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Smart Wired Contractor of the Month

Rising interest rates have seen a downturn in business for Smart Wired contractor, Phill Blake.

His electrical business, which employs 14 staff and boasts a fully integrated showroom, is feeling the effects of the economic squeeze.

"We've had to put off five of our staff, as we have found that customers are much more reluctant to take up home automation options", says PSE Wagga owner, Phill Blake.

"With high interest rates, people are more budget conscious when building a house. It is much harder now to get them to see the value of connected home technology as they can't see past the dollar sign."

Phill believes the way to survive the downturn is to concentrate on educating as many potential customers as he can about the value of smart wiring and electrical technology. To achieve this he has started a radio advertising campaign that aims to build awareness about what his business can offer.

"If I can get people in the door of the showroom they can see for themselves the value of what we do. A lot of people don't even know you can have one DVD playing in the living room and this can be distributed to all other TVs in the home, or that their home computers can be networked to talk to each other.

"I have my house automated and it is incredibly convenient. Like most people, I'm time poor, so being able to press a button to achieve many different functions is a great time saver."

A focus of this advertising campaign is the CBus Home Automation credentials of his business, particularly StarServe. Phill has noticed that clients can more readily see the value of networking their TVs and computers than they can other forms of connected home technology.

Smart wiring only makes up around 10 per cent of Phill?s business, but it has led to some interesting jobs, particularly in the commercial sector. He tells us about one of his most challenging ? the installation of CBus automation in Wagga Wagga's William Farrar Hotel.

"As part of the pub's refurbishment they wanted intelligent lighting and the automation of electrical devices like the poker machines. The idea was to cut down the time the staff had to run around turning things on and off, as well as saving on their electricity bill. We incorporated light and movement sensors so that lights would operate at certain levels based on the amount of natural light or patrons in an area.

"It was a complicated job, made all the more challenging by the fact that the pub was operating around us! We could shut off small areas of the pub at a time but still had to run cables through areas the patrons were using."

Phill is optimistic about the future of his business and the Smart Wired market in general. He believes it is just a matter of making the public aware that not all these technologies will break the bank.

"There's no doubt people can see the value of entry level products like networked TVs and phone and data outlets. If this becomes common place in our households, in time the other technology will follow."

Contact:

Phill Blake

Director

PSE Wagga

Kooringal NSW 2650

Ph: (02) 6921 3888

Email: phill@psewagga.com.au