Re: Burglar alarms
We do residential burglar alarms on a regular basis. They are not difficult. If you want to get into this work, I'd recommend finding a supplier and choosing a brand. Then get familiar with the Rep. Like many things, the programming is simple once understood, and Greek when you begin. Because it is only a part of my business, I've limited myself to one brand (DSC). I've used it for about 13-14 years, and it has grown from about 10% market share to over 50%. They have an excellent product and tech support.
We got started in it because we had a GC who couldn't find an alarm co. that he was happy with. It was a no brainer to begin this work with an existing customer base, and we now do burglar alarms for almost all of our GC's. Since we are already on jobs with all the tools out, the alarms are a piece of cake.
Central Station Monitoring is another peice of the puzzle. The way it works is that you become an authorized dealer and do the programming to tie the system in to central station. You also do the billing and mark-up. A typical service will cost a dealer under $10.00/ month and he will bill $25.00. Essentially you will make $180.00/ year for each account for simply invoicing. I'd recommend a UL listed station, as the stations could very widely in quality otherwise.
As Mike mentioned there is certainly a liability for this work, and that is something to consider.
If you have a market for this type of work, I'd pursue it. I'd be glad to offer specific advice if you do pursue it.
