In the “Electrical Contractor as an Integrator” session on Sunday morning at NECA, Walead Atiyeh and Michael McLin of Maxim Consulting Group explored how IoT-enabled building management systems are reshaping the opportunities electrical contractors have in the voice/data/video (V/D/V) market.
They believe V/D/V work accounts for one-third of an electrical market estimated at $120 billion, but said contractors will have to transform their businesses to capture the more lucrative elements of this business, like servicing and updating the control and sensor elements of these systems. If they don’t, the presenters said electrical contractors may be left with less profitable structured wiring installations. They will miss out on service work that carries a higher margin and is dependable reoccurring business because many building automation systems become obsolete after three or four years and need to be upgraded. “If it is not a third of your business, you are missing out,” said McLin.
To get a piece of this market, McLin and Atiyeh, said contractors should consider starting up or acquiring a mechanical contracting business because HVAC systems are such a big piece of building automation systems. They also said electrical contractors should familiarize themselves with vendors such as Siemens Building Technologies, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, United Technologies, Emerson, ABB, Rockwell, WEG, and Yokogawa because brands play an important role in this market
