You actually have local dealers? That's surprising, although here, we have a few places that are still open, but they also do custom installs. One failed because the owner/president basically lost interest and the company was bought by a furniture/appliance box store, so they're still operating but the rest all closed because of the owners retiring or the businesses lost customers to online sellers.
Showrooms are really a thing of the past- the money a dealer makes in profit and would have kept their B&M store open now goes to hedging against bad times.
Working at a stereo store used to be fun, then it became challenging, then it became a royal PITA. We had to deal with catalog dealers who sold for less, took peoples' money and provided bad service. Then, a regional appliance/white goods dealer came to town with his carnival, convincing people that they were getting a great deal, but no local service. Then, the internet came along with its low prices (often because the resellers were engaging in bait & switch and weren't actual dealers for the brands) and even that regional company failed even though they had 8 stores and made a killing on furniture/appliances and extended warranties, but lost their direction.
Beast Buy has survived, but they're far from a place where someone can go for knowledgeable salespeople and while Magnolia stores exist, their level of expertise varies greatly.
However, knowing that many people will never actually go shopping for some things, finding a certain type of client pays off. They want better quality, they want it to be a simpler process and they WILL pay for it, even if they end up paying more than normal but one thing is certain- they WILL make people jump through some hoops. Not clearing out the area where someone will be working is somewhat rude- it's the same as saying "You can go ahead and do what the house cleaner could have done, for much less money". It's the same as taking a car or boat to have it serviced or a car stereo installed without clearing out the areas where the work will be done and when this happens with boats, it's REALLY annoying.
The right thing to do in these cases is to charge for ALL of the time & materials required, not to tack on a premium just because the people are wealthy but by the same token, wealthy people need to suck it up and pay what is charged because in the grand scheme, a few hundred bucks means nothing to them in real terms. OTOH, they do like to keep tabs on their money, that's for sure. I have actually had retired people with lots of money say that they need a good price because they're on a fixed income. Yeah, they'll get a good price, alright.
The problem is, most people have absolutely no idea what is required, in order to do the work involved. Should they not be paid for admin that's done on behalf of the client, especially when it requires code compliance? Expecting a whole-house generator for three grand is ludicrous- sure, someone can buy an 8KW model at Harbor Freight, but what about the transfer switch? What about contacting the utility and making sure the installation doesn't start a fire in the house or cause problems for the neighboring power company customers? Will the new generator be large enough, or will it puke in a few hours because it was treated like a farm animal by more than one HVAC system, a couple of wine caves, two SubZero fridges and a giant home theater, all wanting theirs at the same time?
Nobody is forced into buying a multi-million dollar home and wealthy people whining about a few hundred dollars is pretty lame. I had one client complain that the $300/day dockage fee for his >$1.25 Million boat were killing him, when HE chose to bring it here for me to change the audio system. I know where he keeps it and it would cost almost as much in fuel to return to that port as it did for the whole week of dockage.
I have no problem if someone has more money than they can spend, but they need to have realistic expectations and a clear view of life, rather than sitting around being self-satisfied and by telling people how much they have, like relaying comments about living in the most expensive part of LA. Ooooh, impressive........Don't give a rat's ass- just don't throw it in peoples' faces.
