Gambino- Shambino?

[desert night light]

Who is this guy anyway that I keep seeing his name and website posted on this board? I don't see anything out of the ordinary on that website. Plain Jane lighting jobs. Looks like his grandma took the photos with an old Brownie camera-whose he foolin. If he was any good don't you think he'd be posting messages here? Of course he would. I don't want to hear anything more about this character. I'm done with em.

[Pro-Scapes]

then dont read this website. I think he does really nice work. Some great articles on his website. Since you dont post your work let me be the first to say SHUT UP and stop being a critic til you share yours.:drinkup:

[desert night light]

What articles, I don't see no articles.

[desert night light]

I do good work. I use FX. So there.

[M RASCOE&SONS]

:hammerhead: :hammerhead: :hammerhead: What articles, I don't see no articles.what are you some kind of knucklehead trying to bash someone on here..start a thread with something to do with our industry or maybe you should stick with myspace.com because thats where all the kid games are:hammerhead: :hammerhead:

[Pro-Scapes]

I guess you havnt looked at his site then huh. Bummer im sure he would be heartbroken. I among others have found a good deal of information there

[desert night light]

billy your right what is the address?

[desert night light]

I'm just sick n tired of everyone talking about him and nothing about me.

[Pro-Scapes]

we talk about you alright... just behind your back because your annoying sometimes. If you couldnt locate gambinolighting.com (man was that just an incredibly odd and hard to figure out/search url) you shouldnt be judging his work or saying what articles. I do beilive before you had multiple personalities and another user name you even linked us saying he had more horsepower than paul or some crap.

I wanna see some lights... go wizz on my electric fence.

[desert night light]

whose paul

[niteliters]

After a long day of work it's nice to come here share some good info with everybody and have some good laughs about what you write desert. puts a smile on my face.
chris

[eskerlite]

Mike Gambino has done more lighting than all of us put together. Desert Lighting, Mike doesnt need your approval to exsist. Are you sure you arent hot shot kid. Email Mike and tell him the Million dollar company he has created and the 2000 Lighting systems he has installed on Multi- million dollar properties for many celebreties is because he is so-so.Desert you will never be close to Mike Gambino. You have low self esteem and bring nothing to this forum but negativity.

[desert night light]

Celebrities? Which ones? Now I'm somewhat impressed, perhaps I was wrong about this man. Million dollars in lighting? How do you know so much about this legend? I never heard of him and I'm on the cutting edge of everything. Perhaps I am off the mark on this one but maybe not. Is that a million dollars in lighting or something else? I'm not e-mailing him, you think I want to end up with broken knee caps? forgetaboutit.

[extlights]

What's the link to his site...I'm always interested in reading about guys in the industry.

We've done projects for celebrities too....in fact we're doing a project for one at the end of June. :)

[Pro-Scapes]

What's the link to his site...I'm always interested in reading about guys in the industry.

We've done projects for celebrities too....in fact we're doing a project for one at the end of June. :)

www.gambinolighting.com

[extlights]

I'm a little confused. I read through his articles and looked at his site (which is very nice), and he mentioned that he does 35-40 new projects a year? That seems very very low and even more so considering he's in Southern California. Is it because he's a 1 man operation? The way he told his pricing, it seems pretty close to us. Maybe that part of the article isn't updated or something.

[niteliters]

it's because he works by himself and projects are larger. It can take our 2 man crew 2 weeks to put in a 100 fixtures because of difficulty of installation.
cm

[desert night light]

Maybe he's into quality over qty, I don't know.

[desert night light]

You know it just occured to me that this man is a marketing genious. The implication is that he only does 30 or 40 projects a year which limits his availablity and raises his price. Why didn't I think of this.

[extlights]

Just seems low. We've had only 2 projects in 7 years that took us over a day to complete. One was a 150 light project that took 3 days, and the other was 220 lights that took 4 days. Every other project is one day. Our goal is 15 projects per month.....if don't do at least 8 or 9, I couldn't survive in this business alone. His pricing doesn't seem crazy though either. It's not like he's charging a lot more than everyone else. That's what confuses me.

[desert night light]

So, Then you are saying that he is a sham(bino)? Maybe I was right from the start. Finally someone who agrees with me. I feel vindicated.

[Pro-Scapes]

Just seems low. We've had only 2 projects in 7 years that took us over a day to complete. One was a 150 light project that took 3 days, and the other was 220 lights that took 4 days. Every other project is one day. Our goal is 15 projects per month.....if don't do at least 8 or 9, I couldn't survive in this business alone. His pricing doesn't seem crazy though either. It's not like he's charging a lot more than everyone else. That's what confuses me.

"We've" was your key word there dave. Gambino is a 1 man band from proposals to installation to photos. Works only solo from what I have heard.

Mike Gambino also has his own propreity line of fixtures. Im sure from time to time he uses off the shelf pieces as needed but look on his site. GAMBINO LIGHTING on his fixtures. Where are you guys finding where his projects cost?

30 to 40 projects of the size of his for a 1 man band would be alot of work PLUS service calls. Now im not certain he is not using labor to bury but from what I have gathered its just him

Oh well. Either way he must be doing ok since he has about 5 to 6 k into his site alone. Ton of good info there.

[desert night light]

5 to 6 grand into his site? I was thinking more like 15-20 grand. But maybe his grandma staked him like mine did. Ya gotta get started somewhere. 15-20 grand he must be doing business then. Perhaps I was wrong. What do I know.

[desert night light]

"Mike Gambino also has his own propreity line of fixtures-GAMBINO LIGHTING on his fixtures. "

That's a novel idea. How does a one man band support his own product line? If his name is on the fixtures aren't we talking about major investment in proprietary tooling? Even franchise operations have not gotten to this level of sofistication. My respect grows for this individual every day. Some day I want to be like him. If his name is on the stuff I guess there is no getting away from it when the junk falls apart. Either his stuff is real good or he's got a real fast get away car.

[Pro-Scapes]

I dont know details on his fixtures but he is having them made for him. He doesnt own the factory that makes em or nothing. Most manufacturing companies will customize your order with a minimum. I forget where I saw it but one major manufacture offers this.. Maybe it was hadco but i do rememeber reading it in one of my catalogs.

Either way he is meeting the demands of his VERY demeanding clients and making a good $$ at it too. He has to be higher than most of us on his costs.

Im sure being a 1 man band his overhead is alot lower than some on this forum too.

[desert night light]

Hadco- Let's all hope he is not being that foolish. So you think he's got someone to put his name on commercially available fixtures? Sounds like he's got stuff he's designed for himself. The picture of the wellight has raised lettering in the brass so it's not just an engraving or anything simple like that. I don't know what's going on but I need to get a piece of it. I like the whole idea.

[extlights]

All I'm saying is that it doesn't seem like enough for all the work. Even if every job was 10K, then that's only $400k in business per year, plus service work. For being in Southern California that's very low. There are a lot of companies that will put your name on a fixture/transformer. My father in law had his name in raised letters on all his transformers along with his phone number. That's not too uncommon. If you buy enough, then manufactures will jump at your every request.

I'm not putting down him or his ways at all...(I don't want to be mis-understood) but I'm just looking at it in a business standpoint...

We don't have much overhead either. It's only 2 of us...we have a couple of employees when needed..a couple of trucks and trailers and that's about it. There is a big difference between building a business, and creating a well paying job for yourself. What he has is a well paying job it seems. Again....not putting him down...there is nothing wrong with that at all, just seems like he could very well build something out of what good he already has.

[Pro-Scapes]

from the looks of his pics he is doing mostly 20k and up lighting projects.

[desert night light]

Dave, so it does sound like you are calling him a fraud and a phony? Full of hot air? What do you know of his financials though? Where do you get 400K a yr from? Just trying to be fair to both sides. Creating a well paying job for himself? That's being a bit harsh don't you think? And why isn't anyone blasting Jannet Moyer? She doesn't look like she's got two nickels to rub together from the work she's done. In fact what I heard is that she can't make a living from landscape lighting alone. her money comes from giving seminars and manufacturer endorsements etc. Go figure.

[extlights]

I'm not calling him a fraud, or full of hot air at all. On his site he said that he does 35-40 new projects a year. Small ones starting at 2K and an average project from 8-10K. Just doing the math, and using an average that would be 400K a year. 40x10K=400k/year plus service contracts.

I don't think it's harsh saying he's creating a well paying job for himself...most solo self employeed people do. Look at it this way....

He's getting work because of his reputation (as most of you probably are as well). Maybe he works out of his house with 1 or 2 trucks, and his office is in a spare bedroom or basement or wherever. Now.....what has he built? Sure he has a good cliental, and steady service contracts, but besides a list of customers names and a reputation for his work...that's all he has. Now say he wants to retire.....and try and sell what he has built. What's it worth? Not much...even if he has done some well known peoples residences. A list of names alone isn't worth much to someone wanting to buy a business.

There is nothing wrong with this at all like I stated before. You can make great money doing this, but that's where I say he has created a good paying job for himself. We've done the same thing. We're starting to restructure a bit and change that, but up until now we're doing the same thing he is.

The reason I say the list of names isn't worth much is because the customer has bought YOU, not your company. It's your work, it's your reputation, and it's YOU that developed the relationship with that customer. If someone else buys that company, then it's just another company to that customer.

I'm not bashing anyone. It's hard to make a living on installing lights only. The reason I was saying before that I was confused is because he gets to work 12 months out of the year. We work 8 maybe 9 if we're lucky. Once the ground freezes, then we're done. I guess that's why we have to push so much harder and do more projects. Bills still have to get payed during those 3-4 months of the year where no money is coming in.

Who's Jannet Moyer?

[desert night light]

Dave you have touched on some very valid points. What you say is true about people buying people. I'm afraid we are all victims to this same potential problem of what gerber says about working in the business and not on it. I do think Gerber is a bag of wind though since people pay a premium to work with people. let me explain. A service business needs to be headed by a front man a face and personality that drives that business. Just like a rock and roll band. Take away the lead singer and you are not left with much that is marketable (some rare exceptions).This moron gerber tries to compare a service business to mcdonald's which truly is a replicatable system. Nobody cares who makes their burger as long as they don't spit in it and it tastes the same consistently and that isn't hard to do when you use the same ingredients and follow the same formula. Trying to compare a $5 meal with a 5,000 dollar lighting system is not in the same league that's why I think Gerber should be strung up in a tree and poked with little stix. I highly recommend you take his crappy books and burn them.The same is not true of landscape lighting. You take 10 different people who are posing as landscape lighters on this message board and you will get a different result, different experience when working with each and every other one. Some good, some bad. What are the answers to the questions raised? Repeat contract service business is the only valuable sellable commodity we have. Not a rented store front or industrial park location. Who cares if he works out of his basement and stores his trucks on the roof of his house. I don't think there is anything we can do to increase the value of our business to make it sellable

[extlights]

Desert, your last statement says it all. That's what I was trying to get at. It's hard to build a business of value to others in this industry. We do what we do because we enjoy it (well, most of us do anyway). It can be lucrative if done properly with good business structure. For us personally, we just need to ad something. Lighting alone isn't getting us where we want to be. It pays the bills and we have more freedom than a regular 9-5 desk job.

Everyone has different view on how the business should be run, and what works best. What works for you or Gambino may not work that well for us, and vice-versa. Gambino says to give the customer what she wants, and not what she asks for. That's going against all business practices, but it works for him so that's great.

I work for the customer, and will give the customer what she asks for. Sometimes there might be times where I don't feel the project will look the way I feel it should, but the homeowners are as happy as can be. So I don't like the way it looks so much....I don't put my sign out front then. But......because the homeowners love the look, and the neighbors love the look, then I get referrals, which means more projects and more service contracts. From one customer this month, we got project agreements signed from 4 of her neighbors. To me that's worth giving the customer what she asks for.

[desert night light]

I've heard those same words used by the aquascape guy and who can argue with his success. I interpret it as this- when a customer makes a crackpot request that you know won't work you tell them you are not doing it because....blah blah blah and if they won't listen to reason you tell them to sell their idea on someone else who will do that for them but the buck stops here and you will not do something that you know will result in the customer ultimately not liking it. If you do implement the losing idea the consequences are not pretty-Then you will hear the typical b.s. well i'm not paying to change it you are the professional you should have advised me blah blah blah. We've all been down that road. I say let em eat cake.

[extlights]

I've never once, in over 500 projects been asked to change something after it's already been installed. I usually try and overcome the difference in opinion by simply saying that when you're ready, we can come out and add those other lights to that location.

Remember though....we don't do anything unless a demo is performed before hand, so this rarely happens anyway. I can see it happening a lot more if you're just working off of a plan.

[Pro-Scapes]

being basically a 1 man band as Gambino is (not comparing my experience to him at all) it is VERY possible to pull down a high percentage of your invoices. There is no reason with 400k in gross sales he cant be putting 180 to 200k in his pocket before taxes. To many people thats a sound living. Who knows what else he has done in his finacials. He could be investing or anything else.

Lets admire the mans work and dedication to raising the bar in our chosen industry. Not try to disect his finances without having a clue as to what we know or dont know.

One thing I have always admired about anything in the green industry is the unique ways in which 2 different designers can express themselves at any given property. There is no reason he cant go do a small project (im sure each of you have) for a reasonable rate as long as his profit margin is there and he is comfortable with it. This holds true in any business not just the lighting industry. You also dont know how long ago that was placed on his website either.

Service contracts can be a very nice living in itself from what I have heard when I have spoken with others.

Bottom line... he claims he does "very well" for a living and he does outstanding work and photography. He provides some great articles at no charge to contractors and his site is very informative.

Thank you Mike Gambino :clapping:

[desert night light]

Well said Billy. I think we should erect a monument to Mike Gambino on this site. Afterall if it wasn't for his trailblazing none of us would be here right now.

God bless Mike Gambino.

[desert night light]

Billy, do you believe , as I do, that Gambino is a much better resource and more of an inspiration than Moyer?
Also do you think he makes more per yr. than Moyer?
Do you know if he has a mentoring program?
Does he give seminars or is he too busy and all?
What else can you tell me about him, obviously you know him well.
Thanks.

[Pro-Scapes]

I dont know him any better than anyone else who has studied his articles and reviewed his site. It doesnt matter if he makes more than moyer. Both designers have alot to offer this industry. Moyers book is full of great information altho it does get a bit to scientific and sorta dull sometimes.

I was simply saying why disect a mans finances when its really none of our business. You dont know what he charges for maint contracts either. That may make his normal rates worth it if he is getting 15 to 20% of the system price to maintain it.

He is obviously doing something right. He doesnt chase down clients for free just to have them say no and he wasted money. That right there cuts his overhead down. He is booked several months in advance (are any of us?????) im sure not altho Im in the works of something that may make me pretty busy.

[extlights]

I wasn't trying to knock this guy down. I've never heard of him before seeing this thread. It just seems to me that a lot of people here look up to his work and what he's done in the lighting industry. My guess is because he belongs to the low voltage lighting association.

Sure it looks like he does good work, and he is booked far out in advance...then again you probably will be too after being in business for awhile and work as a one man show. He markets himself well, and that's probably why you know who he is. What makes his work stand out and any better than any work you guys have done? It's all marketing..plain and simple. I'm sure you have done jobs that look just as nice as jobs he's done. He just puts them out there for everyone to see...and that's great.

I wasn't talking about his finances either. I was talking about business dollars. It has nothing to do with what he makes personally. The bottom line tells alot about how well a business is doing and where it's going. One of the companies that we work with at times did over 200K in lighting last month alone with a pretty impressive margin, but I don't ask what he made personally...it's all about gross business dollars. I'm sure Mr. Gambino makes a fairly good living, otherwise he wouldn't still be in the business.

Again, not trying to knock the guy just to be clear.

As far as being booked in advance....that's a good point. Although we will have 17 projects in for the month of June and as of today we have 12 scheduled for July.....got some small 12-14 light projects in there though.

[extlights]

I was more curious about how all of you have heard of this guy? I don't know many names in the industry. One of the reasons I think is because I don't deal with sales reps at all, and secondly I don't belong to that low voltage lighting association.

[desert night light]

cause he's a big blowhard probably a big ego too. I'd like to have my act together like his though. From his site it looks like he's telling insinceres to screw off, his way or the highway. I wish I had the cahones.

Not to be disrespectful to you dave but really his jobs blow yours away. I think your outta line to say his work is in line with others. As much as I hate to admit it, i have never seen any contractor site come close to the quality of jobs that his has and it's not fancy or trick photography. Some of the photos are not even that good but he's got a certain style that carries through all his work a signature if you will. I think that comes from him insisting on doing things his way and he gets predictable results and consistency. You can see his jobs use alot of lights-he's not ffing around with nickel and dimers he's a player plain and simple. I'd die to be given the budgets this fatso gets. Freak him for it.

[extlights]

Fair enough, but you can't really compare his jobs to ours, or anyone elses through pictures alone. I think we have 6 or 7 pictures on our site. These are just pictures that our webmaster took that were close to his home....just basic ordinary one day projects. We've never really directed people to our website, it's just there for those select few who want to take a look at it. I think we might get 5-10 hits a week on it...which is fine with me really.

As you can tell, we didn't spend much on our website for this reason alone. No need to spend advertising dollars on something that's not going to produce results.

[extlights]

There will always be someone better...as there always is in any field, but it's all about making the customer happy. If the customer likes our work and is happy, then I'm happy. A lot of our work comes from referrals these days, which tells me that we're doing something right.

[Pro-Scapes]

I just plain respect him for the quality of his workmaship and his willingness to share his info on how he got where he is.

Yes it took cahones to basically tell people you wont sacrafice design or quailty just to get the job. It looks like alot of his projects 1 section could cost more than alot of the projects we do. We are waiting for the final landscape install on 1 and we will be doing about 100 fixtures on 5 transformers and that will be our largest to date by far. Im booking it for a week with 1 helper.

bottom line to me is he does great work. I like some of the work on daves site as well and paul also has great work posted on his site too. His attention to the details is great and alot of that has to do with the clientel he is filtering out and getting the big budgets needed to do that type of work.

[extlights]

Good luck on that install Billy, sounds like a good one.

As far as pictures..... I'm not super fond of the ones on our site, but like I stated before, they were close projects to our webmasters house. I could have given him a list of over 400 homes to go to, but it's just not worth the gas as far as I'm concerned.

We get our projects by building good repore with our potential clients, and that's how I'll always work. I still get a kick when we get invites to parties at homes where we did projects at. It happens at least 8-10 times a year. It's great for networking, and we almost always get 2-3 demos set on those nights alone.

I think Gambino does good work...I've never said otherwise. Somethings work great for some, and other things work great for someone else.

[desert night light]

Everyone does great work. What's a message bd. without controversy. Why doesn't gambino post here?

[Firefly Lighting]

You do have to admit that Gambino must be doing something right, he has 5 pages of this site dedicated to talking about him:)