Man, will you stop referring to your customers as victims? This is the second time I've seen you do this, and it really bothers me! Not only are you giving yourself a bad name, you are potentially discrediting all of us by possibly making readers believe we share in your discription of them. STOP IT!
MY demo kit weighs...
I gotta tell you, I am developing a love/hate relationship with my demo kit. the more I use it, the more jobs I get, which i am thrilled to say i have picked up 3 landscape light jobs in the past week, after doing 6 demo's. after a dead time of a month, I am happy to be doing at least part time lighting work again before the big christmas light work starts September 15.
my love hate thing goes like this- I love having 4 75 ft runs of multi-plug cord, 20 brass mr-16 uplights, 5 deck lights with clamps, 2 600 watt trans, and a few paths and a few extension cords. really everything you need for a decent medium home demo.
my hate thing is weight. I have maxed out 2 very large ice chests on wheels w/ collapsable handles ( like luggage) , and I keep the paths and deck lights in a seperate box. each ice chest easily weighs 65-75 lbs, and I am tired of loading and unloading these things in the back of my truck.
I know that firefly does awesome demo's, and probably easily doubles the weight of mine, but I am also curious about the rest of you guys- what do you bring and how do you lug it around? how much time do you give yourself to setup, bid and load back up a demo? I am taking about 35-45 minutes to setup, 15-20 to write out and bid, and 20-25 minutes to load up and go home. all by myself. some demo's take longer if the customer wants me to move around lights, but a single demo typically takes me from 7:30 pm leave house time to around 9:30-10:30 get back home time at this time of year. February is much easier as you can get there at 4:30 pm and be back home by 6:30 pm. let me know if my experience is normal, or what you guys are doing different.
my love hate thing goes like this- I love having 4 75 ft runs of multi-plug cord, 20 brass mr-16 uplights, 5 deck lights with clamps, 2 600 watt trans, and a few paths and a few extension cords. really everything you need for a decent medium home demo.
my hate thing is weight. I have maxed out 2 very large ice chests on wheels w/ collapsable handles ( like luggage) , and I keep the paths and deck lights in a seperate box. each ice chest easily weighs 65-75 lbs, and I am tired of loading and unloading these things in the back of my truck.
I know that firefly does awesome demo's, and probably easily doubles the weight of mine, but I am also curious about the rest of you guys- what do you bring and how do you lug it around? how much time do you give yourself to setup, bid and load back up a demo? I am taking about 35-45 minutes to setup, 15-20 to write out and bid, and 20-25 minutes to load up and go home. all by myself. some demo's take longer if the customer wants me to move around lights, but a single demo typically takes me from 7:30 pm leave house time to around 9:30-10:30 get back home time at this time of year. February is much easier as you can get there at 4:30 pm and be back home by 6:30 pm. let me know if my experience is normal, or what you guys are doing different.
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Thanks for the support Mike and Paul. I was beginning to feel all alone in this moronic discussion. If sleepyhead would check his PM we might be able to settle the dispute without reliving the Pete Scalia episode all over again.
Another Thanks to S&MLL. Without the advice from good people, any Jackass would continue to do silly things. sleepyhead, don't take it personal. We are brothers helping brothers (for the most part). Let's keep the organization on that level, OK?
:laugh: Sorry to hijack the post with this silly stuff, but in all fairness it wasn't your post to begin with. It was about heavy demo kits. BTW, I use the plastic tubs w/ wheels you find at HD and Walmart. I find the Stanley's are heavy by themselves, so I stay away from that as I don't need the added weight. As you know, I'm one of those who don't do demos anymore but as the times get tough, you have to do what you have to do. Demos always sell better than you can IMHO. Best wishes to all for a prosporus fall! (dang that rhymes)
Can't get no lightin without a little fightin. :laugh: Now I'm a rapper? :cool2:
Can't get no lightin without a little fightin. :laugh: Now I'm a rapper? :cool2:
I don't know what your buying, but the tubs I bought are 8 years old and still going strong. I haven't done a whole lot with them in the past few years, but when I did I worked them hard. Blue plastic with tan lids. Very light, and wheels too!
You are exactly correct Gregg. It doesn't matter what fixture you use for a demo. The lamp is what does the work. so the "holder of the lamp" is irrelevant. Even if you use pars for demos, which I would not, your intention is to give the client an "idea" of what is to be expected. I always explain what's going on, and I make the client very aware of the issues with the demo, ie, not the correct voltage, no lenses, no consistency, etc...The best demo kit IMO is the one that Vista sells. Heavy duty rolling case. Portable transformer on a stand. Six uplights.
http://www.vistapro.com/files/inst/pdk-250-inst.pdf
I picked up extra trailer connections at my local NAPA store and made up addiitonal pathlights and downlight demo samples.
My thought is, as far as the uplights go, it doesn't matter whose fixtures I use if I mainly want to demonstrate what the various lamps can do..
As far as the other fixtures I use , it's a mix of NS, FX, Vista and a handful of others.
You are a drunken fool. Please go to bed and sleep it off before I go off and get kicked off the forum.
I have one of those white boards. I bought it a long time ago when I arrived at a job site, for the second time, without any transformers. Guess my mind isn't what it used to be.
I think you guys are putting way too much effort into your demos. Yes, I know that your demos would be better than mine, but your purpose is simply to show an "example" of what could be done. You can explain the rest verbally. To a potential client, they have no idea of the power of our systems. Even one light looks pretty to them. If you set up several, then your case is closed. You don't need to go through the effort, IMO, to make it look exactly like the final install. Besides, wouldn't it be better for your image to install "more" and "better" than they expected? Some of the descriptions I've heard so far about what you guys go through to set up a demo just kills me. Granted, they do offer the opportunity to take a picture, but what are you trying to prove. I'd be awfully ticked off if I went through that much trouble just to have the client explain what was done to his landscaper and have them do it for cheeper. In my opinion, these full blown demos are giving away your talents and secrets beforehand. Unless you're getting a sizable fee for the demo, I would not do it so inexpensively. I'll explain my effective demo later, but you guys are just expending too much effort and time.
Just my opinion, so don't get mad and start calling me names!
Just my opinion, so don't get mad and start calling me names!
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