Beginning July 1, 2021, we are going back to our roots. When we started in 2003, we started as a networking company. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough of a market back then for networking services in the home, so we expanded into the Audio & Video sector and have grown from there.
Over the last 5 years, we have seen a strong demand for networking needs, whether simply getting Internet service to new rooms in a home or installing a full scale home network infrastructure. Therefore, we have decided to take only network related work going forward. This includes hard wiring (Ethernet) & wireless (WiFi) work. There are many AV companies out there that focus their services on TVs and projectors, audio and other products, so we will leave that work to them. In addition to AV companies, there are security companies who install cameras, video doorbells and other equipment of that nature. We have found that people really need someone who understands residential networking and how to design and install it right. In addition to this major change, we will also discontinue working with contractors on remodeling projects where we have to work our schedule around other trades. It has been a major challenge over the years trying to take care of our clients while anticipating when a contractor needs us back.
With these changes, we will also be able to perform service calls expediently. Service calls for existing clients can be performed on any past installations, including AV and camera work.
We will have at least one day a week set aside for service calls so we can better respond to issues our clients face. We will also keep Mondays open for writing estimates from site surveys performed the week before. This should result in faster turnaround of estimates and scheduling of networking installations.
We really appreciate the variety of business that our customers have brought to us over the years. We know that these changes will result in some of our customers having to go elsewhere for projects, but in looking at the overall scheme of things, we feel these changes need to be made at this time.
Likely driven by the work from home and distance learning trends, the PowerHouse Alliance distribution group recently created a white paper discussing the emerging trend in consumer networking. This white paper was based on a survey of over 55 distributors analyzing sales data from the start of 2020 through the end of 2020.
Using these distributor interviews and sales data pulled from 2020, they anticipate a 54% increase in home networking in 2021. In addition, they project a 15% increase in home control/automation and 4K displays.
Manufacturers have done a great job at keeping up with spikes in demand, in spite of the difficulty finding integrators to actually perform the installations. However, we are seeing inventory levels of network electronics dropping due to the backup of container ships at the ports. This may start to have an effect on projects in the near future. Hopefully, manufacturers will continue to produce and get their products out while these new trends encourage more AV integrators to focus on the networking and not just the audio and video aspect of business.
Home & Office Network Solutions has been specializing in networking since its inception in 2003.
The average home network wasn’t built to handle the number of connected devices that consumers have needed to use during the pandemic, especially when multiple family members are taking advantage of multiple services — streaming media, e-learning, videoconferencing — all at the same time.
As you know if you’ve read previous e-newsletters or even been to our website, we have seen an increased demand for commercial-grade networks in the home. Generally, this need doesn’t come from someone asking for more hard wiring or additional access points, it comes from people simply wanting the spinning wheel to go away when they’re trying to watch a movie or they are tired of their video call buffering. Last spring and summer we also received a lot of requests for connectivity outdoors, where many were working and studying, or where automated lights, cameras, and more are increasingly part of the smart living experience.
Homes large and small now function like corporate offices and require more internal bandwidth and Wi-Fi coverage, in the form of a powerful router, high-speed network switches and multiple, strategically placed wireless access points inside and outside of the home.
This need hasn’t created just a huge demand on our design and installation services, it has created a huge demand for the products we install, preferably Ubiquiti systems. More and more often the products sell out at our distributors within weeks of them receiving them, to the point that we order as soon as we get a contract. Even then, sometimes we have to go directly to the manufacturer in the hopes that they are keeping some in stock, but then we wait longer for supplies to be delivered when they are manufactured across the country.
This demand is not going to end any time soon, so all we can do is be honest about timelines and ask for patience, which we are fortunate to see from the majority of our clients. Once these network systems are in place in the home, clients forget what it was like to have Internet problems.