A lot of new guys really get suckered in to the business. They go for free training and are told that they can do 3-5 installs in a day. They multiply that by 5-6 days a week. They are particularly chosen to see the easy installs and given the wrong impression of the business. The gross payments appear to be large, until they find out about all of the supplies and toos they need, and especially the vehicle that they need. By the time that they are in the business fully, they have quite a few dollars invested. A lot of that is on credit. The bills come due, without regard to how much work they do.
The business was good about five years, ago. The pay was good, and they wanted quality installs. But the competition and the satellite tv providers, along with the fulfillment companies like Installs Inc. low balls the bidding on the contract. The installers have to supply the same services that they do, with more and more labor, like multiswitches and OTA antennas for the same money or less than they had been previously paid. There is no increase in payment as the price of gasoline goes up.
So, the quality of installs and the quality of the training continues to go down. As an independent installer, I refused to do more than two systems a day. That is not because I am lazy. It is because I am not driven by quantity. I refuse to take any job that I cannot be totally satisified that it has met a very very high standard. Since I've been in the electrical contracting business, including standard electrical, ota antennas, structured network wiring, and satellite systems for over 30 years, all of my equipment is fully paid for as well as my 7 year old service vehicle.
Like multilevel marketing firms that in reality has their own distributors as their best customers, the usual installer is caught with a large supply of tools and install materials and a lot of bills. They work and work some more to make ends meet. Eventually, in usually 18 months to three years, theg get burnt out and give up. That is why you see so much excess inventory of install materials on eBay.
Dealers do not stay in business because of install income. The real price of a good install is really higher than what they are paying installers. That's why Voom has so many complaints on their installs.
