Why I Built Inspire Audio Visual

By Ben Davies, Founder & Director of Inspire Audio Visual

Inspire Audio Visual started in 2009.

At the time, I probably didn’t have some perfectly polished vision of what the company would look like nearly two decades later. What I did have was a very clear idea of how I thought clients should be looked after.

I wanted to build a company around good advice, good engineering and doing things properly.

That sounds simple.

In reality, it has shaped almost every decision we’ve made since.

It was never really about selling technology

I’ve always loved technology, audio, cinema and the possibilities of a genuinely well-designed smart home.

But the longer I’ve worked in this industry, the more I’ve realised that the technology itself is only part of the job.

Clients don’t really want a rack full of equipment.

They want to walk into a room and press one button.

They want the lighting to feel right.

They want the music to play.

They want the television to work.

They want the Wi-Fi to be reliable.

They want their blinds, heating, security and entertainment to work together without having to understand what is happening behind the scenes.

And perhaps most importantly, they want somebody they trust at the other end of the phone when something isn’t right.

That philosophy has become increasingly important to me as Inspire has grown.

Complex technology should create a simpler home, not a more complicated one.

Growing without losing what mattered

Over the years, Inspire has changed considerably.

We’ve worked on everything from individual media rooms and home cinemas through to large whole-house systems incorporating lighting, audio, video, networking, CCTV, access control, heating, blinds and automation.

Projects have taken us throughout Yorkshire, Cheshire, London and across the UK, with systems ranging from relatively simple installations through to homes containing hundreds of thousands of pounds of technology.

We’ve been fortunate enough to work in some incredible properties.

But strangely, those aren’t necessarily the things I remember most.

I remember the families.

I remember clients inviting us back years later.

I remember working on one part of somebody's house and then being trusted to do the next one.

I remember children growing up in homes we've worked in.

And I remember recommendations from one client turning into relationships with another.

For me, that has always been a better measure of the business than simply how many projects we complete.

The client comes first — even when nobody sees our name

One of the things that probably says quite a lot about Inspire is that, for a period, we actually removed the branding from our vans.

We were working for some relatively well-known clients who understandably didn't want people knowing what work was being carried out inside their homes.

They asked whether we could arrive in unbranded vehicles.

So we did.

From a marketing perspective, having blank vans driving around the country probably wasn't the greatest strategy.

But it was right for the client.

And that's always been the test.

Even today, there are projects we're incredibly proud of that will never appear on Instagram, never become a case study and never be photographed.

If a client wants complete discretion, that's what they get.

Their home isn't our marketing material.

Doing things properly

As the company developed, another principle became increasingly important to me:

If we don't believe something is right for the project, we should be prepared to say so.

There is always another piece of technology you can sell.

Another upgrade.

Another feature.

Another box.

But more isn't automatically better.

The best systems are normally the ones where somebody has taken the time to understand how the family actually lives.

Who uses the house?

What happens when they wake up?

How do they entertain?

Where do they listen to music?

What happens in the evening?

Do they want visible technology, or should virtually everything disappear into the architecture?

Only then should you start deciding what equipment belongs in the building.

That's also why we've increasingly become involved earlier in projects.

Good smart-home design starts long before somebody asks where the television is going.

It involves architects, interior designers, lighting designers, electricians, developers and the client all understanding what the finished house is meant to feel like.

Get those decisions right early and the technology almost disappears.

Get them wrong and you're forever trying to engineer around compromises.

The industry has changed dramatically

When Inspire began in 2009, the smart-home market looked very different.

Technology has improved enormously.

Networks have become fundamental to almost everything inside the home.

Streaming has transformed how we consume music and film.

Lighting control has moved far beyond simple dimming.

Security, access control, environmental systems, voice control and automation have become increasingly connected.

And now AI is beginning to change the way systems are designed, programmed and eventually how people will interact with their homes.

But there is an interesting contradiction.

As the technology becomes more sophisticated, I believe the client's experience should become simpler.

The engineering behind a modern home can be incredibly complex.

The homeowner shouldn't have to know that.

They should simply know that it works.

What we've learned from working in people's homes

Working in someone's home is different from working in almost any other environment.

You're entering somebody's private space.

Sometimes you're there during a major construction project.

Sometimes the family is already living there.

Sometimes you're fixing a system installed by somebody else.

Sometimes you're involved with a home for many years.

That brings a responsibility that goes beyond installation.

You have to respect the property.

You have to respect privacy.

You have to communicate properly.

And when something goes wrong — because occasionally technology does go wrong — you have to take ownership of it.

I think clients remember how a company behaves when there's a problem far more than they remember how it behaves when everything is easy.

That has certainly influenced how I run Inspire.

Building the right team

Another thing I've learned is that no founder builds a company alone.

As Inspire has grown, one of the things I'm proudest of is the knowledge within our team.

Design, programming, engineering, project management and installation are all different disciplines.

Great projects happen when those people work together.

My role has changed considerably because of that.

In the early days you're involved in virtually everything.

As the business grows, part of the challenge is allowing people who are better than you at certain things to take ownership of them.

That's healthy.

The objective shouldn't be to build a company that revolves around its founder.

It should be to build a company where the standards and philosophy survive regardless of who happens to be on site that day.

I'm still obsessed with the details

That doesn't mean I've stopped being involved.

Quite the opposite.

I can still disappear down a rabbit hole discussing a lighting detail, speaker position, cinema design, control interface or some new piece of technology that might solve a problem we've been wrestling with.

I'm genuinely fascinated by where the industry is going.

But experience has changed the question I ask.

Years ago, it might have been:

"What can this technology do?"

Today it's much more likely to be:

"Does this actually make the client's home better?"

There's a big difference.

What Inspire means to me today

Nearly two decades after starting Inspire, the business is considerably larger and the projects are considerably more sophisticated.

But the core idea hasn't really changed.

Do good work.

Be straightforward with people.

Design systems properly.

Look after the client.

And build something you'd be happy putting into your own home.

We're not interested in installing technology simply for the sake of it.

The aim is to create homes that are easier to live in, enjoyable to spend time in and technically capable without feeling technical.

Sometimes that means a dedicated home cinema with an enormous screen and immersive audio.

Sometimes it's beautifully designed architectural lighting.

Sometimes it's whole-house automation.

And sometimes it's simply making sure the Wi-Fi works everywhere.

All of those things matter if they matter to the person living there.

What's next?

I'm probably more interested in the future of our industry now than I've ever been.

AI, intelligent lighting, energy management, presence detection and increasingly contextual automation will change what we think of as a "smart home".

I think we're moving away from homes that simply respond to commands towards homes that better understand what is happening around them.

But my view of the technology remains the same.

The cleverest system isn't necessarily the one with the most automation.

It's the one that feels completely natural to the person using it.

That's what we're continuing to work towards at Inspire.

Technology that can be enormously sophisticated behind the scenes...

and wonderfully simple in front of the client.

— Ben Davies
Founder & Director
Inspire Audio Visual Ltd