If you’ve ever had to hire someone to work on a project — whether plumbing and painting, or audio, video and security — you know it can often be a stressful, ever-changing process as your vision becomes a reality.
Our team at Fearing’s Audio Video Security of Madison WI are experts in designing systems to meet your goals, while also keeping your budget in clear view.
Recently, one Madison WI project hired us for our expertise and our ability to redesign on the fly, while still meeting an important deadline.
The project description called for a new building with restaurants, meeting spaces, a deluxe ballroom, high-end hotel rooms and condominiums, along with various outdoor venues. But it wasn’t just any project Fearing’s was considering. This would be a sophisticated, cosmopolitan-style hotel in Madison, and all eyes were on this particular effort.
Original Audio Video Design Over Budget
As an audio, video and security expert, Fearing’s is often brought in while the initial design is in the works. But the original specifications for this project were designed by an independent engineering firm, with bids opened for equipment and installation.
Our first bid on the audio-video portion of the project was $1.6 million, with the security bid at $438,000. And though Fearing’s was the second lowest bidder, the bids were all significantly over budget of the developer, so the project was sent back to the engineering firm for a redesign, and all bids were tossed out. This put a strain on both the project budget and timeline.
A second round of bidding opened more than five months later. Fearing’s again submitted estimates for both the audio and video, along with the security portion of the project. Our team offered the lowest bids, but exceeded the owner’s specific budget. Instead of declaring defeat, Fearing’s offered to work with everyone involved — the owner, general contractor, and electric contractor — to redesign both projects with a goal of keeping it within the owner’s budget, while retaining the primary features and capabilities expected in a hotel of this type.
Design Expertise That Works
Awarded with both projects, our team worked with the original engineering firm on another redesign, but this one with the budget in mind. Nine more revisions eventually led to a final agreement, and both the audio and video, and the security projects were underway. By now being involved at this level, Fearing’s delivered on the promise to provide the owner with a majority of the original functionality, while relying on our experience to appropriately reduce costs. In the end, everyone involved considered it a major success!
Fearing’s is proud to have earned the trust of those involved as we partnered to design their specific vision, while keeping the budgets in check. It’s also an example of how utilizing both our design team and build team can eliminate the need for rebidding, which adds to the expense and time delays of the process. This particular project was completed one year later, and the bills came in at less than a quarter of the original bids.
Call Fearing’s for design and installation expertise before your project needs a rescue! Our work on this project included the following:
