Mikepier wrote:

On Apr 3, 12:42 pm, Milhouse Van Houten wrote:
GROUP MODERATOR wrote:

"Mikepier" wrote in message
roups.com...
There is a new house being built in my neighborhood that I am
interested in. Surprisingly the contractor told me there is no alarm
system being installed. He told me that I could hire someone who is
licensed to come in and install the wiring while the walls are open.
I don't know why a contractor would build such a nice house, and not
bother to install even a bare bones alarm system, but anyway, how much
does an alarm guy charge to wire up a 2 story colonial with the walls
open? I live in Long Island, NY.

$300 ballpark for a full prewire

Maybe if it was Ranger America, they always do it at a loss in hopes
of getting monitoring. I wouldn't touch it for less than a grand
unless I was getting a monitoring contract signed up front.

Think about it...at minimum:

20 openings= $40 in contacts,
2000' 22/2 = $50,
1000' 22/4= $40,
boxes for keypads/panel =$10,
1 man 8 hours @ $40/hr (wage plus overhead)= $320.

That's a total cost of $450 to the dealer for the first trip. Plus
you have to figure at least one more trip to trim/ohm out + fix any
fubars made by other tradesman, there is another $160 in labor.

It's amazing that this house is listed at $799K and for a measly
$1,000 the contractor could have it at the very least wired up.


That price was for a modest ~2000 sq ft. size house, not including
extras such as smoke detectors, motion detectors, glass break
detectors, CO detectors, double hung windows, cameras, etc..

What constantly amazes me is that security always seems to be an
afterthought - and then some people think it should be *free*.
Companies like ADT and Brinks have trained the consumer into believing
a "security system" consists of a couple of door contacts and one
motion detector - installed for next to nothing. The problem is
these companies are selling 'paper', not security. All they want is
the monthly monitoring.