"If another company can 'do it all,' then you might lose the client entirely," DeBenedictus says.

Working with their local Wesco distributor, D-Ben designed and installed a four-zone audio system with indoor and outdoor music and program reinforcement and app-based control. The project has already generated a follow-on order for additional outdoor speakers, with further expansion anticipated alongside a planned pool deck renovation. One relationship, protected. New revenue, earned.

Leaving Profits on the Table

Phoenix Fire & Security in New York City already had a full low-voltage division – telecom, Wi-Fi, video surveillance, access control, fiber termination, and FCC-certified fire department communications – when project manager Joe Perez started doing the math on what they were giving away.

The firm was deep into the build-out of Maison 78, a luxury residential building on Manhattan's Upper East Side, when an AV scope worth $500,000 landed on the table. An outside AV consultant had designed a zoned architectural audio system for the building's amenity spaces – a dramatic double-height lounge, a children's playroom, a luxury fitness center, two yoga studios. Perez was confident he could deliver the same outcome for half the cost.

"I explained to [company President Val Sherer] that we were leaving a significant amount of money on the table by not doing audio video," Perez says.

Perez had spent nearly a decade in AV before joining Phoenix, and his expertise gave the company the confidence to quote sophisticated projects. For Maison 78, he relied on trusted components he could monitor and service remotely. A head-to-head speaker demonstration against the pricier products on the consultant's original bill of materials won Phoenix the work.

His formula for successful AV expansion: take on properly scoped projects with a thorough initial design – one that can be executed without change orders driving up hours and costs. "If you do it correctly and it's designed correctly," Perez says, "it's very profitable."

The One-Call Wonder

Keith Margeson named his Orange County company Advantage Security Plus, and he'll tell you the "Plus" is load-bearing. It's a promise – that he can handle the full low-voltage stack, not just life safety and security. His business case is simple: clients would rather manage one vendor than an army of specialists.

"It's not unusual on a commercial build to have seven different subcontractors managing different pieces of the low-voltage scope," Margeson says. "Contractors give us repeat business because with us, it's one phone call."

That consolidation has compounded. In 2025, Margeson executed an office remodel for a financial services firm that included 40 networked displays and multiple video walls. The principal of that firm, who regularly entertains high-net-worth clients at his home, liked what he saw and brought Margeson in for a residential project – one that blended traditional security with high-visibility AV designed to impress guests. That project fed the next one, and the next.

"If you do right by these highly connected clients – if you're honest about where to spend money and where not to, if you answer the phone, if the system actually works – you'll never run out of referrals," Margeson says.

A Common Thread

For all three integrators, the same theme kept surfacing: trust. Security integrators handle life-safety-critical systems. Their clients already believe in them. Adding AV services builds on that foundation, provided the work is done well enough not to put the underlying relationship at risk.

For integrators looking to make the leap, a knowledgeable distributor can help with specification and design as you enter the vertical. As your experience deepens, so does your ability to spec more complex jobs with confidence. And as those systems succeed in the field, your reputation follows. AV is a natural word-of-mouth catalyst.

Your clients trust you. The question is whether you trust yourself to do more for them.