Years ago I was working in the then second tallest building in the State Capitol city. I will leave the name out because, frankly, I don't think the customer will see this, but I do respect their privacy. I had been brought in to the job about three fourths of the way through, as the original guy on the job had taken a different offer (more then that, but that's enough.)
Anyhow, the building had great views. They owned the top floor.
I was installing a multi zone, multi source system. I had just finished programming the xantech 730 keypads (pre clone era, so each pad needed to be programmed). I scheduled the final walk through, only to have the homeowner tell me that she had been told that the system would have a global keypad location in the front hall as well as zone only keypads in every other room in the house.
Well. AMC's Dave Williams came through after several desperate conversations, and designed a series of diodes and such so that I could indeed have global controls from one keypad location.
I ended up putting two more weeks into the job building the circuit, cutting in a double gang box and getting a 10 gang decora (try that if you dare...) trim, programming many of the devices over, etc.
The moral: Know where you are going. Make sure you and your customer agree on where you are going. Get it in writing. Know your equipment. Never promise what you can't deliver.
