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Wired In: Kontek Conversations is for leaders who want to get technology right. From universities and healthcare systems to corporate enterprises, each episode delivers practical insights to help you navigate complex projects, avoid costly missteps, and design environments that truly connect people.
Through candid conversations with Kontek executives and industry experts, you’ll discover why projects succeed or fail, how to balance innovation with usability, and how bold ideas become reality. Along the way, we share perspectives on the evolution of AV technology, the impact of employee ownership, and the culture of accountability that drives lasting results.
With almost four decades of expertise, Kontek invites you to think bigger, dream bolder, and imagine what’s possible when technology and vision come together.
Brandon Giella: Today, we are talking
about why your AV project is over budget
before it starts, and this is often the
case because when we talk about budgets
in an AV project, it comes down to the
way the space is actually designed.
So that budget is reflected way before
we even designed the building, and
then now you get low voltage partner
like Contag coming in and saying, "Hey,
guys, I don't think this is gonna work."
So Marcus, I know you have
conversations like this all the time.
Talk to me about how it's not
necessarily, um, scope creep,
execution, communication problems.
It is literally like structural
issues that can cause an AV project
to overrun because the space wasn't
thought about to begin with, either
the height of the ceiling or the
way the sound design in the space.
I know you have these
conversations all the time.
What is this like for you?
Marques: Yeah, this is-- You're correct.
It happens on a regular
basis, unfortunately.
And a lot of it is because, you know,
low voltage, I always say, is kinda like
black magic to architects and their teams.
They don't often know what all is required
or it's not their role to really stay
in that technolo- uh, technology space.
So they're not really sure about what's
going on sometimes, and if you're
a construction project manager or
anyone that's driving a project, you
really have to talk about this early.
And you know, for example, we have
a client, went out on a visit,
they're having some issues with the
streaming, and they wanna upgrade,
and they wanna do all these things.
I said, "Great, that
sounds really awesome."
And as I walk through the space, I
just kinda started looking around, and
immediately I said, "Hey, I'm about
to give you some not great news."
I won't call it bad, and I always
caution folks, I am not crushing your
dream, and I am not telling you no.
Unfortunately, physics is not
interested in your dream oftentimes.
So physics will tell
you no really quickly.
But their issue, uh,
there's a sanctuary space.
Say it's about, you know, 60 to 80 feet
from where their cameras are sitting
to, uh, the preaching area and where
the choir sits and all these things.
So I'm just glancing.
I was like, "Well, that's
a pretty far camera shot."
They're using prosumer-grade
cameras, okay?
we walk around a little more, and
they have some lighting in place.
Nothing crazy, it's kinda dim, which if
you've ever been on a stage, one of the
first things you will notice is when the
lights are hitting you right in the eyes.
And so from coming from the live
ev-event space, I would always coach
folks, "Hey, don't look at the lights.
The second you look up, you're
gonna keep looking up, and you
won't be able to see anything.
Look at, like, one of
the rows in the crowd.
Do not look up."
But it is what it is.
So the lights are kinda down a little bit.
I said, "Okay."
So we just had an honest
conversation really quick.
I said, "Hey, I don't think this space was
really designed with this in mind because,
you know, you need more lighting."
I said, "I'm assuming that when you're
showing something, it's probably
rainy and everyone complains a little
bit about the quality of the image."
They said, "Yes, that's
100% what happens."
I said, "Well, you have a few problems.
Your cameras, those particular
cameras, they're pretty far away
They can't really get a tight shot.
They describe the, the shots they're
able to get, and I said, "Yeah, it's
a, it's a prosumer-style camera.
You can only reach out so far," I said,
"But then the more you're zooming in, the
more light you're needing on the subject.
I'm looking at your lighting setup.
It's fairly dim.
You know, it's soft."
We'll just call it soft, not dim, which is
comfortable for those that are presenting.
Doesn't work well for cameras.
I said, "And you don't really have a space
to bring your cameras forward because
now you're in front of the congregation."
So all of this is a design
issue that is just the fabric
of the building and how it sits.
So these are the tough
conversations, right?
Because they're years down the line.
They've had this space for a
while, and they've always had
to fight with these images.
I said, "Really, this is a design issue
that should've been talked about before
you were finished with the building.
Now you're trying to basically
retrofit it and make it work, and
you're always gonna have compromises,
like, no matter what you do."
Now, there are some
expensive trade-offs, right?
I said, "Hey, if you get a
production-level camera, then you
might be able to pull this off,
because now you can get custom glass.
You still need more light, preferably."
I said, "But now your budget is going up."
So to correct these issues and these
mistakes, it just becomes a money-- a
monet- a monetary issue, where now we
have to spend more money, and I don't
think people really grasp, you know, the
difference in price we're talking about.
Because a prosumer camera, 4K it's great.
Go to whatever store, you
can get something similar.
Say at best you're spending $5,000, right?
Even $10,000 A production-level
camera with the glass they were gonna
need to make the shot, you start
looking at anywhere from $35,000
to $50,000 for the body of the
camera, plus another, say, $10,000
to $20,000 for the lens or whatever.
So that's a huge difference, And trying
to sell that on multiple cameras that
have that capability versus what they
already had, usually a hard no, um, `cause
a lot of people get that sticker shock.
But it, it just becomes a question
of, you know, when you're retrofitting
or trying to do an upgrade on a
space that's already in existence,
where is your compromise gonna be?
Is it gonna be on budget?
Is it gonna be on quality
of image or sound?
Is it gonna be on some, some other issue?
I mean, that's why it's super important,
important to really talk about this
early on, so you can design spaces
for your technology, distances, all
these things can be talked about so you
know exactly what you're getting into
Brandon Giella: So it, what we've
talked a lot about before is like total
ownership of, uh, cost, uh, of the, the
total cost of ownership for this project.
You know, w- we talk a lot about, you
know, everybody's got a budget in mind.
Everybody's trying to
cut costs where they can.
Um, but it, it, to your point,
it's, it's really trade-offs.
Either you talk to an AV specialist
at the very beginning when you're
d- designing this, or now you need a
70 millimeter IMAX camera that they
shot with the Odyssey to bring that
in to get the right shot , you know?
Marques: Right,
Brandon Giella: so you're gonna
be paying that money somewhere,
but your, your argument is let's
design the building or the space
that we need way, way, way up front.
Bring AV way earlier than that because
there actually probably could be some
cheaper alternatives, if you will, by
thinking about that stuff way up front
Marques: Yeah, 100%.
Like maybe you can do some higher end PTZ
cameras, but do you have, you know, wall
space or did you think about something
in the ceiling or are there even floor
boxes so that if I can bring my cameras
further forward, maybe we make the aisle
a little bit bigger, I have a floor
box I can patch into the floor to route
my cables so there's not cabling all
over the floor as a trip hazard, right?
If we talk about that stuff early, we
can, you know, bake it into the design
of the building and now you have more
access, more options, um, for how you
wanna connect your, uh, your technology.
Brandon Giella: Yeah.
Yeah, do you have a, a, an example
of that where, um, you know, you
caught something early enough in the
process and it actually saved a lot
of money, you know, going forward?
Do you have anything that like,
Marques: Oh yeah
Brandon Giella: you know, going, going,
going back at the design you're like,
"Oh, if we do it this way, we could
actually make things a lot easier."
Anything like that come to mind?
Marques: 100%.
We were doing a project,
uh, for a client locally.
Um, they had a new complex going
up, a new four-story complex,
and we were getting into the AV.
And we weren't as early as we'd love
to be, but we were still pretty early.
You know, they hadn't started
construction just yet.
And when I got the, uh, the
construction document set, first
thing I noticed right away, no floor
boxes anywhere in the building.
I said, "Hey, just talking about this
and what you guys have told me, and
just looking at what you have in this,
in this set, you know, I'm seeing all
this office furniture, and it's sitting
in the middle of a conferencing room.
And, you know, you have
these custom tables.
You don't have a single floor box."
And then it was an immediate pause, and
it was like, "Wait, do we need that?"
I said, "You absolutely do, unless you
want cables to run across the floor."
They're like, "Oh, wait, we're notâ¦
It's a brand-new building.
We're not gonna do that."
And then went through working through
four stories of working through,
okay, where do we need a floor box?
'Cause not only do we need a floor
box, but we need conduit from
the floor box over to the wall
where the display is gonna be.
We also need a back boxing.
So we were able to catch it because,
yes, it still added to the cost of the
project, but fortunately, you know, it
happened before any concrete was poured.
Because now, if we have to go back
and core drill and cut concrete,
your cost skyrockets, right?
So luckily, we were able to catch it,
you know, not soon enough to have it
budgeted for, but at least soon enough
that they could get it put in before
they started pouring all the concrete
Brandon Giella: Why is it that
you're often brought in so late
or, or that low voltage kind of
discussion happens so late in the
game when it seems to be so critical?
I mean, maybe it's just like
one of those finer details that
most people don't think about.
Like, what, whatâ¦
And what if, if somebody's like, "Oh,
we'll, we'll fix that when we get there,
you know, when the, when the building's
up and we're kind of making these
final preparations, we'll do it then."
Like, what, what's going on
with- in that discussion?
What would you say to them?
Marques: I think honestly, it's just,
again, it's we're a very specific trade
and everyone in audiovisual understands
we are a very specific skill set.
you know, we see models, and this is
not all architects, but we see some
architects that think they can just, you
know, they will model a display on a wall.
That doesn't mean much, right?
If you don't think about how are
you connecting to it, how are you
showing things to it, where is the
electrical gonna be at for that display.
And if they don't think about bringing
that trade in, you know, in the design
part, a lot of times it's, oh, you
know, the GC will go and work with
you to price it out or, you know,
one of my favorites, "Oh, it's gonna
be owner provided, owner furnished."
Sure, sounds great, but no one
has any idea about what the
specifications are, what's needed.
And it can be si-simple things too
about, okay, we're gonna have this
fabulous all-hand space, okay?
has a rack.
Where's the rack going?
one thought about it.
Okay, we're gonna put it in the closet.
Okay, cool.
Well, did you think about the thermal
calculations so we can make sure it's
being cooled properly so you're not just,
you know, in the closet cooking equipment?
again, all of that is because we're
a very specific trade and, you know,
obviously our, our other low voltage
family, so security and access
control and structure cabling, we
fall, you know, in a similar family.
And sometimes, you know, as you're
working on a hundred and fifty million
dollar building, that's not always
top of mind about like, okay, what
are you actually doing in the space?
Not just how does the
space look, you know.
Because it'll be beautiful, but if it's
not functional, what are you paying for?
Brandon Giella: I know we're on a mission
to change the world of AV one podcast
at a time, and I know you're talking
on behalf of all your, your colleagues
in the, the AV IT kind of space, but w-
w- who, who needs to hear this message?
Like, I feel like, is it like, you
know, a project management consultant?
Is it the architect?
Is it a designer?
Is it like ⦠A- A- And I, I, I
don't want to like scream into a
void, but this sounds so important,
and I know it's so niche and it's so
specific, especially at a $150 million
building, you know, that kind of scale.
But like, who needs, who,
who needs to know about this
conversation as soon as possible?
Marques: I'd say most importantly,
who's responsible for this budget?
Who, who has to sign off and
explain this to someone if you
have to have an addition, right?
So that's kinda tongue in cheek,
but realistically, who is the
construction management team, right?
Who is dri- who is going
to drive this project?
They need to be aware,
like, "Hey, you know what?
I can have the best looking
conference rooms in the world.
If I can't actually do video
conferencing, what am I doing?
Like, something's wrong here."
So reallyâ¦
And it's not always just architects,
it's who is your construction
project management firm, if
you're bringing them in first.
You know, whatever team you're bringing
in first and that you're trusting
the most with your project, that's
who needs to be on the phone saying,
"Hey, I have this project coming up.
I wanna get someone involved so we can
make sure we talk about technology.
You know, how do we get it in?
What do we need?
How does this all play together?"
And that's the best thing you can
possibly do, because that way you
can avoid all these things of,
again, you have a beautiful room, but
does it actually serve its purpose
when it comes to functionality?
Brandon Giella: So it's at the, it's at
the very beginning of, of the, the design.
But, uh, um, like talk to me about
like at what point during the,
the architecture design is like
your actual schematics go in.
Like you've mentioned, for example, of
like the color coding on the lines of the,
of the like cables through the building.
Like how early is that
kind of decision happening?
And I know we always say early,
but like define more clearly like
how early, you know what I mean?
Marques: Well, if I'm gonna say it and
say, we'll say architecture speak, we
should be involved in programming, right?
Because we need to start understanding.
So programming in this, in this field,
you know, it's not computer programming.
It's actually sitting down working
with clients, working with owner,
the ownership group to understand
how is this space going to function.
So you can start coming up with
building plans and ideas and kinda
sketches of the layout of the building.
Because if we're involved that
early, now we can make suggestions
of, "Hey, you don't have enough
space for what they wanna do.
Hey, you don't have enough ceiling
height because they've asked for,
you know, a that's twelve feet
tall, but you have an exactly
twelve-foot height of your ceiling.
This isn't gonna work structurally."
Um, if we're there in that phase, and we
can hear the programming, we understand
it, we can start advising right away
because in the very beginning, we can even
talk about, um, noise coefficients, right?
You can't have conference rooms
that are, you know, actively
fifty-eight dB from HVAC.
If you do, you're gonna have a bit
of a problem when you actually try
to have a Teams meeting or you have
microphones and everything else.
So that's really the ideal, uh, timeframe.
And we have some partner architects that
are really great about, you know, as
soon as they're going after the project
or trying to meet about the project,
they bring us in to talk to clients, so
we can start having these conversations
early and get kind of like a, a visual
roadmap of where we need to go, what's
gonna be needed, what needs to happen.
Because again, some of these
projects we get into, we're
reinforcing walls, and, you know,
there's a lot of weight involved.
Some of these massive LED walls, you
know, eight hundred to a thousand
pounds, you have to make sure
structurally you can support this.
So really early on, if we can, you know,
ha-have a team in place at programming,
say your cutoff, and it's not a hard and
fast rule, but if you get all the way to
the CD phase, construction documentation
phase, and you haven't brought in someone
for your technology and your low volt-
low voltage, you are dramatically behind.
Brandon Giella: Mm-hmm.
Marques: So programming, schematic
design, design development, all
those opportunities are ideal.
Um, design development is a
little late, but you're still
manageable, um, at that point.
But once you hit construction documents,
you're spending more money that you
didn't account for because you've
probably already gotten an estimator
to give a budget or a, um, CMR or a
GC of some type has probably already
started budgeting the project.
So now once you come in construction
documentation phase, you're gonna
be a budget increase automatically
Brandon Giella: Sounds like you
are often the bringer of bad news.
Is that-
Marques: Not me, man.
Not me.
Physics.
Like I said, I'm just,
Brandon Giella: It's not me, man.
Marques: It's not me.
Brandon Giella: Yeah, yeah
Marques: at all.
It's not us.
This is just the science and the
mechanics of how this stuff works.
Um, but yes, if we're, if we're
later than that, it als- it
often comes across as bad news.
I like to say, "Hey, it's just,
if you want to do these things,
this is what's required."
And it's really an, an
aesthetic issue, right?
Because do you really wanna
design this beautiful space and
have cables just hanging down?
Right?
Just visible hanging down from displays
or have things just bolted onto the wall.
No one wants that.
You didn't spend all this time and
all this money to have something
that, you know, looks like I
could've thrown it up in my garage.
No
Brandon Giella: Yeah.
Yeah.
A, a simple example is y- you s- been
to people's homes where they have this
big beautiful TV, but the, the, uh,
electrical box was put too far away
from the box and now the cord is kinda
just going it's like, I don't want that.
I don't need that
Marques: my house, the cables
are running through the wall.
So like even in my house, in my TV,
I'm like, "No, I'm not doing-- I
Brandon Giella: Yeah.
Marques: see the cables."
So it, it's, it's that
kind of stuff, right?
Because again, this is
a long-term investment.
We think about the building,
not even the technology.
It's a long-term investment.
So why not take that time to make sure
you can marry the technology, get what
you need, get the usability, but really
marry it and integrate it into the space
so that it's not an eyesore, right?
It's function, it makes the
room work, but it also doesn't
stand out as much as possible
Brandon Giella: And it can be upgraded.
I mean, that's a big thing about
technology, especially the kind
of things that you're doing.
You know, every five years, 10 years,
some of this stuff's gotta-- You know,
the, the panels are worn out or the mic's
not working or you gotta kind of rethink
the software or, you know, the, the PCs
that are running these kind of things.
I mean, it's probably a lot to think
through on that kind of retrofit
or what-- how do you call it?
Like an upfit when you, when you upgrade.
Marques: have stuff there and
Brandon Giella: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marques: just upgrade.
Brandon Giella: Okay.
Marques: is real, but they're
Brandon Giella: Okay.
Marques: similar.
Brandon Giella: Okay.
Okay.
Marques: yeah
Brandon Giella: So, uh, so that's a big
part of the budget is, is obviously the
design, thinking really, really early.
But, um, but I know a lot of it is,
is also like communication, process,
just kind of your, your general
project management kind of things.
Is there, um, things to kind
of look out for there that can
be brought way up in advance as
you're working with other teams?
Like maybe not the construction team, but
there's other teams that need to go in.
You mentioned some of the other
kind of low voltage or technology
groups that go into that as well.
Do you guys like form a consortium
and say, "Hey, we got-- we need
to talk about this," you know?
Like how does that-- Like what
goes on in the-- as things are
going, how does that work out?
Marques: It's a joke, and it was
very funny to hear you say it,
but yes, that's what happens.
Um, so what happens, especially if you
have a really great architect or project
lead, they bring all the trades together.
So all the designers that
are working come together.
We do what we call page flips,
coordination sessions to make sure like,
okay, does the electrical engineer,
are they picking up, you know, the
conduit riser that we included for
the AV package to make sure that's
going out so that the electrical
contractor prices it for you correctly.
But no, those are critical.
Um, I've been on some meetings where
we didn't really have, uh, a unified
model, so that's also critical.
Working in, you know, three-dimensional
modeling tools, uh, drawing
management tools, so that way
everyone's working in the same model.
And you can find clashes
really, really quickly.
Like, oh wait, the plumbing is actually
going in the same wall, and it's
crossing the conduit that I had in
place for, you know, my AV layout.
We have to move something.
That's a huge benefit to
three-dimensional modeling and that
kind of coordination, and a lot of
that will be driven by the architect.
They'll set that up,
bring all the teams in.
Um, I've been on projects where that
wasn't available, and it, it was tough.
It was tough.
There's a lot of drawings getting passed
back and forth, and did you catch this?
Did you catch that?
So I'd say, you know, a really
high-quality architect or construction
project manager that's driving
it and making sure all the trades
are coming together at the same
time, mission critical to make
sure you catch everything early on
Brandon Giella: I wanna get
your, your thoughts on something.
I know I've, I, I mentioned this,
uh, blog before on, on some of
our episodes, but it's called
"The Work Is Never Just the Work."
And it was a, a software developer
that went through and kind of analyzed
this, this long-term, year-long
project that he had and realized,
you know, all the different, uh,
forms of work that go into it.
When you estimate a project, you think,
"Oh, just this amount of work, and I'll
estimate that," but it's really the, the
work before the work, the work to prepare
for the work, the work after the work,
the work beyond the work, the work around
the work, and he has all these terms and
visualizations that are really helpful.
But I feel like there's this connection
that people have where I'm trying to
be as efficient and cost-effective
as possible, and so I don't want that
many meetings, or I don't want that
much, you know, documentation all the
time, or I'm trying to breeze through.
I'm trying to do it quickly
because I'm trying to cut costs.
I'm wondering if you have any, any
comment on, um, a, a component of
that feels like you should just-- we
should all just talk more, you know.
Maybe we should just have way
more meetings, and that sounds
like it's counterintuitive that
maybe that adds to the, you know,
the-- it slows down the project.
But, uh, i-i-in some ways, it's like that
slow is smooth, smooth is fast saying.
It's like if you slow way, way down up at
the front, have a lot more conversations
with a lot more people, it actually
makes the overall project better.
Is that, um, is that a fanciful dream
that I have in my head that we should
just talk more at the beginning, or
do you think there's just j- a ton of
talking all throughout and we're gonna
screw it up anyway because the weather
changes or because the economy changes
or somebody gets, you know, uh, you
know, their, their different job orâ¦
I don't know.
There's just a million different things
that could go wrong on a project.
So I know this is a little bit just like
we live on Earth with humans, but, like,
I'm wondering, like, how, how you think
through some of that 'cause I, Iâ¦
it's been, it's been racking my brain
lately of, of trying to figure out
better ways to project manage things.
Marques: Well, honestly, it, it is, umâ¦
man, I never thought I'd
hear myself say this.
is a benefit to having more meetings,
Brandon Giella: Hey, okay.
Marques: there, there is a benefit when
you're doing complex planning, and I look
at it as the complexity of the task will
dictate the number of meetings you're
probably gonna need to have, right?
When you're doing your task or you're
building, whatever you're designing,
it's getting more and more complicated,
then people really need to spend more
time up front because the more time
you spend up front, the less issues
you're gonna have when it's time to
actually build this thing and put
it together and get everything done.
It's like the whole, you
know, measure twice, cut once.
deal.
So by having all these meetings
early, and, and I'm telling you,
like, I look at my calendar some
days and I just laugh like, "Oh man,
there's a lot of meetings on here."
they are all important because with
us coming together and the different
trades talking and everyone discussing
things, again, catch as much as possible.
Will you be perfect?
No.
There will be some widget that changed
or something been out of style or
you didn't have the right color.
But if you can catch all the
major issues early on, one, you're
gonna save on rework, right?
I don't have to redo something
because it was slightly off.
Number two, I'm not slowing down because,
oh wait, now we need a field instruction.
We have to go and double-check something
is off again, so now we're just
gonna slow the entire project down.
Is that gonna lead to a delay or is
it gonna be overtime because now I
have to work, you know, 10-hour shifts
or weekends to try to catch back up
because we had to have a stoppage?
Um, so at the end of the day, those
meetings are really important.
And again, I, I laugh about it sometimes
like, "Oh, we had a meeting about a
meeting," it is actually important.
Um, and like I said, it really is
the, the more complex your project,
the more meetings you, you should
be having across the entire team
to make sure everything goes great.
I j- I had a meeting
today with a, a teammate.
It was a little 15-minute just check in,
and it was something that we both noticed
because we're missing some information.
There's not an outlet in a certain closet.
Oh, in that closet there's
gonna be and a rack.
Well, you know what it needs?
Electricity.
Brandon Giella: Mm-hmm.
Marques: we don't have the exact
specifications we need, it's like,
okay Thank you for alerting me.
What I'll do is I will mock something
up, put it in place so we at least have
accounted, accounted for, because it's not
just, "Oh, I need outlets in that room."
Okay.
Well, I need four outlets.
Well, those four outlets are
potentially four independent circuits.
Okay, well, they're gonna tie
it back to a breaker panel.
How much space do I have in
that electrical panel for
these four additional circuits?
Do I need a sub-panel?
Do I need aâ¦
So it just kinda starts spiraling.
So that's the importance of
those, those conversations.
So you can just say, "Hey, let's
make sure all this is accounted for."
You do know there are gonna always
be changes going into this and
things are gonna happen, but the
more you catch up front, the better
the overall experience for everyone.
Because we're on the design
team, installing this, right?
You have to put all this together, make
sure it makes sense, and then deliver it
to someone else that's gonna install it.
Um, and then, you know, we always
take a lot of pride in having
what we call a low rate of RFI.
We don't typically receive a lot of RFIs,
so request for information coming back on
a lot of things we design, and that's a
point of pride for us because it means we
put it together in a way that made sense.
Everyone could see it.
They could understand it.
made sense.
We captured, you know, all the details,
and a lot of that comes from us just
beating people down with questions.
Just questioning, just to make sure we
truly understand what they're trying to
do and, you know, make sure we're all in
alignment on how the space will work, what
the needs are, what's gonna have to happen
Brandon Giella: I wanna talk
to you about communication.
You've been doing this a long time,
and you guys are, are known for being
extremely detailed in your work, which
is, which is why you're the best.
Uh, but I'm curious if you have found
over the years the, the change in having
more in-person meetings to going to
digital virtual meetings to, uh, you
know, creating documents or drawings
digitally or virtually rather than in
person, um, to traveling and seeing
the site location maybe mo- more often
than you, you, you used to do that
more often than you do now, or if the
way people are communicating with AI
or email or just that kind of, like,
change in communication, has that a-
had any impact on the way that you
see AV budgets and then construction
budgets as they roll up to that?
Just that change in the way that people
are project managing or communicating
nowadays than they were 10 years ago
Marques: Yeah, I think what ends up
happening is your budget may have
seemed to be a little bit higher
because the, the skills and some of
the accessories, you know, they cost
money, your overall amount of the
time investment has been falling, So
Brandon Giella: Okay
Marques: back to when you had
to, you know, you're doing maybe
just AutoCAD or even hand-drawing
things, are a lot of meetings.
You gotta get together, sit
in a room, do these markups.
So now, with us being, uh, able to make
so much of it remote or electronic,
there are some things that you can really
speed up in terms of decision-making.
know, it-- for example, that, uh, previous
example about the electrical outlets.
was a Teams call that lasted,
like, 12 minutes, right?
For us to make sure we caught
it, got it all wrapped up.
We didn't need to go to anyone's office.
We didn't need to sit down and
flip through all the pages andâ¦
Nope, we marked it up in the
product, uh, called Bluebeam.
There's a markup.
There's a comment.
We Teams each other back and forth.
The other person picks it up, a
markup in it, it goes back, they
catch it, it's now added in their set.
know, all of that back and forth,
like, yes, there's some talk and
communicating, but all of that all
in, it may have been, you know, 30
minutes to catch an issue and then
get it resolved, maybe an hour, right?
So there's a lot of speed
that you're gaining.
So even though some of the cost, because
of the skills, may be increasing,
some of your time may actually go
down because, you know, I don't
have to go to the site all the time.
There are some GCs now, they'll fire up
a drone, or they always have a camera
so you can actually see the state.
Sometimes you do have to go there.
There's some things you just can't figure
out from, you know, an aerial view or
a camera, so you will have to go out.
as far as just a general, okay,
what state is the site in?
If I need to go talk to a
contractor, how far along are they?
Are they ready for me to come
out and potentially commission
or help with a code issue?
I can look at a video feed or
photos and say, "Nope, not ready."
And then maybe there's a follow-up
discussion, I didn't just spend my
time to go to the site, and as soon
as I get to the site, get all my stuff
on, I go in, all my PPE, and I say,
"Man, they're nowhere near ready.
I just wasted two hours driving out here."
I don't have to do that.
Brandon Giella: Yeah, that's good.
That's good.
So overall, a lot of that
communication has, has sped up.
It's really the, the kinds
of conversations that you're
having and having those earlier.
The s- the sequencing or the
order of those conversations is
actually more important than, let's
say, the method or the medium.
Marques: Yeah, 100%.
Brandon Giella: Yeah.
Okay
Marques: As long as we're having
those conversations early, you know,
frequently, whether biweekly, weekly,
just some cadence to it so as we're
working, you make your notes and
then kind of catch up with everyone.
That's the, the most
beneficial part to that
Brandon Giella: Okay.
Okay.
So what I'm hearing, if I could maybe
sum up, takeaway as we close, if you
want a cheaper construction AV budget,
have the conversations way earlier.
Don't think about the, the materials
or the, the products that you're using.
Uh, and even then, even if you wanted
to cut costs, quote unquote, on some
of the products, actually buy the
more expensive ones 'cause they'll
last you longer, and so that'll
extend that total cost of ownership.
But, um, but really, it's, it's the
quality and kind of conversations
you're having and the m- the, um,
sequence of those conversations.
That actually will bring down
the overall cost of your project.
Is that a fair summary?
Marques: I'd say that's
a great way to look at it
Brandon Giella: Okay
Marques: again, what ends up
happening is you'll get out of
control on your change orders
Brandon Giella: Yeah
Marques: happening in the project.
So by spending a little more upfront
time and investment, um, in your
design team, you're gonna save money
on the back end of that project
Brandon Giella: Cool.
Okay.
Okay, love it.
Okay.
Well, Marcus, thanks so much.
Uh, we've got a bunch of other
conversations that are kind of
wrapped around, uh, this idea, uh,
talking about total cost of ownership,
budget, and longevity of the project.
So please go to kontek.com,
K-O-N-T-E-K dot com, for a lot
more of our resources there.
And Marcus, we're glad
to have you on the show.
We'll see you next time
Marques: See you next time