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 No Two Aquarium Sources Are Alike!
You're planning to use a large custom aquarium as a design element for the new addition to
your home. You hired an architect who drew up a beautiful design. You consulted an aquarium expert for assistance during the design process to ensure everything was properly planned. You submitted the blueprints to several aquarium stores. Now you're looking at several bids for the project and wondering why there are huge discrepancies for specified aquariums & aquarium equipment and total costs for the job. You're not alone! It happens every day in this industry.
Even though you may specify sizes and types of equipment for a custom aquarium, there are many different brands available to choose from. Every store sells different aquarium equipment and will use what they regularly sell when bidding on a project. The problem is that like anything else you buy, there are high quality products and those of much lower quality. Once again, just like anything else you buy, you get
what you pay for. If there are precise specifications for the equipment in your bid, such as the wattage of a UV sterilizer or the G.P.H. rating of a pump, you will still get a wide variety of prices based solely on differences in the brands of equipment a store sells. If you leave those specifications up to the bidders, you will get an even greater disparity between total costs for the project because every "professional" aquarist has a different opinion and level of experience.
The lowest bid is rarely the best choice!
So how do you decide which bid to accept for your custom aquarium project? The last thing you want to do is make your decision based solely on price. Custom built-in aquariums are expensive, and there's no such thing as a discount source. No matter what you're told, nearly all good aquarium stores use the same mark-up on
the products they sell. For that reason, experienced custom aquarium designers will usually submit bids that are relatively close in price. The net-profit for custom aquarium work is always lower than that earned from the sale of standard aquariums. If one bid for equipment is much lower than others, it is either because the store is inexperienced in sizing equipment for a big job and has chosen items that are too small for the job, or the store is quoting equipment that is cheaply-built and of
much lower quality than those listed in the other bids.
Look out for low installation labor quotations! You're not going to get a bargain! We recommend always getting at least four bids for any large aquarium project. For experienced aquarium sources, the labor to install is the one item with which they can compete. In spite of this, labor prices from experienced stores will usually be much higher and close in price to one another. After all, they have
done a lot of jobs, and know the time involved in completing your project. An inexperienced store that has underbid the labor for a job will quickly learn their mistake when they start work on the project.
If a business isn't making that much money on a job, their heart won't be in the work. Unless you have a lot of experience with aquariums, you may not know if a problem exists with an installation until there's a serious problem with livestock or water quality. By then, the aquarium store will be paid in full. Getting your money back or getting them to make improvements for free will be difficult, if not impossible,
regardless of any guarantees they gave you. No aquarium business will allow you to withhold final payment until after the aquarium is fully-stocked because of the amount of time involved for that to happen. You can sue, but only your lawyer will truly get compensated (They always do!).
Negotiating a Better Price - Is it worth it?
We know we'll get a few mean-spirited comments about this next statement, but the truth can sometimes hurt. Not all great aquarium stores are good at designing custom built-in aquariums. Good custom aquarium work usually requires an excellent working knowledge of plumbing, HVAC & electrical, carpentry & millwork
trades, and the ability to read blueprints and coordinate with other trades. Aquarium stores that are an excellent source for hobbyists may know aquariums and fish inside and out, but they may not know everything about requirements by other trades or may lack the engineering knowledge needed to do a good job on a very large built-in installation.
Unfortunately, good professional aquarium businesses that know all the ins and outs of custom aquarium design are hard to find. They command top dollar for what they do, and they know they can because competition is low and they don't consider some competitors as competition at all. Using the "other guy is a lot cheaper" technique won't work with them. They'll tell you to use the
"other guy" and wish you "good luck." These companies will always have plenty of work to keep them busy, and will rarely budge when it comes to lowering their price. Be careful not to burn your bridges. If you push too hard, they'll flat out turn down the job, and you may lose the best resource for your new aquarium. They know that if you won't pay their price, the next person that comes along will. Aquariums are very popular. Hundreds of new custom aquariums are installed
each week in this country. The Aquarium Professionals Group bids on several large custom aquarium jobs each week. It is not safe to assume that you're the only job in town, regardless of the amount of money you're spending.
So what's the bottom line? The majority of people who have large custom built-in aquariums installed in their home or office are not aquarium hobbyists. It is important to be an educated consumer, but with aquaria this presents a problem. Making a truly-educated decision on an an aquarium purchase will require months of study. Some sources may have outrageous prices, but if you select a bid that's
somewhere in the middle of the range, you'll probably do well. You may know how to negotiate a better deal on many items, but unless you know a lot about aquariums, it is usually better to select a good reputable source, bite the bullet, and pay their price. You'll save money in the long run.
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