New installer

[urnote96]

True....

I dont like asking the customer to borrow things from them....the only thing i ask to borrow is like a stool or something to stand on

I do have a corded drill in my van also....so that helps



One other thing is make sure you keep your customers in the loop about when you are going to be there. I have been doing this for a year and a half, and i have never not shown up at a customers, like too many other customers on this board have had done to them.

What i do is call them right away in the morning for AM jobs, And i tell them about what time i will be there, then when i get done with the job before them, i call that customer again and tell them that i am on my way and i will be there in a x amount of time.

Just keep the customer in the loop....

 

[RIRWIN1983]

True....
I dont like asking the customer to borrow things from them....the only thing i ask to borrow is like a stool or something to stand on
I do have a corded drill in my van also....so that helps
One other thing is make sure you keep your customers in the loop about when you are going to be there. I have been doing this for a year and a half, and i have never not shown up at a customers, like too many other customers on this board have had done to them.
What i do is call them right away in the morning for AM jobs, And i tell them about what time i will be there, then when i get done with the job before them, i call that customer again and tell them that i am on my way and i will be there in a x amount of time.
Just keep the customer in the loop....

I CANT STRESS THAT POINT ENOUGH! KEEP US IN THE LOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NiFi]

Biggest thing I can stress, do a complete walkthrough with the customer before touching anything. Discuss exactly where the dish is going to be mounted and how all your wires are going to be run.

Nothing worse than finishing an install to hear a customer say "i didnt think i would see that or this" not saying some still wont, but at least now you can say you told them that it would be there ahead of time.

Another headache saver, take whatever the customer tells you about their existing wiring with a grain of salt, not all of them are clueless, but i have had more than one occasion where the customers "direct cable run" has had half a dozen splitters on it.

 

[directech06]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum but have been installing Directv for about a yr and a half. I do alot of what I've seen in advance on here, assemble dishes, ect. Other things I do include (being Direct TV is too cheap to provide jumpers for their boxes) I'll sit in front of CSI (lol) and take scrap single and even pull apart scrap dual and make jumpers for the boxes. I'm in GA and we have to install 2 18in dishes here to hit locals from the 72.5 sat. I have Directv and have up the (2) 18in dish system setup. I have a 6x8 feeding my recievers directly in my house but I have a 4x4 jumped from the dishes as well. I also have set up (but not in use in my house, just set up for my pre-auto detecting) a triple sat w/ a 6x8 that is connected to a jump from my 72.5 dish. I have a dual run into my garage to a small TV and VCR (the VCR is for AV hooking up, its quicker and have to have it to view HD boxes on my little 12 inch TV I use and from there once a week in the evenings i spend a couple of hours pre-autodetecting recievers. With this set up I have, I can pre-auto-detect recievers (Regular recievers and DVR's all with 72.5 locals)to a 4x4 or a 6x8. I can also do (w/ my triple of course) pre auto-detection for HD recievers(HD and HD DVR's). It saves me ALOT of time on the jobs. It takes away from my home time alittle but it gets me to my next job quicker, (I'm a POV so I get paid by the job, not hourly like people who have to use company vans) and it gets me home ealier in the afternoon and evenings from the overall day. It has also helped me head off defective recievers on the job, bad modems in the DVR's, regular recievers that are DOA out of the box, ect. which also causes you alot of time. All you have to do is go in and hook the boxes up and thats it!! They boot up (if your dishes are tuned) and are ready to be activated.

 

[superyurik]

Another good tip , if you installing Directv international 36" dish , assemble the dish and connect the multi switch to the back of the dish, before you arrive to the customer house , This will save you about 1hour . All you have to do then just mount the mast and run cables from multiswitch to the receivers...I hope that helps...

 

[directech06]

I would have one of those set up too but I only keep one or 2 at home but its pre-assembled.

 

[lurch]

Nifi,i'm located in Buffalo also,Hiring any good techs?

 

[firebird]

Find a toner online. It can save you HOURS of guess work on identifing which line is which.

 

[fkostyn]

Find a toner online. It can save you HOURS of guess work on identifing which line is which.

Lowes is selling a cheap toner in the $30 - $40 range that I've been thinking of picking up - will let people know how well it works. Has RJ11 / RJ45 / F / Aligators on it I believe.

 

[paul3500hd]

I am not an installer but, i am an RV,er and have to set up and point dish every weekend it seems. My problem is locating the 72.5 sat on my second dish at the campground. Every time I fire up the receiver it only shows 101 and 119
Last weekend I brought the camper receiver into the house and did an auto setup using the existing dishes on my house and BOOM there was 72.5
I took the receiver back to the camper in the drivway and hooked it back up and had locals.
This weekend I tried to do the same thing and when we got tho the campgrounds and I set up my dishes it went back to 101 and 119 again
I tried all weekend to get a signal for 72.5 but always got 101 and 119
Any ideas to help out an old camper guy?