Hit 50 installs in a month and it changed my mind about panel placement

Last month I hit 50 residential installs, which is a personal record for me. I used to always put the main panel in the master closet because it's convenient and hidden. But after dealing with 12 false alarms from people bumping the keypad while grabbing clothes, I started putting them in a hallway near the front door instead. Haven't had a single false alarm from the last 15 installs. Has anyone else seen a big drop in service calls after moving panels?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaron67720d ago

Bet you never thought you'd be solving crime by moving a keypad away from someone's underwear drawer. Master closet placement is a solid way to double your service call revenue, I guess. Hallway by the front door is the real MVP for keeping your phone quiet.

the_riley20d ago

Had a customer last year who INSISTED their keypad go in the master closet and I thought it was weird. Turns out they were right for their house because their teenager kept sneaking out through the garage at 2am. Moving it to the hallway by the front door actually fixed that problem without having to fight about it every night. Sometimes the keypad location matters way more than people realize especially if you've got sticky fingers in the house. I've learned to just let people pick the spot that makes sense for their actual life even if it looks dumb on paper.

aaron67720d ago

And honestly, that ties into something bigger I've been noticing. Once you start paying attention to where people actually trip over their own feet, you realize the same logic applies to every sensor and keypad in the house. Moving a keypad three feet to the left can literally fix a problem you thought was the equipment. I had a buddy who swore by placing them next to the garage door and it cut his false alarm calls in half just because nobody was swinging a bag or bumping it on the way to the car. It's funny how much of this job is just watching how people move through their own homes and putting stuff where they won't accidentally fight it.