Alan Hutchings Installation

If you are looking for some basic IT support, then go to the Geek Squad.
However, if you want to engage an expert who knows his stuff and can help you design, build, integrate and run top-​of-​the line home audio, video, security and internet systems, then Alan is your guy. We engaged Alan as part of a complete remodel/​renovation, and his services were spot on. He worked seamlessly with my contractor, and was able to work efficiently with our schedule and budget.
The prior review pretty much sum up my experience with Alan and his team. He is a true expert in his field, and is extraordinarily patient in walking customers (me) through the entire process. I never felt pressured to buy a more expensive system than I needed. In fact, Alan was the first to offer various options for each category of equipment. Bottom line: I trust him and his advice, and have not been steered wrong.
As others mentioned, on some occasions he can be slow to respond. But this is because he is in extremely high demand. When engaged, he is laser-​focused on the project. Personally, I would never want to hire someone for such a large project who had extensive time on his hands. He and his team worked perfectly with our schedule.

Alan is one of those guys that you meet that on first blush may seem like he’s selling you a lot of gear you don’t need. I’m a former technology journalist and he had stuff I hadn’t heard of. I ran his gear past people in the know who said «yeah, that’s good.»
A sidenote: Sometimes Alan is slow to get back to you on phone or iMessage. He’s booked solid. I don’t like it any more than you do. But in the bay every single good professional is like this, because they are inundated with calls and need to do in-​person evaluations to do a good job. I wish the world was easier too guys. Sorry.
Alan did a giant (119″) 1080p surround sound installation in my loft in Oakland late last year. It was costly, and Alan worked with me to bring down said cost with explanations behind every bit of rational and actual links to what he was getting. Alan also let me use gear I already had, which meant that the actual installation itself was quite confusing to look at at the end. I was furious, and not particularly nice to Alan afterward thinking he’d broken everything. No, what he’d actually done was an intricate, cost-​effective amp/​ethernet installation, built through the *ceiling*, leading to my aged receiver, to the speakers I had provided. In essence, if you know stuff about a/​v, once you bring in someone’s potentially bashed-​up gear into the situation it effectively is a gamble to see what will work with what.
Alan not only made it all work, including with a receiver that I would frankly describe as aged, he recommended the right places to save money to still have the effect I wanted — an awesome home theater. It came out looking and sounding amazing, and more importantly removable. He taught me in a non-​condescending manner what he did and why he did it, and made a clear promise (and actually booked time to) fix any problems. There were no problems. Any anger I had was that I didn’t understand how it worked and the only criticism I could give was Alan didn’t leave a manual of his work.
Alan is not cheap. Alan is also — and I use this term very rarely — an actual artist. He wants the thing to look and sound perfect. I just hired Alan to do a second job he has not started yet, and he talked me OUT of spending $ 3000+ on a new projector screen and $ 2000 on a new projector, telling me to keep my quite-​adequate plasma screen, as it’d be just as good. I am sort of a gadget/​network person and know what I’m talking about. If you want a cheap guy to do an okay job, don’t hire Alan. Don’t waste is time. He will charge what he charges for the gear at the price it comes out at (if not cheaper, and believe me I’ve checked). If you want someone to put down some cheap CAT cables and some HDMI cables he found on Monoprice and Amazon, give them a call. Alan is an actual professional who knows a lot.
I take umbrage at anyone claiming Alan «focuses on dollars more than customer service.» My own personal experience, even when I was not the most calm (calling him at 2:30am GMT from England, where I was at the time of installation), is that he cares more about customer service than most A/​V people I’ve run into. And knows more than them too.
Overall, what you get is the closest you can to professional at a consumer price. It’s not cheap. It never will be if you want something that’ll last, sound good and look good. If you want constant download speeds/​constant signal throughout your home, Alan is going to find *what will do it.*
To S.B.: I do not know specifically what equipment you were left with by Alan, however I have spoken to him about the networking gear he uses, which (I used to sell WIFI/​WAN/​LAN gear commercially) is Unifi/​Ubiquiti gear. This prices much the same as a Netgear Nighthawk/​high-​end ASUS router, and gives superior service all around. Alan is not just a guy who knows things about audio/​visual, he is actually very smart and knows about networking gear too. I do not believe you were sold a $ 1000 router. I imagine you were sold a $ 1000 setup which would cover your entire house. The WIFI never really working properly? Not really sure.
And if it’s 5x the price of a Mac airport — your comparison point — I’m gonna go ahead and say your knowledge on networking product is deficient. That’s an $ 84.99 or $ 184.99 router, and if you’re using that as a comparison point you’re not buying a Netgear Nighthawk, Asus AC87U or Unifi AP AC — all of which are on the upper end of the routing scale and are the only routers a real professional would use. If your new guy used these as your comparison points. If you want your signal and your download speeds to be consistent and the signal to be constant across the house, you need good gear. This is not cheap gear and Alan is not a «cheap» provider who «just gets things done.» I’ve got no fiscal benefit in having him around. I choose to spend tens of thousands of dollars with the man because he’s just that damn good.

We are now over a year from our installation of AV/​Sonos and WiFi installation with Alan and our WiFI has never really worked properly. I had another expert come in to take a look and he commented that Alan had put a $ 1000 router in that is 5x the price of a Mac airport (which would have been sufficient) and is still not working. I have tried to contact Alan several times to fix the WiFi but he doesn’t respond. I think he focuses on dollars more than customer service, sadly.

Wow!
Had a network challenge and needed to add three new employees quickly so we could handle a vendor transition. I called and emailed many Unilocal vendors and received only one call back from Alan… in about 20 minutes!
Alan came out the next business day (his other teams were busy) and handled my network challenges in minutes! Seriously super-​fast!
What I learned today is that Alan has been intrigued since he was 12 years old about sound systems. Their team’s recent installations include VR and multiple display integration’s; I’m not that cool yet!
My needs were not so elaborate, yet my inner geek was extremely jealous about what others in and around the peninsula are up to (no names mentioned)!!!
My needs for Alan (and crew) were office related, yet feel comfortable with the next level including hiding my HDMI cables (in the wall) for the 60″ display, advanced remote control systems or «go big or go home» installations; Alan is very relaxed and extremely knowledgeable.
Honestly a good guy who has worked hard to make a name for himself and company.
After reviewing the quotes from our institution (a small university with its own ZIP code), glad I chose to go with an outside contractor!

Alan helped plan out a home theater conversion (from a previously installed system to an updated, idiot proof system) for two rooms and install a aerial digital TV antenna, powerful enough to get all channels and comply with our HOA rules. His team then helped do an installation for one room and helped me understand the existing system in the house. They were patient and capable of sorting out the complexities of the previous system and doing a 1^st class installation. Even my neighbor came over during the installation and was impressed enough to get Alan’s contact information for another similar job.

I’d absolutely recommend Alan for residential audio/​video and home theatre installation. For a new ‘rec room’ at our home, Alan recommended a system that perfectly met our needs and budget. He did the low voltage wiring during construction, then came back after construction was complete to install our new equipment. We also purchased all of the equipment through him (including big screen TV, receiver, Apple TV, Tivo, speakers, etc.), and paid less than we would have at retail. We trusted his recommendations on what equipment to buy, and the products have served us well. After our construction was complete and the system was first installed (a couple of years ago), he’s come back to our home a few times to tweak the system as our needs have evolved. He’s knowledgable and friendly, and responds quickly to service requests. I’d definitely recommend him.