I have a good long standing customer that is moving her office in October to a building being renovated. She is having the cabling done by another company and wants me to move the phone system and voice mail that I sold them.

Wouldnt you be a little pissed off that she didnt give you the cabling job. It was for 15 voice and data runs.

Would you procede and move the system??

Yes I would move it. I've had customers that get a better deal for cabling and there isn't much you can do about it. I always take care of my customers, period!

heck yeah, she already had the hard work done. I can skate in do the move make the real money and be home for dinner.
mark

Yeah had the same thing happen to us, in the begining yes pissed wasn't the word. But right we moved the system, home you dinner, and we added an extra charge. We called it a pissed charge

PS customers have no loalty, it all goes by the bottom line

Well, around here seems like the electricians get most new wiring jobs. OK by me, by time I straighten things out and correct wiring errors I make as much with less work. Bottom line take care of them they'll remember the next time.
Bill

HELL YES
long after the cabler is gone and forgotten you will still be the guy
plus you get to play cleanup and correct his errors for $$$$$$$$$$$$

[This message has been edited by KENB (edited September 03, 2004).]

I like the wiring jobs but I dont miss getting all dirty!

Thankx for the feedback, Im still gonna move the system anyway cause the customer has a staff of female graphic artists that would knock your socks off....

yeah, I'm loosing some of these to electricians too, funny thing is, customers don't seem to be comparing prices. I think maybe it's more of a "one contract for all my wiring" thing.

Mitch, by all means! move the system and be polite. Let them know that any cabling issues may be additional. (mis wired jacks, Etc.)
She may be having her data guy pull everything or maybe the building management has policies or requirements or maybe she got lucky and had it included in the build out.
None the less as everyone else pointed out it's the cabling that's a PITA.
You may want to find out if their installing the backboard and do the MDF terminations.
MOVE IT and keep the customer. thats' my 2 cents.
Gem

cablings ok when work is scarce but the money is made with the systems. the older i
get the more i charge for wire pulls.
jst my .02
m

Absolutley move the system. Business is long term and you want to be the guy there for the long haul.
Example:
I picked up a customer about 6 years ago and started with small repairs to their old Partner system. After my recommendations (a few years later after service calls, cabling, etc.) to move to a Magix and keep their current phone sets, their corporate purchasing department bought the Magix from another source......guess what....we installed it.....and have maintained it....

I could have been very pissed that they bought their equipment elsewhere

the end result......
they just called us to move their whole office
300 data and voice locs
move the phone systwem
overhead paging
security cameras with dvr

patience is a virtue !!!

It's funny that this topic came up because I was just thinking about this.

I LOVE wiring buildings. - NO not existing buildings where you have to work around the rats nests left behind by electricians and around all the trash and crap that litters the customers desks and stuff but new build outs. I think it's a breeze to go in, crank up the radio and do drops. I like it MUCH better than say programing Avaya VM
I also think it's MUCH more of a pain in the ass to go in and install or move a phone system on someone elses wiring.

I've had this happen to me a few times: When something goes wrong it's your fualt since you are the last guy standing. Even if it's a wiring issue, the electrician says "no there is nothing wrong with the wiring" and you end up eating it. Since the electrican is already gone and cashed his check you're left holding the bag.
If you want to get paid for the phone system move you better just fix the problem "on the house" because the customer is sitting there saying "get my phone system up and running or I'll get someone else". They neither want to understand that it's a wiring issue or care. They just think "this is telephone, you're the telephone guy FIX IT"

What I see is that in new construction the electrician is "assumed" to know how to do low voltage/telephony. I was wondering if anyone had any experience in finding an in to these commercial contractors - the GC - to explain to them about the value of having voice and data done by a specialist?

What are some of the most common errors you see made by electricians when it comes to voice and data? For example I constantly see 90+ degree bends in cat5. Crushed cables is another common theme.

Corwyn

I have run into places that the electricans pull the wire loop from box to box instead of home run. Then I'm told well you only using one pair