Installing for a living.

[MOTA.TIMTIM]

Hey everybody, First off I'd like to thank to anyone gives me some feedback good or negative. Now as far as what I need help with. I am 18 and graduated Highschool. For a while I wanted to be a electrical person at a mill yet, Right after I graduated I worked a "summer job" at the mill to get my foot in the door. And now the job is done with and all. Im willing to admit the money was nice. ($12/hr ) But the work environment is just terrible. The people up top would tell you in meeting "Stay cool! Drink water!" Yet if me or my partner was to get a bottle of water while we weedeated (grounds work) We were fussed at. Now this is 100+ heat and not dry heat ethier. If you aren't top dog your pretty much a floor mat at the mill. (Ibe asked around and all the mills are like that around here) And I came to relaize the money isn't what I want. I want to enjoy my work. Which brings my unnecessary ramble to a head. I love car audio and customized vechiles. I installed for free most if highschool years. Nothing more than amps/subs/headunits and the occasional tweeter. But i really enjoy myself and the work. The look on people's faces when they hear there new setup, I even explain how everything works to my best ability. So I wanted a insight on the job from someone who does it professional. I want to attend ethier Installer Institute or Acoustic Edge Institute. Anyone who could tell me pros/cons of working as a installer Id greatly appreciate it! Sorry about my long post but I tend to put in alot of detail.

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[cbuts 10+ year member]

Money was nice (12$) an hour . Lol.

If installing is what you wanna do and know your stuff start putting ads on kijiji and other sites and doing installs in your driveway

 

[Umbra]

Not a pro, but I too have tossed around the idea of making some extra money doing installs for people. Here's some snags I've run into:

Time: A good install takes a lot of it. I've gotten pretty efficient, but things like disassembling doors and running wires into all of them and back to an amp still takes a lot of time. I have no qualms about putting the time in, but someone waiting on their car might. Ideally I'd have one or two other people so we can cover more ground.

Location: Right now I'd be doing it in my driveway. I don't have a shop or even a garage, which means I'll have to contend with the weather and sun. Working after the sun sets is a big pain in the *** and with winter on its way it'll eventually be dark by 5pm. If it's raining I can't proceed. If it's cold I can power though, but it'll still **** (in LA you probably don't have that problem).

Insurance: I have no idea what insurances are needed. Granted, if you disconnect the battery prior to working then you should advert any big electrical problems. Then you just have to be careful about not marring the interior. Then again, you're working on a car. I'd just like to be proactive and not find myself in hot water. People can be so litigious.

I think you can make some money doing driveway install gigs for the budget conscious, but that might put off a lot of people. They might not want to leave their car with some guy they met on Craiglist.

As far as working for a shop, I think if this is something you're serious about doing this would be the place to start. I just hear a lot of **** about poor quality shops that don't know what they're doing and will overcharge anyway. Personally I'd be unhappy contributing to that. Even with a good shop you might find a lot of times a job would be rushed to get it out the door quicker, so long as it works. I like to put the extra effort in to make sure everything's as good as I can get it, but that's for myself, friends, and family. In a business environment that might not be the most profitable route.

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

I just help friends and don't ask for payment.

You'll have to charge a decent amount to actually make money.

If you mess someone's car up, you'll have to pay to get it fixed. There was someone on here who got a new headunit installed by a shop in their Honda, and it messed something up. The shop had to pay to get it fixed, and they lost money on the job.

Also, if you mess something up, word of mouth will travel and you'll lose business.

I wouldn't want to do installs for people who have no fucking clue about audio. They're going to crank it as loud as it'll go and break stuff either due to low voltage or clipping. They might even mess with headunit settings or amp dials to turn gain or "bass boost" on/up. Then they'll blame the install.

I wouldn't want to have to deal with warranty on any user-error problems. The consumer is going to be convinced that it wasn't their fault.

Point being, I wouldn't help someone unless I know them well.

 

[the727kid 10+ year member]

It all honestly... it is about 50/50 love/hate. Some days everything goes smooth and you have happy customers. Other days you have installs that just don't go right, people complaining about BS, blaming you for stuff that isn't your fault, etc. (Example: guy blamed us for cutting his carpet under his dash, Mustang forums and other shops proved him wrong, had a guy say we stole stuff out of his car, turns out his wife took it out before the install, guy blamed us for scratch on trunk, even though it was noted before the install was completed). You have your ******** that really make you want to quit. Expect to work long hours, especially when something isn't going right. You can't just give a customer back a unfinished car - days like those can take a mental toll. However, there is always that satisfaction of a happy customer if you do the install right. If you are good at your job your bay will stay super busy and you will almost never get a lunch. Honestly I only do it a few days a month now and still sometimes I just want to quit, and some days I really enjoy going to work. After about 6 months of doing it full-time I dreaded it.

As someone who went to Installer Institute - don't waste your money. I would suggest getting in with a shop, even if its just cleaning floors. Another route is to get a job at a Best Buy. Work the sales floor, prove your worth and work your way into selling Car Audio. Sell it good and build a good relationship with the installers and wait for a position to open, it will be pretty much yours. I went from PT at Best Buy to managing my own install bay in 18 months. If you put in the work and effort, it will pay off.

Most people will say its useless - but I highly suggest getting an MECP book and reading through it, even pay for your own exam to get Basic certified if you have to. There are less than 300 MECP Master installers in the country, so it speaks levels if you can get to that certification. Of course you need experience to get the sign off for it. The MECP certs also yield pretty big pay raises at Best Buy, if you went that route.

I also suggest following high-end installers on instragram, I have learned a lot from them. Many of them are Top 100 installers and share a lot of their work, it gives you ideas of how to clean up your installs and be a better installer.

Either way you are going to have to learn how to be personable, sell the right solution for a customer, and learn the product you sell. Without this, you won't be able to close sales and line up installs.

 

[TheRealSpinner]

It's funny that you mention Installer Institute, since I'm wearing their shirt right now, which is strange, because I generally only wear my own company shirts (must be laundry day). Anyway, like you, I did all my friends' installs in High School, and thought that's what I really wanted to do. Keep in mind that this was 16 years ago, but I went to Installer Institute, and think it was a waste of money. It DID get me my first job, but I talked with the install shop before I went, and the timing worked out that there was a position available when I completed my training. The shop was a VERY high end install shop, and very successful! With that in mind, you need to ask yourself why it was successful. Long story short, the boss was a real pain in the ***, and would lose his sh*t all the time. With that, and my fingers hurting at the end of every single day, and my back being sore from climbing under dash boards, I only lasted 6 months!

One thing positive that came out of it was it got me to start collecting tools, and I still use the toolbox I purchased for that job. I never did installs after that job, and have since moved on to better things, but my advice is this: don't do the install course, find a job with people you like, doing the things you enjoy. It's hard to put a dollar value on loving the place you spend half of your waking life.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

It's a risk really. I thought about doing it myself but the pay, hassle on some days, etc just isn't worth it. With change in technology, I bet 1/2 the car audio shops closed their doors, thanks to online sales and people knowing how to install on their own or having someone else do it for them. In order for the shop to make $$ an installer would have to be quick installing whatever the customer wanted. I cannot stand being fast paced/in a hurry. That's how chaos starts and that's why so much of this world is one big hurry and many many traffic accidents. But that's beside the point.

If I were you, I'd do it on a side, like a side job while maintaining a f/t job. Provide pics of actual work done/performed on like websites such as craigslist, offerup, etc.

 

[Mahapederdon]

Your young. Try it out and maybe it'll be you lifetime passion. If not you learn allot and move on. I work at a high end home audio place where I install in people's houses. Sometimes it ***** *** but most the time it's fun as hell. I play with stuff I love everyday. But what one of the other posters said. Being rushed on a job is the worst. They want it done now and really good. Faster = lower quality. Good luck man.

 

[JohnKuthe]

...Also, if you mess something up, word of mouth will travel and you'll lose business.

And that's exactly why I'm trashing JML in St Louis! They were rude to me and I will never spend any of MY MONEY in their shop because of their action/policy! I want an installer that will work with me and I think the auto installer guy I'm contracting with is gonna do me well!

I am very excited! It'll be nothing legendary like yours, just something really really good to listen to!

John Kuthe...

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

And that's exactly why I'm trashing JML in St Louis! They were rude to me and I will never spend any of MY MONEY in their shop because of their action/policy! I want an installer that will work with me and I think the auto installer guy I'm contracting with is gonna do me well!

I am very excited! It'll be nothing legendary like yours, just something really really good to listen to!

John Kuthe...

Being rude and breaking things are different.

I fix cellphones on the side. I recently found out that our dorm room is not ideal for working on phones. We have a thick carpet floor. I replaced the battery and screen on my friend's iphone 5s. The phone works great and is perfectly fine, except the touch ID sensor doesn't work anymore. Static electricity damaged the home button's camera when I was working on it. The home buttons are "keyed" from the factory to the main board of the phone. Once the home button is damaged, you can't simply replace it to fix the touch ID. I'm buying him a new phone tomorrow for $192 and he's giving me his old phone. Then, I'm giving his 5s to my ex girlfriend when I go see her the following weekend //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/boink.gif.91933e72f927f2cefc79aff02573090c.gif

Point being, all he did is refuse to install the gear you bought somewhere else. He didn't mess anything up. This forum is dead anyways, so he didn't lose any money. I'm losing $192, and my ex is getting ANOTHER phone from me. I bought her a Galaxy S4 last time, but she's having issues with it now and wants a new phone.

I can't complain tho, that's some good pussy //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yumyum.gif.0556df42231b304b9c995aefd13928a8.gif and is still cheaper than strippers //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[cthedinger 10+ year member]

It sounds like you need to find another shop to work out. I went to Acoustic Edge. They teach you a lot but I think you will learn more working under a master installer at shop. If you need help finding another shop to work for let me know. I know many all over the US looking for an installer.

 

[The Camry]

Ive learned everything i know from this site and DIYMA. Learned most of the basics. Bought the MECP handbook. It has some interesting things to know, like the math formula for finding final ohm load of any number of subs. If your looking for a job in the industry. Get certified.

Everything else is experience. Ive gone from a basic kenwood sub system to a full on digital dsp, 4 amps, glassed kicks, a-pillars, sealed doors, calibrated mic and tuning software. Its all in spending time and money on your own car and figuring out how stuff works or is made. Try going to a local car audio show and ask yourself if you understand how everything there was built or wired. If not, you need to up your knowledge base. I have done a few installs for people, generally i just tell them to get a quote from a shop and i do it for half price, but i stay away from anything made in the last 10 years generally. Infotainment, variable resistance wires. Things get complicated quickly. If you splice into a wire for power, you might be tapping a wire thats meant for 5 other systems and you wouldnt even know it. Gone are the days of simplicity.

If you really want to make money, i say try to find a niche in the market and make your move there. Like the guy who makes custom grills, or fiberglass fabrication or a few go to box builders on here. They all have a nice cash flow from that.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I went to Installer Institute back in the mid 90's. IMO I got my money's worth with MECP certification and a lot of good hands on experience plus it helped me open a couple doors getting some jobs. Of course that was pre-internet so everyone was really flying blind back then and you couldn't just pick up your phone and get answers or watch videos on how to do anything you can think of.

That said, it's donkey work for poor pay. Your hands will always be cut up and your back will be on fire from playing contortionist trying to get into awkward places to do wiring. Don't expect to do a lot of real audio installs, 90% of the job will be alarms, remote starts, window tinting and the like. Most of the audio installs will be head unit and stock speakers only and the average shop will do maybe one or two "big" or custom builds a year. You would need to really make a name for yourself like Meade to do big fancy installs every day.

IMO you'd do better to learn a proper trade that's recession proof and can't be done by a robot and stick to audio as a hobby. Take up being a diesel mechanic for example. Guys who do roadside service on big rigs make a mint and if you know your way around heavy equipment and tractors and such, every single industry from farming, mining, oil, lumber.... stuff that makes civilization function all have things with wheels and engines breaking constantly that need immediate fixing. Skilled trade (electrician, boilermaker, plumber) is also a good racket, moreso if you can get into a union, but if someones toilet is pumping ***** into their house at 3am they'll pay a plumber anything he asks to make it stop. Any of those trades you can find work anywhere and at a good pay rate with benefits.

Not to discourage you, but you might find that the reality of the job doesn't live up to your fantasy.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

They might even mess with headunit settings or amp dials to turn gain or "bass boost" on/up. Then they'll blame the install.

Not "might" this is an absolute certainty. We used to watch them drive out of the parking lot, pull over, get out and crank the gains all the way up on everything.

It's amazing the people who can't read or write, can barely string together a coherent sentence, and have an IQ somewhere on par with a border collie can come up with 10 grand (in 5's and 10's) to buy audio equipment and shiny wheels.... you'll just LOVE dealing with those types.