Amplifier Installation Quote.. Am I Gettin Ripped Off...
12-27-2005, 09:53 PM
#21
Originally posted by MR2NR:
A business will cover any neglect or accidental damage. There are many quality shops around that do above average installs as well. To arbitrarily label all shops as doing a half-a$$ed job is just plain wrong. Take my shop or Tim's, Jeff's or Dave's..... the quality of the work is indeed what you are paying for. So the comment of "If I'm doing the work, at least I know where I screw up, what clips I break" applies to me as well, at least I can be held accountable for my actions and take pride in not taking shortcuts at the same time.
There are two ways of doing a job, right and wrong. You choose.
A business will cover any neglect or accidental damage. There are many quality shops around that do above average installs as well. To arbitrarily label all shops as doing a half-a$$ed job is just plain wrong. Take my shop or Tim's, Jeff's or Dave's..... the quality of the work is indeed what you are paying for. So the comment of "If I'm doing the work, at least I know where I screw up, what clips I break" applies to me as well, at least I can be held accountable for my actions and take pride in not taking shortcuts at the same time.
There are two ways of doing a job, right and wrong. You choose.
There are two ways of doing a job, right and wrong. You choose
not to go to a shop or not
if you do not have the time or
about some thing get a shop to do it (i would go to tims if i did not have the time )
12-28-2005, 12:20 AM
#22
50 Watt CAFz'r
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 351
woot! I already have the ground, remote and battery wire hooked up to the amp, I have the amp mounted/installed under my seat and I already have the battery wire connected to my battery as well as the remote wire piggy backed off my other already installed amp. All I have to do now is connect the ground wire to the chassis (Still not sure exactly where the best spot would be) and hook up the speaker wire to my speakers.. but that will come tomorrow. Thnx for everyones help and thnx for savin me hundreds of bux
12-28-2005, 09:09 AM
#23
1000 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,267
Originally posted by edgar:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by theboy:
....wait until you do it yourself and it takes a week and you do a half *** job...then you will wish you had paid to get it done!If you dont feel confident....pay to play!
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by theboy:
....wait until you do it yourself and it takes a week and you do a half *** job...then you will wish you had paid to get it done!If you dont feel confident....pay to play!
If I'm doing the work, at least I know where I screw up, what clips I break, where I do it half *** because I'm too lazy. When you take it to a shop, you're going into it blind. You have no idea where shortcuts were taken, etc. </font>[/QUOTE]Then I take it back with my invoice and they fix it.....and if it goes to a good shop there is no question they will do a clean job on a deck 4 and an amp!
12-28-2005, 12:27 PM
#24
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 445
I love it when people try doing the installs by themselves. After they screw it all up it usually costs about twice as much to fix it than it would to do the job right in the first time. I think its good that you are asking questions about the quote but you should ask the shop why they are charging what they are charging to fully understand what is being done and why. The system is as only as good as the weakest link and you can never over kill the wiring. When running power to amps you can never have eoungh power, spend the money now to run the heavy power so when it comes time to expand or upgrade it will way less than ripping out old wiring to run new. One Power wire is always the best for the system, this will reduce the chance of engine noise.
[ December 28, 2005, 01:29 PM: Message edited by: Claudio Piccolo ]
[ December 28, 2005, 01:29 PM: Message edited by: Claudio Piccolo ]
12-28-2005, 07:27 PM
#28
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 185
In an ideal world all shops would put out quality, flawless work. Unfortunately that's not always the case, just search carsound for all the ugly installs performed by big name shops. Even in the same shop, the quality of work can vary greatly depending on who is doing it. Sometimes it's not even noticeable until you start opening things up, as I'm sure anyone can attest to that has opened up someone elses install. When I took out one of the side trunk panels in my car, I only then noticed that half of the clips that hold the panel to the body were either broken or missing. I can only assume that it happened when the dealer installed alarm was done at the time of vehicle purchase (only sign of why someone would be in there), now the alarm was installed ten years ago!
I've seen some things that would just make you wonder. Like a '96 Civic that needed 8 hours of dealership labor to track down an electrical short when some kid at a shop tried to install a remote starter and stuck a screwdriver into a bundle of wires. Luckily for the owner of the car, the shop that bunked up the starter install paid for the repair.
Yet, I doubt that shops are held responsible for most of the things that go wrong.
MR2NR, when a panel gets a slight scratch or a tab breaks or something minor happens in the middle of a basic install, do you pay for a new part or figure that the customer will never notice (and likely never will) and turn a blind eye? Or do your employees report every single slight mark, chip, or dent that might happen while working on a car?
I don't expect any shop to do that. I'm sure, regardless of how careful you are, something is likely to get scratched or damaged, etc. even if it's something minor. What I was getting at, is if I'm paying for a something, I expect perfection. I don't want to see any of the above or I feel as if I wasted my money.
I've seen some things that would just make you wonder. Like a '96 Civic that needed 8 hours of dealership labor to track down an electrical short when some kid at a shop tried to install a remote starter and stuck a screwdriver into a bundle of wires. Luckily for the owner of the car, the shop that bunked up the starter install paid for the repair.
Yet, I doubt that shops are held responsible for most of the things that go wrong.
MR2NR, when a panel gets a slight scratch or a tab breaks or something minor happens in the middle of a basic install, do you pay for a new part or figure that the customer will never notice (and likely never will) and turn a blind eye? Or do your employees report every single slight mark, chip, or dent that might happen while working on a car?
I don't expect any shop to do that. I'm sure, regardless of how careful you are, something is likely to get scratched or damaged, etc. even if it's something minor. What I was getting at, is if I'm paying for a something, I expect perfection. I don't want to see any of the above or I feel as if I wasted my money.
Originally posted by MR2NR:
A business will cover any neglect or accidental damage. There are many quality shops around that do above average installs as well. To arbitrarily label all shops as doing a half-a$$ed job is just plain wrong. Take my shop or Tim's, Jeff's or Dave's..... the quality of the work is indeed what you are paying for. So the comment of "If I'm doing the work, at least I know where I screw up, what clips I break" applies to me as well, at least I can be held accountable for my actions and take pride in not taking shortcuts at the same time.
There are two ways of doing a job, right and wrong. You choose.
A business will cover any neglect or accidental damage. There are many quality shops around that do above average installs as well. To arbitrarily label all shops as doing a half-a$$ed job is just plain wrong. Take my shop or Tim's, Jeff's or Dave's..... the quality of the work is indeed what you are paying for. So the comment of "If I'm doing the work, at least I know where I screw up, what clips I break" applies to me as well, at least I can be held accountable for my actions and take pride in not taking shortcuts at the same time.
There are two ways of doing a job, right and wrong. You choose.
12-28-2005, 08:44 PM
#29
Originally posted by hi..i'm new:
So I went to a local shop to have my amp Installed and was not expecting the quote I got.. My current setup is a jvc deck with 1 set of preouts running to a concept 2 channel amp thats running bridged to my sub. What I wanted them to do was install my new 2 channel amp to run to my front speakers which are currently running off the head unit. Shop guy's quote looks like this:
$36 -12 ft. Power cable 4 awg (He says the current 8 awg running from the battery to the 1 amp wont be sufficient to handle the drain from 2 amps.)
$30 -6 Feet of rca to connect/split the amp (Since the head unit only has the 1 set of pre-outs)
$22 -20 Feet of speaker wire (Can't he just use the existing speaker wire running from the head unit???)
$85 -Amplifier mounting under seat (1.5 Hours Labour)
$220 -Rewire door speakers (4 Hours labour)
$24.95 -Distribution Block (Do I really need one?)
GRAND TOTAL
$417.00$
So Whats the deal... am I gettin hosed?
So I went to a local shop to have my amp Installed and was not expecting the quote I got.. My current setup is a jvc deck with 1 set of preouts running to a concept 2 channel amp thats running bridged to my sub. What I wanted them to do was install my new 2 channel amp to run to my front speakers which are currently running off the head unit. Shop guy's quote looks like this:
$36 -12 ft. Power cable 4 awg (He says the current 8 awg running from the battery to the 1 amp wont be sufficient to handle the drain from 2 amps.)
$30 -6 Feet of rca to connect/split the amp (Since the head unit only has the 1 set of pre-outs)
$22 -20 Feet of speaker wire (Can't he just use the existing speaker wire running from the head unit???)
$85 -Amplifier mounting under seat (1.5 Hours Labour)
$220 -Rewire door speakers (4 Hours labour)
$24.95 -Distribution Block (Do I really need one?)
GRAND TOTAL
$417.00$
So Whats the deal... am I gettin hosed?
I have an amp kit that is 17 ft of 4 gauge with 17ft RCA, distro block that is 4awg in and 4 8 awg out, and all the trimmings!! For $90.
I am asuming that the power wre that is currently in the car is run down the passenger side because the battery in that car is against the fire wall on the passenger side so I would just grab it and run it under the seat for the rear amp and run the 4 awg from the battery to under the seat. Run the RCA from the deck to the amp under the seat down the center(the seat is out anyway!!) and put the distro blocks under the seat with the amp (Depending on room of course.)
$80
Loop the fronts in from behind the deck and run the wire down to the amp.
$15
Other little things are a relay for the trigger wire and wiring it up.....$10
2, 1 female to 2 male y splitters.... to split the RCA from behind the deck....
10 feet at most of 12 gauge speaker wire from deck to under seat.....
16 feet max of 8 awg power wire... if the kit doesnt have enough in it.
$65 tops....
Grand total............
$250 before the tax man gets you.....
That is just me..... if you wanted things done a special way that would be different but for me to do it that way that is what I would charge.... and a lifetime warranty on all my wiring...
Like i said if this is not acceptable for me to do I am sorry and please delete it..
12-28-2005, 09:12 PM
#30
I take pride in my work and my employees abilities. They are directed to inform me of the slightest of issues. Any employee who hides something is down the road and if found at a later date is cause for immediate dismissal with no recourse. At the end of the day, all things rest on my shoulders. I will always replace a damaged part if need be. If we snap a plastic mount off on the back of the panel, a customer will always be informed of it. It we mark a panel, a customer is informed of it. The customer is the one who makes the call, if they want it replaced, it is replaced. It is called ethics and ethics are part of your name, the only thing in life that you are given. Ethics are a huge part of how I conduct my business and personal life, most important when I am looking at my career change to the RCMP.
