‘Starr’ Players

By Karen Mitchell, 11.07.2008

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CEDIA’S TOP ESC CONQUERS ITS MARKET WITH DIVERSIFIED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

It’s an honor no integrator would refuse. It’s CEDIA’s 2008 Electronic Systems Contractor of the Year Award, and the kudos go to Baltimorebased Starr Systems Design, who was deemed to represent the best of CEDIA. The accolade, co-sponsored by Residential Systems magazine, was established to recognize service to the industry and community as well as professionalism and overall success.

“I’m very proud of what this award represents; we’ve worked hard to attain success,” said Starr Systems president Sean Weiner. “The award application included a broad-ranging submission of our financials, business plan, documentation process, marketing materials, and corporate identity.”

CEDIA’s ESC of the Year, Starr Systems Design, celebrates its win after the CEDIA Banquet in September. Pictured (l-r) are: Kevin Wayland, Tim Kirby, Rocky McCarthy, Doug Parker, Sean Weiner, Mike Weddle,Tony Ferrante, and James Stinson.

The award also was a nod to Starr’s commitment to the Hollywood-based Elf Foundation, the non-profit charity that provides home theater systems to children’s hospitals and other facilities treating children. Starr currently is designing its second Elf installation in the Washington D.C./Baltimore area.

EMBRACING ELECTRICIANS
Founded in 1994 as a custom AV company, Starr entered into the realm of residential electrical contracting about four years ago in what proved to be a wise move. Starr’s 44-member staff now includes a master electrician.

“We realized that many of our projects featured lighting control sales and design, and we were interfacing with a lot of electricians,” Weiner said. “It has been advantageous to have the in-house expertise to communicate with outside electricians and to be able to offer our own services to educate electric contractors about our systems.”

TECHNICIAN OF THE YEAR MANAGED A BUSY 2008 SCHEDULE
When residential systems chief engineer and equipment analyst Charles Lanholm of Frankentek in Medford, New Jersey, won the 2008 Electronic Systems Technician (EST) of the Year award, he was recognized by CEDIA and Residential Systems magazine for going “the extra mile to make the industry a driving force incutting-edge technology.” The EST Award—also known as the “In the Trenches Award”—recognized Lanholm for his exemplary work ethic and desire to further his education in the field of custom installation.Lanholm has been involved with 23 major projects in the last year, has achieved his CEDIA Designer certification, and continues to attend education provided by CEDIA University to maintain his certification and industry knowledge.

Initially, Weiner expected the electrical side of the company to be supported by lighting control and AV but the opposite has taken hold, he said. “We get a lot of projects from our electrical side, and because of it we’ve created important relationships with home builders, giving us added credibility and often allowing us to get onto a job earlier than is typical.”

Starr focuses on high-end custom and production homes, with some small measure of pre-wire projects. Its production homes division reaches to the Maryland and Delaware shores with its core business in the D.C. and Baltimore metro areas. Farther a field, the company partners with Peak to Creek Electrical, in Telluride, Colorado.

TURBULENT BUSINESS FORCES
“D.C. is a strange area because of the political forces at work there,” Weiner explained. “We typically get a bounce from the change of administrations. It represents a small percentage of our business, but it’s something positive. And the Baltimore housing market isn’t quite as bad as in other places around the country.”

With its production home division as a reliable gauge, Starr Systems saw a surge in September, he added. “Our builders had more sales that month than in August, although we don’t know if the trend will continue. The surge is largely due to incentives from homebuilders and to declining prices. The high-end market is less affected, and resort areas such as Telluride are doing pretty well.”

Not surprisingly, sales at beach communities are down, Weiner said, with vacation homebuyers all but disappearing. Yet customers who are retiring and want to downsize and move to coastal locations are replacing some buyers. These buyers frequently want to load up on amenities such as media, security and surveillance systems, and basic lighting controls, he explained.

Starr Systems’ custom division is currently involved in mid- to high-end condo projects in Baltimore, which are doing well in spite of the current economic climate. “We attribute that to the high level of amenities we’re offering,” Weiner said.

REACTION TO THE AWARD
Winning the CEDIA’s award, Weiner said, reinforces his company’s commitment to its core values. “CEDIA is all about the representation of values, such as making sure products are functional and that customers are satisfied,” he said. “It means that you deliver what you promise and that you invest time and money in training.”

Weiner added that he believes Starr’s principles are similar to those espoused by CEDIA. “Our inhouse training program is huge and includes a fulltime training manager on our staff; it’s a tremendous part of what we do. We also ensure that our processes are carefully documented and that our techs are consistent from one project to the next.”

Despite his best efforts and those made by CEDIA, Weiner said he still wishes that more standardization existed. “On the AV side, we’ve all kind of made it up as we went along, creating our own standards and practices, letting them evolve from there,” he said. “CEDIA has done a lot to help institute change through its certification and training programs, bringing some order and organization to the industry.”

Diversification may be the biggest key to Starr’s success, Weiner acknowledged. “We made some good decisions and had fortunate timing. Revenue from various sources and recurrent revenue from alarm installations and service maintenance agreements have smoothed out some of the rough spots. If we had stuck only to high-end AV in Baltimore, we’d be struggling now.”

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