Maintenance contract

J

Jason Lavoie

Junior
Jan 13, 2011
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16
Ottawa
I'm sure this has been discussed before but a search didn't turn anything up.

a customer has asked me if we can quote on a "basic" maintenance contract for the PA system in their building. this is a system which was installed by us and is still under warranty, so I assume they're planning for when that runs out.
This is a recreation complex (hockey arena, pool, gym, group fitness areas, etc.

is the scope of this sort of thing usually driven by the customer, or do you tell them what you feel like offering and at what price?
since most of our customers are out of town (this one is a 4.5hr drive) we go out of our way to only install reliable hardware so issues should be minimal (or billable damage based issues)

so what's typical for this sort of thing? is it usually just a pre-paid yearly or regular full checkup plus a bit of a retainer to keep them at the front of the line when a service call is needed? or is it usually more of an extended warranty where parts are covered and all of the re&re costs are included in the contract?

This is a good customer, so I want to figure out something that is fair for both of us but it's hard to do anything like this without over-protecting myself..

Jason
 
Re: Maintenance contract

Dicks response seems pretty logical though and like you mentioned just have a yearly checkup / inspection. Im surprised someone who specializes along these lines has not chimed in. Maybe its a secret though :razz:.
 
Re: Maintenance contract

When I was in contracting and figuring mntce. agreement, we did worst case scenario...if a paging system, what is the most costly component that could fail? That was the mixer amp. So the cost of a new mixer amp, mileage, time to travel to and from (portal to portal) and time on site to replace and adjust, plus incidentals...and factor in one trip per year to check the system and impedance load. If the system was more complex, that was factor'd in as well and again highest cost item was included in our worst case scenario.

A number of our mntce. agreements were nothing more than a preferred hourly rate to the client and a limit on markup we could use for equipment, components, etc.
 
Re: Maintenance contract

John Moore said:
When I was in contracting and figuring mntce. agreement, we did worst case scenario...if a paging system, what is the most costly component that could fail? That was the mixer amp. So the cost of a new mixer amp, mileage, time to travel to and from (portal to portal) and time on site to replace and adjust, plus incidentals...and factor in one trip per year to check the system and impedance load. If the system was more complex, that was factor'd in as well and again highest cost item was included in our worst case scenario.

A number of our mntce. agreements were nothing more than a preferred hourly rate to the client and a limit on markup we could use for equipment, components, etc.
Click to expand...

When I say PA System we're talking separate foreground speakers in main areas with wireless headset mic and CD player, central DSP (Symnet) and paging from multiple locations. so it would be hard to justify a $5-6k maintenance contract just in case a DSP fails..

I think I'll have to throw it back to the customer and as what they're expecting to get out of it.. maybe I'm over thinking it.

Jason
 
Re: Maintenance contract

Many moons ago I had a couple of clubs on "service contract"
I was part of the install team that put in the rigs. We're talking 500 or so bodies in the "stage room", and a couple of other areas (bar and restaurant in one, bar and pool room in another)
After discussing with both management teams, it boiled down to:
I'd stop by a couple of times a year with a shop-vac and clean out the amp racks.
(includes pulling the amps, taking off the covers and a good cleanup inside)
Same visit, reset the room EQ and crossovers to how they were originally installed.
Mic cables, Mics, and DI's NOT covered.
Everything else had some sort of emergency spare either on-site, or in my warehouse. 3 hour (max) response time to get any system back running.
(read that last one carefully... 3 hrs to system running. Not 3 hrs for me to show up)
Replacement boards, amps, etc. at no cost while repairs/replacements done to bring the system back up.
They paid all replacement parts (including blown spkrs), but not installation.
It was a maintenance contract, not an insurance policy !!!

One of the clubs had reasonably competent sound folks, and I think I only went once to fix an actual problem (BSS FDS360 failure)
Every time I went for semi-annual sevicing, the kitchen manager had a plate of wings and a cold one waiting for me by the time the shop-vac was back in the truck !
That lasted about 5 years before new management took over, and had a "better way" of looking after the gear.

The other club, was a little more high maintenance. A lot of newbies got on their system. They liked to smoke, and spill beer everywhere. Whenever their soundcraft was in the shop getting de-beered, I had a Mackie 24 reserved for them. Gotta admit, that Mackie really took a beating !
Like I said above, no charge replacement rentals no charge labour on the SC. Any parts needed were charged for at my cost.

They turned into DJ club after a couple or 3 years beating up on that poor 200B

Well, that's my story. Hope it gives you some ideas.
 
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