Market For Home Theater Layout And Floor Plan Drawings? (1 Viewer)

[Sam A]

My g/f is an interior designer and she's amazed at how many ppl want HT's. she wanted me to get an idea from you guys on how many might want plans for their HT drawn by someone else? maybe for the contractor that dont want to pay for an architect? shes a wiz at autocad and does 3d renderings. im not sure what $$$ figures shes got in mind, but I told her they have to be simple for the clients to understand and cheap for them to pay for.

just trying to get an idea for her, any help?

 

[Nick P]

Sam,

I promise I'm not trying to be a smart-alec when I say this. Does your GF have any knowledge of home theater and room acoustics? Being an interior designer I'm sure she could put together a room that looks good but that's not always what sounds good.

Again, no disrepect intended here, just trying to give food for thought.

 

[Sam A]

no offense taken nick,

"but that's not always what sounds good", so you are telling me that the homeowner would instinctively design a better sounding HT in their living room/basement that would SOUND better than her designs?

she is really serious about this so I would like to know where you are coming from. [please tell me] I remember someone having the set designer of star wars design their HT. I wonder how 'good' it sounded other than unsing THX certified stuff of course.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Sam raises a good point. I would bet most homeowners would take "form over function" when it comes to a home theater. They want a room that looks cool and is comfortable... not necessarily acoustically perfect. The general public isn't as geeky as us HTF members.

I think she should at least take room acousticics into consideration when she comes up with designs, however... but, I would say the homeowner would have the final say, obviously.

 

[Sam A]

thanks dave,

yes she is definately trying to appeal to the WAF, but I dont think that she would take any job lightly and just throw stuff on the wall and ask for money. she does her research.

 

[Sam A]

...
just trying to get an idea for her, any help?

 

[Sam A]

ok, maybe I should first ask how much people pay designers/architects/contractors for renderings of their future HT?

 

[Nick P]

Sam - what I meant was proper speaker placement, proper screen size for the room, proper seating distance from the screen and so on. Not using too many hard reflective objects (live room) or too many sound absorbing objects (dead room). I dunno, maybe things like proper lighting conditions...where to place the lights (you wouldn't want a light, even a dimmed one, reflecting off of the screen. Those are just some things off the top of my head.
No, not at all, but she should have more knowledge about such things than the average homeowner so as to make good suggestions. It won't sound very good if there is a major null right in the sweet spot. I'm just throwing out ideas like you asked.

I do however have some fantastic looking plaques she could incorporate into her designs though if she's interested.

 

[Adam.Heckman]

Sam,

I posed this question about a year or less ago (although when I remembered, I couldn't find it using search). There was a bit of a dismal response.

I certaintly hope that she can find a niche and do very well, but the pickins look pretty thin. I attribute it to the fact that most of us have to save and work for our HT and don't have the money to spend on the luxury of renderings (my specialty). The people that do have the money have hired a company/person to make the HT for them. And if the client wants one, I'm sure that company/person provides all CAD drawings.

Good luck, but tell her not to quit the day job.

BTW, what does she use to render?? AutoCAD? Or one of the better rendering packages? I'm relagated to AutoCAD myself. Again, good luck.

 

[Sam A]

"Sam - what I meant was proper speaker placement, proper screen size for the room, proper seating distance from the screen and so on. Not using too many hard reflective objects (live room) or too many sound absorbing objects (dead room). I dunno, maybe things like proper lighting conditions...where to place the lights (you wouldn't want a light, even a dimmed one, reflecting off of the screen. Those are just some things off the top of my head."

well shiat, thats worse than what I thought you meant. I think just about anybody could do 'proper speaker placement, proper screen size for the room, proper seating distance from the screen and so on'. She was a bit pissed when she read your post. dont worry no hard feelings, i left the ? open, but cmon now, most homeowners can do all that themselves. And the lighting? please, I think its common sense that lights dont reflect off the screen. i dont mean to bark at you. maybe your idea and my idea of an interior designer is very different.
"I do however have some fantastic looking plaques she could incorporate into her designs though if she's interested."
yes we have a very different idea of what interior designers do.
some of her her ideas are:
1)custom cabinetry
2)designer fabric covered wall treatments
3)zone lighting
4)hand blown glass sconces
5)carpet patterns
6)ceiling treatments
7)furniture design

not "weird for arts sake and lets hope it sounds good"

Adam - yeah she does autocad and 3d max. thanks for the heads up on the response to online designing. " Good luck, but tell her not to quit the day job" well duh, she just figured this would be a way for her to learn about something I like and help me appreciate what she does for a living. she wasnt looking to start a full time deal with this, just maybe to help out ppl who didnt want to spend $3000 just for the architect/contractors plans. she'd be at about half of that for a 20'x15' room, depending. yeah shes not quitting her job anytime soon.

 

[Sam A]

so please anyone jump in and help me/her.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Sam,

From what you say I get the impression she’s looking for people who are more interested in the room (aesthetics) than the equipment.

Not coming from any practical experience here, but that strikes me as a pretty tough market.

As Adam noted the people with money who take the complete thing very seriously will hire a home theater specialist/consultant/installation company.

However, the folks more along the line of what your GF is looking for would probably just let their regular interior designer do it. Seems senseless to hire a second one just for one room, doesn’t it? As you noted she is an interior designer herself - I think she’d probably be a little miffed if a customer told her, “Well, umm, this particular room we want someone else to do.”

That said, it looks to me like her best prospect for this venture is the simple fact that she’s already in the business. She can easily incorporate it into her normal work whenever the opportunity presents itself. After she gets a few under her belt (with ample pictures for a portfolio/web site) maybe she could parlay that into a viable sideline, then just see where it goes from there.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Sam A]

"From what you say I get the impression she’s looking for people who are more interested in the room (aesthetics) than the equipment"

well isnt that what an interior designer does?

she would help the homeowners with the whole process.

"However, the folks more along the line of what your GF is looking for would probably just let their regular interior designer do it"

We werent trying to butt in on anyones territory, this service she wants to offer is for homeowners who want to build their HT up by themselves, and mostly for those who cannot afford a full-on interior designer. she wants to help them 'see' what they want before they commit to it.

"That said, it looks to me like her best prospect for this venture is the simple fact that she’s already in the business. She can easily incorporate it into her normal work whenever the opportunity presents itself"
not exactly, whe works in the commercial field, so this home application isdifferent, way more easy going, and the fact that it would be all online would let her do it at her pace.

 

[Sam A]

wayne, you seem to grasp this HT construction a bit better than some, or just that youve been here so long, what suggestions do you have?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Sorry, I gave pretty much every idea I had in the last post. :frowning:

 

[George Anderson]

Sam, im doing a basement construction project and have no idea what I want to do. my basement is 18'x 20'x 9' [roughly]. im a sinlge guy so no WAF but I want to amaze my friends and family when this is all done. ive got no set budget but can forsee spending well over $10k for the whole thing [equipment and all]. I was wanting to get ideas from some local contractors but they all have an upfront deposit. if I sent pics and real measurements and a listing of what im looking for, could your girlfriend help me get an idea going for me? i want the black crushed velvet look with ambient lighing and all that, but I dont just want to throw stuff up. I want details and such but cant visualise it. Do you think she could help me?

 

[Roy Brooks]

I think there is definitely an opporitunity here. The designer must be able to guage what the customer wants in terms of sytle as well a functionality. If she is willing to learn about all the basic requirements reguarding placements, sizes as well as acoustics and work those elememts into her designs great!! It takes an a lot of reading to get all the info and there are those people that might not have the budget to spend big bucks on a hometheater consultant. I think she can do well as a designer that doesn't require her customers to buy their overpriced cables etc.