A serious miscalculation today is that AV communication systems can continue to be purchased and treated as a commodity. This mind set leads to late integration of AV systems. At the end of the project the end user will end up disappointed. Here’s why.

Decades ago, when systems were strictly projectors, TVs and sound systems they had no intelligence. They had no programming or control. And they could be purchased as a commodity and installed as such.

With AV being treated as a commodity by clients who are inexperienced in dealing with AV scope of work, it is often not included early in the design and brought in late during the project. When this happens, construction documents could already be completed, construction could already have started, walls could be closed, and floor cores could be drilled and installed. As you can imagine, when an AV vendor is now brought in after any of those scenarios, there is an increased chance that change orders will be incurred.

When AV is not coordinated early in the design stage, the project is at risk of the following:

Additional design fees incurred from architect & engineer: Due to change orders, time, re-design. Furniture conflicts with AV technology.

Additional construction costs: For capturing AV requirements for power/data/blocking walls potentially need to be re-opened for services. Floor Core locations might have to change. Wrong cut sizes and location in tables and credenza’s may need to be fixed.

Overall project delays: Delays to project turnover due to scope creep. Delay in on-site training and AV system turnover.

Overall System Performance: Rushed AV installation to account for lost time, can create problematic systems. Poor cable management to accommodate uncoordinated architectural elements will cause issues in the future.

Engaging an AV partner in the early design stages will deliver an overall better result to end-users, and it will cost less at the end of the project. AV systems have become a critical component to business requirements and can no longer be treated as a commodity.

Please contact VisionPoint at anytime if you have questions or comments regarding the content in this post.