Hawaii Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Hi, just found this site. I could bore you with my life in the security industry going back to 1968 but it will probably send you to sleep. As a word of encouragement to anyone unsure whether to go out on their own, in the late 60s I was fitting a PA button in a director of AFA office, when he said to me there is a lot of money to be made in this industry, he was right from the mid 70s I built up two companies and sold them both making a nice income. Not quiet yet a pensioner I have retired to the island of Menorca enjoying the seven months of continuous sunshine and a completely different life style to the UK. I'm happy to give any information and advice on the older alarm system, like how to find a faulty inertia switch in a matter of minutes that's if any are still being used. In my later years I was a Quality Manager and wrote quality manuals for three companies, so I can give help on this subject as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozzies Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrHappy Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Hiya, when he said to me there is a lot of money to be made in this industry, he was right from the mid 70s I built up two companies and sold them both making a nice income. Not quiet yet a pensioner I have retired to the island of Menorca I think the sun has set on the golden age of alarms ! Mr Veritas God Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozzies Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 I still have an image in my head of all those miles of copper tape you must have run.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichL Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Welcome. Whats Menorca like to live in? I vaguely remember having a holiday there back in the 70s and being fascinated by all the ants. Originally said by Charles Babbage On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawaii Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 Welcome. Whats Menorca like to live in? I vaguely remember having a holiday there back in the 70s and being fascinated by all the ants. It's a quiet island with only about two night clubs. Because the Menorcans were against Franco in the civil war, he would not let the island build hotels when the tourist industry took off in the 60s, so now the island is not typical of the other islands and main land Spain. You can still find British influence from when we occupied the island for about a hundred years, like British cows. There are a lot of British residents who over the years have formed clubs and associations so you don't miss what you had back in the UK. The Spanish people are so friendly and any excuse they have a party that goes on into the early hours of the morning, the benefit of a warm country. The cost of living is so much cheaper, like my council tax is only 600 Euros a year, plus even if the exchange rate is low you get more Euros for the pound. I have no regrets moving to the sunshine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawaii Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 Hiya, I think the sun has set on the golden age of alarms ! As long as there is always maintenance contracts the sun will never set. After trading for a couple of years systems will start being out of warranty so call outs are chargeable. You will start receiving a lot of cheques in the post renewing maintenace & monitoring that will help cash flow for doing nothing, in the coming year you only have to carry out one or two maintenances and send a percentage of the monitoring fee to the ARC. As your customer base builds up you will get asked a lot to quote for your customer's business premises or house, their friends and relations, providing you have given them good service and not ripped them off. Unless you give them reason the majority of your customers will renew their contract with you for many years and then when you have had enough or for another reason like ill health you sell the contracts to whoever is buying at that time and ride off into the sunset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james.wilson Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 hello and welcome securitywarehouse Security Supplies from Security Warehouse Trade Members please contact us for your TSI vetted trade discount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrHappy Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 As long as there is always maintenance contracts the sun will never set. I'm a cynical bugger, I find old contracts have been in place many yrs & remain that way, new business chops & changes or goes to the wall. I think there’s more money & less grief in other industries. Hawaii, strange question, you've not found us though the wordpress / facebook old bell boxes blog ? Mr Veritas God Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawaii Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 MrHappy, on 13 October 2011 - 01:11 PM, said: I'm a cynical bugger, I find old contracts have been in place many yrs & remain that way, new business chops & changes or goes to the wall. I think there’s more money & less grief in other industries. Hawaii, strange question, you've not found us though the wordpress / facebook old bell boxes blog ? There is definitely more money to be made in other industries, but we have maintenance contracts and if you have say 3,000+ contracts (I know not everyone is that lucky) then every day renewing cheques will arrive helping cash flow and breakdowns that will generate more income. We do have the grief of false alarms etc., that's because the standard requires the system to go into alarm if so much as mouse breaths on the cables (not required for the standard domestic premises they should think of the poor public and the nuisance FAs cause), if there is a malfunction with the circuitry in a tv, the picture just flickers, if there is a problem with a car it just coughs & splutters, IA do not need to be so sensitive. So why are we in this industry. I was an electrician on the Post Office in the 60s where the electricians earning the most money from overtime & call outs was in the alarm division, so I transferred into alarms. I went on to build up and sell two companies and each time people would ask why do you stay in this industry, my answer was it's what I know and after many years found it easy & second nature to do everything. A few weeks ago I found this site and Burglar Alarm Britain which is all about bell boxes and as there were a few pictures of boxes from my old companies and I was able to answer questions on old alarm companies I decided to put some posts on that site. This delayed me joining this site which I like but as I retired 3 years ago I cannot comment on the latest equipment etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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