Should I Let ADI Design And Quote An Entire Job For Me?

Like many members, I've dealt with ADI for years, and the answer is: HECK NO. Even the folks in the 'systems group', who presumably would be putting together the estimate, should not be recommending designs. There is flat out too much those people do not/have no way of seeing that could dramatically change the way a job is bid.

Remember: ADI does not have your customer's best interests at heart... rather, YOU are their customer.

ADI wants to manage/manipulate/cajole YOU, not the customer you are trying to make happy. This difference can leave you in in the lurch with the people that pay your invoices when things go badly. ADI simply has a different motivation in specifying/selling equipment than you do.

ADI is pretty low on the list of places I would trust to properly spec out a complex quote for me. They rank shortly after my vetrinarian, and a retired dentist.

Does ADI offer any sort of guarantee for this quote? What if the hours go over their estimate? Do they actually send someone out to walk the job and take notes and incorporate customer requirements?

Even if answers to all the above questions are satisfactory, would you really want to encourage this sort of thing in your market place? Seems like the next step is that they should also just bid the job out to some local day laborers to save you that trouble also.

I fully agree with John. Most of the suggestions provided to me by ADI were not what I really needed. ADI has a research department, but they rarely come up with the right product, either overkill for the job at hand or the wrong product for the job, suggesting what they actually carry. An integrator cannot rely solely on one distributor. I use many distributors. A distributor only has knowledge and expertise of some of the products he sells. Example, when I purchase specialized products such as wireless lighting controls, I go with a distributor that deal exclusively with such products, not a big sell-all distributor like ADI.

Do not let ADI design anything for you. I used their services a couple times in the early days and they never even close to meeting spec. The only thing they are good for is buying what you know you need and, depending on how much you buy, negotiating special deals with manufacturers.

I don't know enough about ADI to specifically answer that part of the question, but I can say with certainty that I would NEVER let ANY third party design, spec, and quote one of my projects. There is no way that a paper pusher in a cubicle could possibly know the the in's and out's of installs. You couldn't credibly expect someone who never touches a screwdriver to understand or predict the varied issues that installers face when implementing a project. I can only see this going one of two ways:

1) They are either going to be ultra conservative with time and cause your bid to be way over-priced

2) They are going to keep labor time artificially low in order to help land the project and create sales

My bet is on #2, which is great for their sales numbers, but bad for the integrator who will eat the cost over-runs on labor.

I will bet it will be all Honeywell products and other items they get the best kick back on.

Well if this is a serious question then my answer is... Yes. You should definitely let ADI design AND quote the ENTIRE job for you - for sure.

I would not let anyone else design a system for me. If it goes south, I want it on my shoulders. Usually if a job does go south, it's because I trusted someone's word and they were wrong. If the smallest detail can screw up a job, why would I want to trust someone that just wants to make a sale?? My boss would NEVER suggest this.

I use design & build packages all the time from numerous different contractors and what is VERY important is to clearly define what your expectations are and what their deliverables are to be up front. This is true for any project not just video systems. Defining all aspects that are important to your stakeholders (the people you are building this for) such as drawings, BOMs, resources required, construction schedules etc.. will minimize or eliminate change orders in the long run.

Managing expectations is the buzz word you need to keep in mind for both your organization and the contractor / integrators.

regards,

Joel

ADI helped me out tremendously when I first got into the sales world. You should find anyone and everyone who is willing to help you out until you are the SME!

Don't use them to "quote and entire job" but heck yea lean on them to gather as much knowledge and training as you can. That is one of the value adds of using them as a distributor.

I lost count of how many times I called ADI for help on stuff like a specific kind of cable, connectors, etc and they quoted me the wrong item. When I called them out they would usually say they either didn't have it or they said I was wrong and that part would work. I would then either find the right part on my own or call the manufactuerer and get the correct answer. Their Engineering group is nearly useless.

John,

I strongly disagree -

you seek the advice from those who wish to help you.....and those who have the knowledge...... and typically you reward those who took the time to assist you, by purchasing the product from them.....

Mistakes will be made, that’s how you learn.....the quote will be only as good as the info provided, or the technology being used or the expertise involved in the process....

The hypothetical "what if's " are endless.....most jobs and applications are repetitive and really aren’t complicated......

Simply knocking a Value added service sounds petty and disingenuous, in my opinion

I will appologize in advance, I thought I put an update in here but it turns out I did not. I did receive a call from my regional ADI rep about this post, and he did clarify that ADI will not assign labour hours at all, Michael Fink has also confirmed that.

I have not to date utilized the service, msotly because I am personally comfortable enough to design my own systems, and I like to think if I can't design it, the chances are myself, or my fellow installers will not be able to install it so we simply walk away from that. I have wanted to throw a few things at the systems support group, just to see what they'd come up with, but always end up doing it myself. Just the kind of person I am.

The one thing about ADI, and I can't really blame them, is the few times I have asked them for something without sugesting any particular brand, they seem to come with the cheapest avaliable. The reason I can't blame ADI for this, is because everyone I see going into the branch is just asking for the cheapest thing they go to accomplish their goal. By everyone I mean the "Trunk Slammers" I suppose, the guys who don't normally do security, or surveillance or card access, the one who picked it up beccause he figured he could do it and make a quick buck. I see more and more types like this out there.

I personally find my local reps to be quite knowledgeable, but I have also known them long enough to know what they do know, and what they don't know, even if they don't want to admit it.

I'm a big fan of the ADI systems group - however, I still monitor next to everything they give me as they can't possibly know the details such as lighting, distance, Field of View, etc - and they shouldn't!

Thats my job as an engineer/sales person to know the important stuff. They can help me with new products that I don't know, or in areas where my expertise isn't as strong - they can assist me do my job and they sometimes have invaluable knowledge of products that can do things that I might not know of. That said, its still my project, its still on my shoulders to design something that is going to work for my customer.

Where the ADI group really comes in strong for me is in the time saved of finding the right parts and components I already have in my head, and putting it into a final quote for me. They can help double check some of my simpler errors (an off part number, etc) - but they dont design my job for me.

I have never handed them a map of a customer site and asked them to design a solution for me. Nor would I.