“We want this, and that, and this, and that. And don’t worry about the budget.”
Every consultant and integrator in Uganda has heard this sentence. Many outside Uganda have too. And many of us know how the story ends.
How the story usually goes
A client calls us about a large boardroom. We meet them, more than once. We listen to everything they want: big displays, the best cameras and microphones, video conferencing, wireless presentation, room control, good acoustics. We ask about the budget and they tell us money is not an issue. They want state of the art.
So we take our time and design exactly that. A proper state-of-the-art system for a large boardroom, based on their brief and their wish list. The BOQ comes to around $300,000.
Then the changes start. One amendment, then another. A few months later we finally learn the real budget: $30,000, VAT inclusive. One tenth of the design.
Surely they knew that number from the start.
Any budget is fine. A hidden budget is not.
Let me be clear: a small budget is not the problem. We always say we can provide a solution for any size of room and any budget. Even with $2,000 we can come up with something that works.
The problem is the time. Designing from a brief takes real work: site visits, meetings, layouts, product selection, the BOQ, revisions. When the budget is hidden, all of that work goes into a design the client was never going to buy. Then we start again, and the client has lost weeks or months.
Why people do not share the budget
From what I have seen, there are a few reasons:
- They fear that if they say the number, the supplier will simply quote up to it.
- They think a high budget gets a high price, and a low budget gets a poor solution.
- They want to see “the best” first, and then decide.
- Sometimes the budget is not approved yet, and nobody wants to commit to a figure.
I understand all of these. But hiding the budget does not protect you. It just means the first design is a guess.
What sharing your budget actually does
When we know the budget from the start, we can:
- Design the right level of system for the room, the first time.
- Spend the money where it matters most for how you use the room. In a boardroom that is usually clear audio and a reliable video call, before anything else.
- Show you options inside your range, for example a good, better and best version.
- Plan the project in phases or lots, so you start with what you can afford and add the rest later.
- Put in the right infrastructure now (conduits, cabling and power), so the later phases do not mean opening walls again.
A budget is not a ceiling we try to reach. It is the most useful piece of information in your brief.
You do not need the exact figure
If you are not sure, give us a range. If you prefer, be on the lower side. If there is a chance to stretch, tell us that too. And please tell us whether your figure includes VAT, because 18% makes a real difference.
With that, we can design something that fits, and if possible we will look for ways to expand it now or plan it for later. What we cannot do is design a $300,000 room and then find out, months later, that the room was always a $30,000 room.
So, please
Tell us what you want to achieve, and tell us what you can spend. Two honest numbers, the size of the room and the size of the budget, save weeks of work on both sides.
I wrote more about planning AV properly in Why AV is never planned in time. If you have a project and a budget, big or small, talk to us at PRO AV Africa or message me on WhatsApp.
Photos: Pexels.
