Home Theater Installation Charge? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Weight]

Sorry if this is the wrong forum for this thread.

I’ve been asked to install a home theater in the home of one of my parent’s friends. The home owners are only acquaintances to me, and have agreed to pay me for my time.

So how much should I charge them an hour, what is a fair rate? I realize I’m not a professional installer, but I have run wire and hooked up 7 home theaters. Obviously I don’t want to overcharge them, as I’d like them to refer me to others. Part of this job includes making equipment recommendations, purchasing all the wire & incidentals, and programming a universal remote control. I don’t want to charge a flat rate as I know I will have to continually educate them on how the system works, and correct any snafu’s they cause.

Your advice and suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[John Titan]

Price is always a touchy subject. High price to some people is a great deal to other's. Check out Bestbuy they list some HT set-up services on their web-site that may give you a good starting point. Another thing you can do is
call local Installers and try to get an on the phone estimate (most probably would rather not but you never know).

If none of that work's for you maybe you can go by an hourly rate but the first hour cost 40$ and it's 15$ an hour after that.

If it takes 2-hours set-up time and maybe 3 hours of on-line research (for part's and equipment). You don't wan't to walk away with just 30 buck's and a sore back.

hope this helps

 

[ChrisWiggles]

$15 an hour? That's kinda low, IMO, if you have a lot of expertise in this area.

If you're just a semi-hobbiest with a little bit of know how, I can understand some cheap help or free.

But if you have a great deal of experience with this stuff, I wouldn't be too afraid to charge more for things like calibration, setup, programming, acoustical help, etc etc. These are more advanced things that a professional designer would charge sufficient to the expertise required.

So I think it partly depends on how well you know these folks, your expertise, and what kind of system you're putting in. I don't really have a good feel for what they're getting and what you intend to do from your post, it could be a fairly simple system, to a much more advanced high performance system with lighting and all that integrated.

In the past for projector setups for folks, as a non-professional I charge maybe $50 an hour, which I think is a pretty stellar deal given my experience but only hobbyist nature that I'm approaching it as a non-professional.

 

[John Titan]

I was using 15$ & 40$ just as an example.

I Don't have an idea of what kind of system he's putting in either. I just wanted to give him some ideas for pricing.

 

[David Noll]

(Also answered this in another thread)

The going rate in my area is $30/hour for the "boss" and $20/hour for the secondary laborers.

That is why I did most of my theater construction myself. I estimated I saved about $15,000 to $20,000 on my project!

David