Heres the situation, I have been an installer since 1997 and when I first started I was a bit afraid I would loose a Job and if the customer wanted an additional outlet, a mirror or their off-air antenna hooked up for Free I would just do it.
One day abour 4 months after I started, there was this one lady who wanted all these extra rooms mirrored and I would probably say an hour install would have turned into an all day project. I added up all the labor and I only wanted like $100, she said she didn't feel like she should have to pay, and I told her I didn't feel like I should have to work for Free so I ended up just hooking up the one room that was on the work order.
One thing I found out from that day on, is that very rarely customers will pay anything extra for labor, so from that point on I started going off what it said on thw work order and when the customer wanted additional rooms I would tell them there would be a reasoable $25 charge. A few customers here and there paid me for my time, others just took the basic installation and it worked out better for me because I was getting home at 6pm instead of like 9-10pm at night.
When you go to a customers home for an installation, there are 2 things at play here, what the customer thinks the install should be included in a standard install, and what the installer considers a standard installation.
First thing that comes to my mind is telephone lines....
DISH Networks rule is that it gets hooked up within 25 feet of the jack, or the customer pays the $5 per month fee.
My rule is that its included with any dual Tuner installation.
The only reason why we include it as part of the install on my local Detroit installations is because I only have to ask the customer if they have a home telephone. If the customer has one, I do not have to disclose the fact they need to have a telephone line to avoid the monthly fee because we include the jack as part of the installation.
But getting back to the installation, a basic install includes mounting the Dish on your roof, and then running the cables on the outside of the home through an exterior wall.
Now sometimes depending on the home, its easier to run lines into a basement and then through the floor. In some of the larger homes, its even easier to run the lines from the basement, up the cold air return to the attic and then fished down the wall. However that is at the discretion of the installer.
As far as wall plates, I do not believe they should be required on a standard installation. A matter of fact your better not to have wall plates since its 2 less cable connections!!! However if the customer requests it I will put wall plates on exterior walls.
Very rarely we will do first floor interior wall fishes, however for a small charge I can do it. There are times where it makes more sense to cut out the drywall and to install a wall plate for free, especially in the case if the customer has beautifull hardwood floors and I do not want to risk screwing up the floor by drilling a hole.
Its like several years ago I had an arabic doctor in a million dollar who was keeping cable but getting the arab channels only on the Dish. He had a beautifull cherry wood built in cabinet and I refused to drill a hole in it to run the cable. I told him I would go in the basement and use a dioplexer and combine the cable and satellite so I do not have to drill into his cabinet.
He wanted a discount since I was using 10 feet of his existing cable, or wanted me to run all new cable because if I screwed up the hole I know he would have tried to get me to pay for it. We argued for an hour, where finally I packed up my tools and left.
I get back to the shop, he called back and said I could dioplex into his cable
Bottom line here is that $400 could have been just a number thrown out there by the installer because he didn't want to do the Job. It could have been $400 was actually the right labor and you simply found another installer who was willing to work for less money!
