If you are considering going into the building controls and automation business, one of your first steps should be to determine the sales potential in your region.

While the potential for business can seem limitless at first, you must develop realistic targets for total volume. This indudes carefully examining the overall controls industry potential and your own strengths and focus, as well as those of your established competitors.

A Formula For Success

The prime factor that determines the overall control industry sales potential in any given territory is population. Population drives building construction, past and present, and, therefore, both new construction and retrofit potential.

For example, in 1998, the total building controls installed systems market volume was $3.15 billion. According to BCS Partners, a New Jersey-based consulting firm in the building controls industry, the U.S. population is approximately 250 million, thus making the overall annual building control market about $12.60 per person. Hence, a city of one million in its metropolitan area should produce about $12.6 million in the controls business. This is installed controls contract business, exclusive of service or the occasional major building automation project.