This month we look at domestic installation.

Despite many initiatives over the past few years – blanket selling by the nationals, price wars, free systems and an in-depth BSIA survey – the nut has still to be cracked. Increasingly, a new generation of security equipment is providing householders with systems outside the traditional bells-only or monitored alarms structure.

The domestic market needs a shot in the arm and although the new kit may send its alarm messages via mobiles or PCs to owners and their appointed friends and neighbours – or even to the installers themselves – it all means more volume business and a welcome revenue stream for installation companies. A good percentage of Security Installer readers are involved in this area but many don’t believe it’s worth competing at this low level.

However, this is a huge potential market – 23m homes in the UK and less than a quarter of them with any sort of electronic security. The rewards could be significant for companies that are prepared to change their ways of thinking. Installers should think outside the box when it comes to domestics. Who says you have to use the same kit you would use for a small commercial/retail install? Who says you have to employ the same skills level staff on a job which brings in a fraction of what you make on a larger project?

A little thinking about customer psychology is needed and an awareness of changing social trends. With the ageing population, there is an ever escalating sector of people who feel especially vulnerable. They want their homes protected but do not want a complicated alarm system. They’d rather have a plastic barking dog behind the front door than a keypad. Is it any wonder that traditional manufacturers are now providing “easy” alarm options for those who find codes too complicated or even too scary to use?

At the other end of the age scale the sad fact is that we have a nation of latchkey kids, so any text messaging system that tells parents when their little darlings are safely home from school should have sales appeal ... and keyfobs are universally convenient and take off the pressure of having to remember a code. Security features like this are bordering on ‘home automation’ and with broadband take-up being so fast the two sectors will shortly merge.

Security Installer is, of course, a firmly committed supporter of alarms legislation and regulation within a properly monitored set-up. But, like it or not, I hear increasingly of installers who want to work outside of regulation – for many different reasons. This may not be good news for the professionalism of the industry but the domestic security sector is still open for grabs. There is nothing to stop installers using an honest “horses for courses” approach if police first response is not involved.