Why We Charge for On-Site Consultations
Free estimates are always by phone. A visit to your home is a paid consultation: $300 + HST, more for properties farther away. Hire us and the fee is credited on your installation invoice, in full when labour is over $1,000 and half when it is $1,000 or less.
What does a paid consultation actually get you?
A plan built from your home instead of from a phone call. One of our installers walks the space, checks the wiring and equipment already there, and asks how you use the system day to day. After the visit we send a recommended equipment list and a supply-and-install estimate, so you know what to buy and what it costs before anything is ordered.
A Walkthrough With an Installer
The person in your home is one of the people who does our installs, so the plan is judged by what will work on install day: where cable can run, where access points belong, and what the walls and ceilings allow.
A Recommended Equipment List
Sized to how you use the space, not to the newest model or the biggest box. It shows what to keep, what to add, and what you can skip.
A Line-Itemised Supply-and-Install Estimate
Equipment and labour priced from what we saw on site, before HST, so you can see where the money goes before you commit to anything.
A Straight Answer on What You Already Own
A receiver, switch or set of speakers that still does the job stays in the plan. Replacing working equipment is the quickest way to inflate a quote.
Why don’t we offer free in-home estimates?
Because a site visit is never free to run. It costs an installer’s time, the drive, and the planning that happens after we leave. When the visit is free, the visits that never turn into projects still have to be paid for, and the only place left to recover that cost is the price of the jobs that do go ahead.
We would rather put it on the table. You pay for the visit you get, and when we do the install, the fee comes back off the bill: all of it on larger jobs, half on smaller ones. Nobody needs to close a sale to cover the trip, which leaves the visit free to do its real job: getting the plan right.
- The visit is billed as its own line, so you see what it costs
- Hire us and it is credited: in full over $1,000 of labour, half below that
- Homeowners who hire us do not carry the cost of visits that went nowhere
- The recommendations do not depend on you buying from us
- Estimates by phone are always free
Who comes to your home, and what are they there to do?
One of our installers, not a salesperson. Our AV work is not subcontracted, and the same small team that runs the cable also does the site visits, so the person walking your home is the person who has to make the plan work. Their job is to recommend what your home needs, including keeping equipment that still works, rather than the largest system your budget allows.
Equipment You Can Keep
A receiver with the inputs you need, a switch with ports to spare, passive speakers already in the ceiling. If it still does the job, the plan builds around it.
Equipment You Do Not Need
An access point the floor plan does not call for, or a bigger switch than the device count needs. On a network project, cutting those can often save hundreds of dollars.
Problems a Phone Call Cannot See
No clear path for cable between floors, a concrete ceiling, the internet service coming in at the wrong end of the house. These change the price, so they are better found before the quote than on install day.
Free estimates are always by phone
Call (647) 464-0606, describe what you have in mind, and we will give you a rough number at no charge. That answers most questions about budget. Book an on-site consultation when the answer depends on the house itself: where cable can run, how many access points the floor plan needs, or what your existing equipment can still do.
Need something fixed rather than planned? Troubleshooting is priced separately from a consultation and can cost more or less, depending on the problem. Starting prices are on our pricing page, and network faults have their own UniFi troubleshooting page.
- You are planning a UniFi installation, a network rebuild or better Wi-Fi coverage
- You are planning a home theatre, a camera system or automation
- Cable has to be run through a finished house
- You want to know which existing equipment can stay
- You plan to buy the equipment yourself and want the right list
How much of the fee comes back when you hire us?
It depends on the size of the job. When you hire us after the consultation, the fee is credited on your installation invoice: in full when the installation labour is over $1,000, and half when it is $1,000 or less. Labour is counted before HST and does not include equipment, so it makes no difference who supplies the gear.
Installation Labour Over $1,000
The full consultation fee is credited. On a standard visit, that is $300 off your installation invoice.
Installation Labour of $1,000 or Less
Half the consultation fee is credited. On a standard visit, that is $150 off your installation invoice.
The fee is $300 + HST for any type of consultation. Properties farther away can cost more because of the extra travel, and we confirm the fee with you before we book the visit. The equipment list and the estimate are yours to keep either way, whether you book the install, take time to decide, or buy the equipment yourself.
The short version: estimates by phone are free. A visit to your home is $300 + HST, more for properties farther away, and it is credited when you hire us: in full when labour is over $1,000, half when it is $1,000 or less.
What do people ask before booking a consultation?
Get a plan built from your home
Tell us what you are planning and where the property is, and we will confirm the fee and book the visit. Want a rough number first? Call for a free estimate by phone.
