J. Marc Franken works on some of the biggest and most expensive private boats in the world. By big, one would mean a 400-foot craft that has enough room to dock another boat, or maybe helicopter. And by expensive one would be talking about a price tag that only the wealthiest can even think to afford. Welcome to the world of the super mega yacht, one of the ultimate categories in the luxury market. 

The chance to work in a historically famous home is not a something dealers come across on a regular basis. Adam Eberhardt and his team from Comtec, an integrator in North Carolina, got such an opportunity. Not only was the home they worked in a piece of history; it is perhaps one of the most famous homes ever built in the United States. And it needed the help of a custom installer.

Working for your boss can be hard enough, especially when you work for someone who is good and what he (or she) does, and who has achieved well-earned respect in the field. Now, put an installer in that position and make it even harder: Put him in charge of the installation for his boss’ own home. That’s exactly where Netzer Martinez found himself in one of his most recent installations.

The higher end you get in the custom installation business, the greater the needs of the clients can be, as well as their expectations. You’ve got to give them what they want and sometimes more. Michael Wohl, owner of Dania Beach, Florida’s Media Design Associates saw this during a recent installation his company took on. Of the clients he said, “They stayed out of your way, but you knew that it had to be right. They needed to be serviced well.”

One of the biggest trends driving the high-rise luxury condominium market is the inward urban migration of wealthy retirees. These older residents may be slowing down their professional workloads, but they are still heavily on the move and crave a downtown lifestyle. They also sometimes seek smaller residences that require less maintenance and offer amenities that only a building with a concierge staff can provide. But what they also want are home entertainment systems for their new abodes that provide just as much quality and high-end appeal as larger installations.

Sometimes theaters are designed around a particular theme and sometimes they focus on a particular product line. This home theater installation was little bit of both. The client, homeowner Tom Schendler, president of major appliances retailer Warehouse Discount Center of Moorpark, Calif. wanted the feel of the theater to reflect the Mediterranean, complete with murals that evoke the lakes of Tuscany, Italy. He contracted Paradise Theater, a design company with offices in Colorado and Hawaii, to create the theater.

When Tyler Jennings started his company four years ago, he got into his car and drove through the area known as Park City, Utah. Known for its affluent denizens, Jennings was not there to scope them out, but rather look for the signs advertising the building contractors that were responsible for outfitting the jet-set class with luxury homes. “You get a sense for who is large and who is not,” explains Jennings. “For example, one of the biggest companies in our area is called Big-D.

Competition runs high in the luxury condo market. Rapid expansion of what is also called the multi-dwelling unit (MDU) market has been a characteristic of the last several years. But with the housing market down and buyers tightening their belts, developers of these posh pads need to include amenities to make their addresses stand out—including brands from the CE world. For Bang & Olufsen (B&O), this is the perfect opportunity.