Freeview aerial costs

[HiHo]

Continuing the discussion on the costs of having a freeview aerial installed

http://www.whatprice.co.uk//howi/freeview_aerial.html

[wilsonm3]

I am an aerial, satellite engineer on the outskirts of london, and im appauled at what ive been reading on here. There is no general price for an aerial installation, each installation is different, there are set prices like a set service call charge but if your situated in a valley, surrounded by trees and have no digital prediction then the cost of your installation is going to increase dramatically. Not because we think it will be harder to get the signals but because the standard and amount of equipment we will have to get the signals will be vastly different than an aerial installation next door to a tv transmitter.

in the area I cover, we have 7 local tv transmitters, the highest per population in the country, Why? becuase the signals are poor. This ultimately means that to recieve digital from a main transmitter, i.e crystal palace you will have to spend more money due to the amount and quality of the equipment i have to use. Also time on site increases. A standard installation takes about an hour and a half if you are doing the job properly. For this I charge £180 plus vat. Now all these know it alls on here who google the individual prices of equipment and then say we are ripping them off really need a reality check.

A. You do not know the specific equipment you will need until we advise you.
B. It costs us money to visit you at your home, we are not a charity
C.We have to warranty the equipment we install, therefore when you say i can get it £20 from maplins, my advice would be carry on but i will not install it for you.
D. Why pay to have the job done twice? do it once and do it properly.
E. We do not risk our lives to bring you tv pictures for nothing.
F.You can not possibly do the job properly without a signal meter, my meters in total cost me £4000, not to mention liability insurance, van insurance, van cost, petrol, phone line rentals, advertising!! wages, bills, the list is endless, in fact it seems we are the only industry that has not put our prices up! ive been in the industry and owned the company for 25 years and im still charging what i charged 6 years ago, yet its costing me twice as much now as it was then.
Petrol has doubled, wages have increased, insurance is always increasing.
There are far too many cowboys out there charging £80 for an installation and using sub standard equipment that only lasts 3 years. Yet people dont want to pay to have the job done properly, theyd rather pay twice., and half of them seem to have commented on this forum.  Comment like get an aerial from maplin and screw it to the wall make me laugh, do you know the difference between a group A and a wideband aerial? no i htought not yet u clearly think you know more than the experts. People will willingly spend £600 on a tv b ut dnt want to spend money providing a quality signal to the tv. My advice is only ever use someone who is CAi registered and RDI LB, they know what they are talking about and will not rip you off, dont think you know better than the,, and dont question why tht amp costs £20 on the internet and your charging me £40 for it! becuase we have to warranty it, install it and we are not an online distributor, we cant compete with a company who has half the costs and sells 100 a day.

I wouldnt dream about having my car MOTD and then when i get the bill, go on the internet find the parts they used on ebay and then phone them and say i cudve got the parts cheaper! because that what people do with us! Some people are unbelievable but how would you have known what parts you needed without taking it to a garage? and how would you fit those parts to your car? same applies to our trade, stop moaning and penny pinching and phone a properly qualified LOCAL company, and let them do the job once and properly and carry on moaning about how much your heating bill is and how much you pay sky monthly...

[fbdigital]

Reading through some of the replies on this post it is quite an interesting debate on the value for money cost of aerial installing. I am one half of a partnership within the West Midlands and Warwickshire area called FBDigital and we get to see all sorts of prices by different installers, by looking at our competitors websites(market research). We believe there is a general rule for how much you should pay and what type of installer you should get to do the work.

1. For the customer who wants the cheapest possible install who is not really bothered about quality of materials and whether the installer actually knows the theory of digital signals and how to put them into practice, there are installers who will charge £60 for an aerial install, my word of caution are advised in this case as they are likely to be using unapproved materials that are potentially not fit for purpose, will not adhere to health and safety by not using the correct safety at heights when working on a roof. The likely result is a return visit to modify the work at some point which will only up the price anyway. The install is likely to take 1 hour.

2. For the customer who wants a working system using approved products that will last and is installed by a person who has been trained in all aspects of aerial install and adhere to the health and safety then prices usually start from about £90 upwards to £150. The work is guaranteed and customers should expect to not have to call an engineer out to a return visit as they will have set up the signals to have a good tolerance away from the fault margins. The install is likely to take upwards of 1.5 hours.

I place my company in category 2. If a customer expects a quality tradesman then they must be prepared to pay and at least respect that the installer has carried out the government standard training and knows genuinely how to install the equipment for its purpose. In general it means the installer cares about his customers and himself and wants to build a good reputation.