Construction Business Owner, October 2010
We are a design-build audio/video contractor. This means we not only handle the artistic design and architectural plans of a project, but the execution as well.
But I like to think of us as "technology contractors."
Currently, we are operating as a partnership with four members. The best part of having this partnership is that we all come from different backgrounds: marketing, engineering and executive.
We started in this industry with a company called Sonics, owned by Lynn McCroskey, which was acquired by IMAX. That company developed and installed every IMAX theatre's sound and control system in the world. Part of the executive team from that company now forms Twist. Coming from the attraction/entertainment arena is a big advantage. In that industry, you are expected to do something that's never been done before. This plays into our business model of never being the guys that say, "I can't." In fact, we tell customers, "Tell us your dream and we'll make it happen."
More than half of our business is in houses of worship. A church or cathedral is never built without the sound and control system-and people love it when you improve something that they use every week. There's an approach we are focusing on right now that involves reverberant rooms. For example, rooms that are built to listen to pipe organs and large choirs typically have a high amount of sound bouncing around without anything to absorb it. In these rooms, it is hard to understand articulation. This problem is worth solving. We show customers how they can direct beams of sound with a laptop and exert an incredible amount of power over the sound. They come to us because we are sound contractors, but when we begin talking, technology always comes up; they ask about lighting, AC and more. They don't want 10 different controls for their building; they want one. Integration is a wonderful selling feature.
One reason we are thriving, even in the current economy, is that we understand Internet protocol (the IP conversion). As the devices used in construction are becoming increasingly computerized, we are able to help people design a system, construct it, put the system in place, make it work and then train people how to use it-even as other contractors have to turn down the business. The take-home message: Knowledge goes a long way.
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