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Fixed Wireless Business

The Price of Installation

Members of the ISP-Wireless list report that there is still a wide variety in the salaries that they pay to their wireless equipment installers.

[April 9, 2002]

On the ISP-Wireless list in March, RC asked,

"With all the difficulty attracting and keeping good employees, are any of you sub-contracting for installations? I've just started working with a local electrical contractor, paying him $250 per install."

A number of respondents suggested that there are far cheaper options:

[CO laughed] "I fell out of my chair!!! $250!!! I'm going to sell this joint and do your installs! Hire ex-military guys. We pay ours $12 an hour, and he's awesome."

[GF agreed] "You may be making a mistake hiring a licensed electrician. You could hire a low voltage contractor at a much lower price, or even a satellite contractor. Generally, electricians are prima donnas."

RC recommended looking in the San Francisco area for cheap labor:

"With all of the qualified people who are out of work in northern California, have you tried looking there for help? I am sure that there are many people who would happily take a job somewhere far from where they are now, and relocate at their own expense. With the number of resumes that bookstores in the San Francisco area claim to be receiving from Cisco and Microsoft people, I'm amazed that anyone is having a problem finding good tech people."

PO followed up on the original question, demanding specifics:

"What are others are paying for their subcontracted installs? I'm considering moving our installer to a per install rate instead of a per hour rate, but I'm not sure how much to offer. How much is everyone paying?"

Others shared their rates per install, all of which were lower than RC's quote:

[MB noted] "We pay our installers $75 per install. That includes, antenna mounting, cable run, and computer setup. Usually they can do an install in about an hour. We allow them to stay up to two hours, but after that the customer has to pay for additional labor, which is paid directly to the installer."

[CO observed] "We pay $120 per install to the same guys that do the installs for Road Runner."

[AD countered] "I pay $100 for a basic install, but I prefer to do the software and demo the service myself on the customer's computer because it gives me a chance to get to know the customer."

—End