OTHER TECH

A HAPPY ENDING

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Looking back, the installers agree they'd have done some things differently. "As a young company, we worried more about keeping the budget in line than with presenting what we really believed was best for the customer," David explains. "Without getting the right communication back from them, we made assumptions based on the budget as opposed to telling them what they really needed, and letting them make the decision."

Steve King, the lead residential technician/programmer, says they should have gotten the builder/architect involved earlier in the project. "We pulled a lot of structured wire and audio cable, and it was hard getting from one part of the house to another with concrete and steel beams in the way. If we'd worked with that architect before, we would have said, 'You need to take into account where the wires have to go, so give us extra room in the HVAC soffits, or tell the electrician not to run his high-voltage wires in there.' These were big issues that made the pre-wire last a lot longer than it should have."

And communications between the installers and the owners didn't always go smoothly. "We'd call about decisions, and they'd never call back," says Steve. King Systems gives customers a 17-page questionnaire to fill out, a document the husband says he viewed as "a pain in the ass." David recalls, "After the project was done, he told us he thought we were 'needy' because we'd call him all the time. Eventually he realized it was important for us to get his input."

Despite the occasional tensions, the final result for the owner has been complete satisfaction. "I ended up with far more than I thought I would, and everything they said they'd do, they did," he says. "They're young guys, and I was concerned about the service since there's a lot of gear. But when I had a problem on a Saturday night, they drove the 50 miles to fix it. They've provided service like I've never seen."

KING SYSTEMS LLC 7100 North Broadway Suite 6D Denver, CO 80221 kingsystemsllc.com (303) 410-0924

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