“What a long, strange trip it’s been” could very well describe Nate Hibschman’s career path. Hibschman, the owner of AVTech Specialists Inc., had an early background in IT, but AV was nowhere on his radar. That all changed with a simple phone call.
“Back in the early ’10s, I was the director of IT for a local orthopedic firm in South Bend, Indiana,” explains Hibschman. “I got a phone call one night from a doctor who said, ‘Hey, Nate, I know this isn’t really what you do, but you’re the IT guy. You can fix anything. Could you come over to my house? I’m having problems with my Blu-ray player.’ I said, ‘Sure, I’m happy to help.’
“So, I went to his home, and he explained that his young daughter somehow inserted six Blu-ray discs into his (then) $1000 Blu-ray player. He took me down to his basement, and lo and behold, here’s this beautiful basement, which was built around a home theater. Once I gave him the unfortunate news that his Blu-ray player was kaput, I took a deeper look at what he had going on in his home.
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“When the doctor built his home, he spent upward of $200K on audio/video with a local company. And he said nothing has ever worked as they said it was supposed to. Case in point: Anytime he watches a movie, a purple line scrolls from top to bottom. He asked if I’d be willing to look at it. At the time, I had only dabbled with residential AV in my own home. I switched him from component video to HDMI, made some network upgrades, and learned from there.”
And that’s where AVTech’s humble beginning started.
Incorporating in 2014, AV installation was a side gig for several years, consisting of “two guys and a truck.” The biggest hurdle to getting AVTech established and growing was the local builders’ “boys club” mentality. If a builder had an established relationship with an AV installer — regardless of their quality of work — that’s who they’d continue to use. Much of the company’s growth came from word of mouth.
The tipping point for going all-in on AV came from an installation that took place over Memorial Day weekend in 2020. At that time, Hibschman had two full-time employees working while he was still moonlighting at it. While the employees appreciated the work, they gave Hibschman the option of going full-time with the business or getting out entirely.
“I was doing very well in the IT space, but I think that was the push from my friends and family to say, look, this is very successful — people are coming to you left and right asking for you to do things,” says Hibschman. “We think you should do this full-time. So, my wife and I sat down and had a long conversation about how this would work out, and that’s when I decided to do this full-time. Now we’re coming up on five years that this is our main gig, and it’s worked out very well.”
AVTech started 100% on the residential side, but that has evolved into a 75/25 split between residential and commercial projects today. Many of the commercial projects resulted from a successful residential project, averaging between five to ten commercial projects a year.
“More often than not, we meet on the residential side of things, and they’re impressed with how we’re obsessed with exceptional work — nothing’s ever good enough,” says Hibschman. “They see that level of perfection and dedication to it. And oftentimes, when we’re getting the phone call, it’s because the customer had worked with other integrators or electrical contractors that said they’d be able to make this or that work and do this and do that, and it just didn’t work out well. They’d say, ‘Hey, Nate, we’re so happy with what you’ve done for us at our house. Would you be willing to look at our business?’ Because, again, people just like the detail-oriented work that we do.”
One of AVTech’s most significant ongoing challenges is educating others — customers, contractors, or builders — on properly installing AV systems.
“Electrical contractors are starting to dive into what we do because they see it as another avenue to make money. And what we’ve seen, at least in our area, is that more often than not, you have people who think they know what they’re doing, but don’t in reality. It’s giving us as integrators a bad name. I wish there were a way to educate home builders better. I feel like in bigger areas of the country, these aren’t the type of problems that integrators have to deal with. But I think that education and an emphasis on the importance of ensuring a home is wired properly will be a constant challenge.”
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Moving forward, AVTech plans to expand relationships with builders in its area and discuss the benefits of having some aspects of AV/IT technology installed in new homes before offering them for sale. Initial installations in new homes have had overwhelmingly positive results. Prospective home buyers get excited seeing that they already have Wi-Fi, home audio, or automated lighting installed. Keeping up with new technology offerings is also a high priority for Hibschman’s team.
No one truly knows what tomorrow’s technology will look like. What is clear, though, is that residential AV is poised to be more dynamic, immersive, and connected than ever before. As advancements in AI, IoT, and virtualization continue to integrate into the residential AV ecosystem, customers can expect unprecedented levels of automation, personalization, and interactivity.
Hibschman agrees: “We plan on hiring more passionate people who love what we’re doing because we don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. We can’t help but feel excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. It will certainly be fun to be along for the ride!”
For more information, visit www.rightchoiceav.com.
