CEDIA's 2008 Benchmarking Survey Reveals Positive Findings for Residential Electronic...

CEDIA's 2008 Benchmarking Survey Reveals Positive Findings for Residential Electronic System Contractors

An Independent Survey of CEDIA Members Reveals Increased Profits
and a Growing Demand for Systems Integration and Lighting Control
DENVER--(Business Wire)--
The Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA)
released key statistics from its second annual Benchmarking Survey.
The report shows that 72 percent of residential electronic systems
contractors that participated in the survey experienced increased
revenue from 2006 fiscal year to 2007 fiscal year. Also, those
companies that reported 1 - 14 percent profit margins had both the
highest average revenue and the most CEDIA Certified employees.

CEDIA's Benchmarking Survey also shows that while distributed
audio and visual as well as home theaters and media rooms are the top
revenue sources, those companies with larger annual revenue are seeing
tremendous consumer demand in systems integration and lighting
control.

"The wealth of data collected in the 2008 Benchmarking Survey
suggests a wide variation in how electronic systems contractors
businesses are managed," said Ray Lepper, CEDIA's industry best
practices chair. "These findings are crucial to all CEDIA members
businesses and CEDIA as an organization to establish best practices
for running a solid business in the electronic systems integration
industry."

Of the survey respondents, 60 percent have a showroom and 89
percent of companies with 2 million or more in revenue have a
showroom. Ninety-one (91) percent of companies with a showroom feel it
establishes credibility with potential clients and over half believe a
showroom is worth the investment.

While existing clients and home builders are the top two sources
of referrals for survey respondents, those with the highest revenues
and largest project sizes are putting greater focus on marketing and
receiving more business from architects. The survey also reveals that
75 percent of referrals yield actual business.

The full Benchmarking Survey report, conducted by an independent
research firm Brand Ubiquity, will be made available for free only to
the CEDIA Members who participated. These participants will also be
able to discuss and collaborate on these findings at CEDIA EXPO in
order to help them learn how to apply this information to improve
their businesses.

A summary of the survey findings are available for media. Please
contact Jamie Antcliff at jantcliff@cedia.org or (800) 669-5329 to
obtain a copy of the summary.

CEDIA members who are interested in participating in future
surveys should contact Erica Shonkwiler at eshonkwiler@cedia.org or
(800) 669-5329.

CEDIA is an international trade association of companies that
specialize in designing and installing electronic systems for the
home. The association was founded in September 1989 and has more than
3,500 member companies worldwide. CEDIA Members are established and
insured businesses with bona fide qualifications and experience in
this specialized field. CEDIA Members include residential electronic
systems contractors who have emerged as the "fourth contractor" in the
building and remodeling industries alongside electrical, plumbing, and
HVAC professionals. For more information on CEDIA, visit the
association's Web site at www.cedia.org.

CEDIA
Jamie Antcliff, 317-328-4336, ext. 119
jantcliff@cedia.org

Copyright Business Wire 2008