Paragon Multimedia

[Face-Man]

Anybody had any experiance of there interactive whiteboard installed by paragon Multimedia ? 8)

[Jake]

How much do they charge for an installation? We just put them up ourselves, saves a bit of time and usually a bit of money too.

[bossman]

Jake how much does it cost you total for whiteboard+projector+speakers and amp + cables and of course your time;

 

spec:

2000 ansi lumens projector with 4 year warranty bulb and projector

78" whiteboard with activboard2 PE software+ license, also 4 year warranty

amp + speakers

cabling

[bossman]

sorry faceman a little off topic my apologies

[Jake]

£1450 , and 30-40 for the cables ..give or take.

 

My time..slightly harder to put a price on I guess. Depends how much there is to be done, generally a white board would be put up during a term break, or an inset day. The whiteboard goes up with 4 large screws drilled..so thats about 5 mins. The cabling + trunking takes about 10 mins to put up, projector usually takes the longest to drill into the ceiling..worst case scenario about 40 mins (often takes less to drill it than that though). So maybe..max for the lot is about an hour.

 

Dont get me wrong..I am not knocking anybody for using a third party to install, I was just curious how much their installation is, because generally the people we've looked at in the past want another 500-750 to install it, ..wish I was paid 500-750 per hour, but sadly I am not quite yet , from what I have seen so far it just works out cheaper *for us* for me to install it

[webman]

So is that price for SMARTboard or a Promethean ACTIVboard + software?

[Jake]

Smartboard...we only have smartboards

[webman]

Ahhh that might be why then as they usually cost a bit less than the ACTIVboards that we have throughout. Also there's the asbestos checks if you're an older building like us. The cost of our latest batch of boards (spec outlined by bossman above) is about £1995 including installation.

[Jake]

Yeah, ours are relatively new buildings, definately no asbestos. We used to have prometheans but moved to smartboards as the staff seemed to prefer the software

 

Out of curiousity, how much of the 1995 was installation?

[webman]

Not sure but can try & find out for you.

[Face-Man]

If I had time I would but I've 85 computer 6 servers tape back up and SAN to configure this summer. New domain to configure and two new network room to recable and fit. Oh and the building closes at 4:30 every day. Saving £500 fiting them my self is just not worth it. Also having seen one of them fall from the ceiling I would not want to have to explain to little jonnys mum why their son is in A & E. Jake I hope your schools insurance policy covers you for instation work and do you get it inspected from a health and safty office after you complete it (premise manager is hot on that stuff here). On top of that the network rooms are being used by the lea the first two weeks of the summer. arrgh !!!

[Geoff]

Also having seen one of them fall from the ceiling I would not want to have to explain to little jonnys mum why their son is in A & E.

 

I've heard of this happening. Wasn't the last one fatal?

[plexer]

Does anyone insist on their projectors being installed with secondary fixings i.e a steel cable to prevent this? Just wondering as we don't but we had some speaker installed in school hall recently and they were.

 

Ben

[Jake]

Saving £500 fiting them my self is just not worth it. Also having seen one of them fall from the ceiling I would not want to have to explain to little jonnys mum why their son is in A & E. Jake I hope your schools insurance policy covers you for instation work and do you get it inspected from a health and safty office after you complete it (premise manager is hot on that stuff here).

 

Saving 500 quid makes a vast difference with our budget. So far, only 4 people have been killed by falling projectors which I have installed, I think thats probably because I used blutac to hold them up. It seemed like a good idea though at the time.

 

no..but on a serious and somewhat less sarcastic note. I have done over 40 of them over the last 7 years, never have I ever had one wobble, fall down, explode, send out shrapnel or anything else which has caused anyone any harm. Of course..that doesnt mean that one never will, but hell..if I got worried about whether anything would ever happen I would end up never opening a pc, let alone doing anything more

 

I guess if I had only done 3 or 4, I might be concerned, but at over 40 of them, I have probably done more successful installs of them than some so-called professional installers

 

Does anyone insist on their projectors being installed with secondary fixings i.e a steel cable to prevent this? Just wondering as we don't but we had some speaker installed in school hall recently and they were.

 

Ben

 

Yeah, secondary steel cables, and a 1214 security approved clamp are a must if you are doing it properly.

[Guest]

Out of interest Jake what kind on cover / insurance have you got to cover such an incident?

[Jake]

To be entirely honest with you Sysman..I really dont know, the NM and SMT tell me its covered, and thats good enough for me

[Geoff]

I'd get that in writing personally.

[Jake]

I suppose I should...but then again, I *should* wear antistatic wriststraps and crud , I *should* never browse non work related stuff at work , I *should* never do a number of things.

 

I dont know, I just never bothered with getting stuff in writing. Guess that I've just been doing it my way for so long now (decade and a half) that I just get on and do what I do

[Disease]

Public liability licence.

[Face-Man]

Just get an email from them saying they authorise you to do it and they take full responsibility for any liabilities that occur. There are enough lawers out there willing to sue the school... by the way you have had the relavant ladder health and safety training (As I said before the hassle I would have to go through to do it myself) even the emails have to be sent in triplicate to get things done around here

[Jake]

I had ladder HS training many years ago, though admittedly I dont know if I need re-training. Bah...lawyers will sue for anything...every week that passes this country gets more like the US, I am surprised most mornings that I can speak to students without written permission without being charged with trying to groom them.

[Disease]

Just get an email from them saying they authorise you to do it and they take full responsibility for any liabilities that occur. There are enough lawers out there willing to sue the school... by the way you have had the relavant ladder health and safety training (As I said before the hassle I would have to go through to do it myself) even the emails have to be sent in triplicate to get things done around here

 

Why? You would be covered by the schools public liability insurance.

 

Ladder HS course, wtf??!?!?!?! Do you people get anything done without stopping to check if

 

1. You will be sued

2.Unless they send you on a course

3. if you can sue them.

 

Jesus christ no wonder schools are screwed if everyone had that attitude, jesus guys just get on and do it.

 

Why on earth would I go on a ladder saftey course? I am not a retard I know how to climb up and down a ladder without falling off, it's called Self preservation!

 

 

What next "can't change the toner as I don't have the relevant Toner Changing Health and Saftey Certificate"¬!

[Jake]

See...now look what I have started..I knew I should have lied and just said yes I do have it in writing

[Disease]

Besides we don't use ladders here when we put up projectors, we use the tables, far more sturdy than some damn ladder!

[Geoff]

Some of us have been suspended for less.