that poses a threat to them

[rory 0]

we charge by device, in other words, $75 for a cheap bullet, $150 for a box camera or dome, $250 for more difficult vandal dome or outdoor box camera installations, $250 for an Infrared Day Night camera such as the EX82, $450 for a PTZ, $250 for a 4 channel DVR, $450 for a 8/10 channel DVR, $650 for a 16 channel DVR ... etc. Basically prices are estimated on hourly installation per camera, average $75 per hour. And prices vary from job to job, depends what is involved, I have price variations on each device that go easy to normal to difficult.

 

Course down here our cost of living is double the cheapest area in the US .. but basically if you are a professional in the biz you cant charge low prices like say a plumber would charge to install some cameras.

 

Rory

[jisaac 0]

wow! I am learning alot. $650 for a 16 channel dvr?!?!?!?!??! what kind of dvr do you provide? Man I dont know maybe I charge to much. Honestly a 16 channel dvr I sell for $6,000. I try to provide only high end equipment though. Like the 16 channel dvr is 30 seconds per channel so 480fps (embedded). With Mpeg 4 480G hard drive, dvd-rw, remote access, triplex enabled to record, playback, and transmit video remotly at the same time. and other things. The least expensive bullet camera I sell is a $222 dollar bullet. And Also I sell a Ptz for 2,200 (outdoor). I cant believe you sell things for so cheap. And I did not see if you add the labor into a total bid or just give an estimate on labor and then total it all up at the end.

[rory 0]

silly wabbit, those are all labour costs, i add one sum for labour after materials, then the complete total after that.

[jisaac 0]

I am cookoo for coco puffs. Ya I was thinking holy **** this guy must supply some crappy equipment! Ya that makes a whole lot more sense! Well that answers my question. I am about to go try to figure out those cameras at that 32 camera install. Appreciate all the help. Will post back what I come up with

isaac

[HTACCESS 0]

Well, we (I!) almost also went nuts when I had to start bidding on jobs. I have realized, though, that if the client wants YOU to do the job, if they think you are charging too much, they'll tell you (and many times even let you compare apples to apples). You always have to consider that your overhead and employees benefits have to be paid by someone, and that better not be you!

[eyecu 0]

I'm on medication because of my recent Bid...ask Rory

[rory 0]

foe real

 

I know one thing, ive never lost a quote to another company

though im not a sales person and typically do the tech side and consulting, but i tell the client like it is, most if not all of them appreciate knowing that ..

 

Always give them options, not neccassarily low end, mid end, and high end, but if they are a high end client, give them several high end options ... i just did a job where wouldnt have ever expected them to go with Extreme CCTV cameras, but they did ..,. it was a small product review at the very end of the quote with all the Extreme IR cameras, and they picked the most expensive... ... darn .. !