Pre-Wired Alarm System

Hello all, I am getting ready to close on a house that has already been prewired for alarm/cable/phone and was wondering what alarm system you would recommend. I currently am using ADT at my current residence but was looking to go with a local company who provides monitoring as well. This company deals primarily with radionics. Would like to be able to use voip (I realize not many systems are compatible), also have the ability to call a phone number if any alarm conditions exist (ie. cell phone or pager). While I have your attention, at the first walk through of my new home I was talking to the building manager and apparently they are allowing a local company to come in and pre-wire ahead of time. I asked him if I would be provided with a drawing of where the cables have been ran and he told me that the company that ran it will not give up that information. Now if I'm buying a house, shouldn't it be mandatory that anything in the house is divulged to me? This sounds shady.

Reply to
bill.talbott
Loading thread data ...

Good. You'll be better off with a local, as ADT customer service is horrible.

Be careful here. Radionics dealers are few and far between, and you'll need a Radionics dealer to service your system, should you decide to change companies later.

Forget about VOIP; get a POTS line for your alarm system if you're serious about your security. Period.

They're not going to hold your hand, you can find the wires yourself if you know how.

Will the builder provide a drawing of the other systems in the house? Will you get a detailed electrical schematic showing the exact location of all wires? Will the plumber provide you a detailed drawing showing all pipe locations?

The pre-wiring alarm company most likely doesn't HAVE a drawing. IF you're lucky, the wires might be labeled. Any alarm installer will be able to find them later. Well, maybe not ADT, P1, or Brinks. They'll just slap in a wireless system anyway. js

Reply to
alarman

Forget VoIP totally unreliable...get a pots line for the alarm.

Radionics is good and there are plenty of Radionics dealers around...personally I don't use it much anymore (after being a 100% Radionics dealer for over 15 years).

Any installing alarm co. worth it's salt doesn't need a drawing. And, don't expect one from the prewire company. You can ask them to leave all wires stubbed out, that's not an unreasonable request...or you can go around with your digital camera and take pix right after the home is prewired. Nope its not shady to not give up information like that...try and ask for an "as-built plan" from the plumbers, see what kind of answer you get.

BEST way is to make a committment with whatever installing company you have chosen and have them walk the house right after it's prewired. I do this all the time, saves me time when installing on someone else's prewire. But, truth be told a good installing company that has been around a while will kinda know how other companies prewire and will have no trouble doing the job for you.

Reply to
Crash Gordon®

Ha...I've seen the first two do exactly that several times.

| > | | |

Reply to
Crash Gordon®

Doh! You're right! I forgot to include..., no wait, I said ADT. js

Reply to
alarman

dunno...i just speak from my personal experience...Brinks is not a big presence here....

but i did get a call today from a lady that bought a house that has a Brinks boat anchor in her home...she doesnt believe that she doesn't own a leased system and that it's totally propietary (sp)..so she will continue to call around trying to get someone to monitor it for 8 bucks a month and no contract...sheesh..

| | >

| | | | | | | |

Reply to
Crash Gordon®

You "might" get a set of builder plans IF you pay for it...but most tract builders will NOT give or sell house plans because they are kinda copyrighted and they don't want people building their own copys of homes.

Aside from that NO home plan is ever an as-built showing accurate locations of plumbing, electrical runs.

Unless, you're building a custom I seriously doubt you'd ever get accurate plans of anything, let alone the alarm prewire!...sheesh alarm installs are low man on the totem pole...who has time to make up plans when your prewiring a home for

400 bucks??? never gonna happen !

I've done zillions of house over the years and have have only seen as-built plans only once for some anal retentive millioniare who didn't know which end of a blue-print was up. He actually did pay me for detailed plans of the alarm systems - there were two both systems, with redundant radio.

| Bass Home Electronics | 2291 Pine View Circle | Sarasota · Florida · 34231 | 877-722-8900 Sales & Tech Support |

formatting link
| =============================> | |

Reply to
Crash Gordon®

Yes, if you ask for it.

Yes, if you ask for it.

Yes, if you ask for it.

True, but they could easily make one up if they were so inclined.

About half the time they're not.

Any DIYer with a tone set can also find them. The tone set will cost less than one service visit from the alarm company.

Reply to
Robert L. Bass

Brinks is one of the worst in the industry.

Reply to
Robert L. Bass

don't be stupid!!!

.. Well, maybe not ADT, P1, or Brinks. They'll just slap in a

Reply to
bdebj2

exactly...the first TWO!!! so why lump them all together?

| >

| | |

Reply to
bdebj2

I wouldn't get to excited over RBL's comments. He cannot inspect anyone's installations in Florida, whether it be Brinks or anyone else, per state law. The only place he goes outside Florida is Brazil, which I don't believe Brinks has a presense. If he did go anywhere else in the US, they would have similar licensing laws restricting his alarm contracting activities, but then again he has a propensity to do what ever he wants to anyway. He has recently demonstrated that his statements here are based on assumptions and not fact, therefore leaving his opinions meritless.

Reply to
Bob Worthy

Be careful Bob...Mr. Bass is gonna bite you....... He's getting ready.........There might be some fireworks from Sarasota.......

Norm Mugford

Reply to
Norm Mugford

~J It's just bass bait...........he's ignoring me disrupting the fun......but, he won't be able to help himself for long.

Reply to
Bob Worthy

now, that's exactly what i was talking about....."don't be stupid" would apply to you, right here, in this situation....you obviously have NO idea what you're talking about, yet, you try to convince everyone else that you do!!!....idiot, brinks does everything they possibly can to avoid putting wireless systems in....that is the VERY LAST thing they want to do!!!!!...learn the rules, or get out of the game!!!!!!

Reply to
bdebj2

Is this opinion based on the Brinks system you say you removed (aka serviced) a short while ago, or from comments made to you by one of your many fictiional "industry experts"?? You never did answer that question (mind you, I don't expect you will after having only just recently been investigated for unlicensed activity)...

When are you going to be finished "rfreshing" your monitoring contract page by the way?? Where's the "UL Listing" for the "help system" you were involved in (you know the one with all the rather childish references to various individuals in ASA)??

Reply to
Frank Olson

I've worked mostly for homeowners (existing construction) and home buyers (new construction) over the years. If I had to guess I'd say maybe 5% of my work has been for builders. Yet I never had any trouble getting blue prints, drawings, etc. Where I worked (mainly southern New England), new construction home buyers almost always had a set of plans or prints. I

*assume* the cost of prints was always part of the purchase but I could be wrong.

Prints I've used have rarely specified the alarm since I was there to pre-wire it. I always furnished the builder or the home buyer with a marked up print or drawing showing the alarm layout. This almost never included wiring routes but it did specify where each cable was terminated. YMMV.

For the alarm prewire only the cable *ends* need to be specified. If you know where the wires end, it makes little difference (most of the time) where they were run. This assumes, of course, that the wires are not installed wrong. :^)

I never sold pre-wire jobs. If I was on the job it was because we were doing the whole installation. Then again, I really didn't go after the tract builder market.

Reply to
Robert L. Bass

You have no idea what I know, friend.

They have a reputation for telling homeowners they are "buying protection", "investing in security", etc. They rarely mention that the POS alarm they push is proprietary, is actually a leased system, can not be monitored or serviced by anyone but them. They charge excessive rates for minimal protection.

I couldn't care less which trash they push. It's the terrible way they treat their customers that honest dealers find objectionable.

I'm not sure which game you're playing but I've been in the alarm industry for 28 years. My company now sells more alarms than any other independant in my region, including several local ADT offices. I doubt some moronic Brinks salesman is going to teach anyone "the rules."

Reply to
Robert L. Bass

protection",

Minimal? Around here it's full perimeter but don't let that stop your rant

Hardly

Reply to
Mark Leuck

but i did get a call today from a lady that bought a house that has a Brinks boat anchor in her home...she doesnt believe that she doesn't own a leased system and that it's totally propietary (sp)..so she will continue to call around trying to get someone to monitor it for 8 bucks a month and no contract...sheesh..

I've got the primary Brinks central station and home office about 5 miles from my place and end up riding by them every day. While I don't care for the actual panel they install it's not bad, around here they do mostly prewire and full perimeter installations.

While others might bitch about the proprietary nature of the system but I understand why they use it and it has nothing to do with locking people to their station, it's far easier to maintain and do tech support on 1 or 2 panels than 20.

| | >

| | | | | | | |

Reply to
Mark Leuck

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.