Had coffee with a retired installer who said 'The best system is the one the customer actually uses.'

We were talking about a tricky retrofit I did in a 1920s house in Cincinnati. I was proud of how clean the wire runs were, but he asked if the family had turned it on yet. I had to admit they'd called twice about false alarms from a motion sensor. He said he used to spend the last hour of every install just walking the homeowner through the keypad, making them arm and disarm it three times. It hit different because I've been so focused on the tech side. How do you guys balance a perfect install with making sure the client is comfortable using it?

3 comments

3 Comments

mark_green1d ago

What's your plan for building that walkthrough into your normal install time?

finley_owens1d ago

Man, that hits home. My last job was a total tech win, hidden wires everywhere. But the guy still sets it off opening his own back door. Now I make them do the walk test with me. Hold the door open, watch the light flash. It's clunky, but it works. That last hour is way more important than a clean attic run.

allen.anthony1d ago

Yeah, I learned that the hard way too. Spent a whole afternoon making a sensor wire vanish into a perfect wall channel, felt like a magician. Client calls the next day because their cat kept setting it off from a window sill I never even thought about. Now my final walk-through is like a weird dance, checking every blind spot. What's the dumbest thing you've seen set off a system after a "perfect" install?