Danny Greco knows the best job for him is when he works with both his mind and his hands – combining the physical part of a position with the mental challenges. At H&S Protection, he’s found that perfect fit.

He’d been working for another security company for five years when his brother introduced him to H&S ownership at the time, which led to an interview, then to his being hired. As a technician at the time, he brought those skills over to H&S, and has refined them into his current position as a Systems Designer/Inside Sales.

In the sales arena, he focuses on existing customers where he’s worked on past installations. Access control and large camera system installations are his forte, his way of “keeping customers happy.”

 

Danny typically designs larger-scale systems for H&S’s Waukesha, WI office, and also “brings in a few new customers each year. I like to eliminate the word ‘should’ from interactions with customers. We need to provide customers the certainty of knowing exactly what we are and aren’t capable of in terms of our installation abilities,” he said.

 

Greco found school wasn’t the way he wanted to advance when he moved into the workforce. “Maybe that’s how I got to where I am today,” he laughed. “I don’t like to sit still. I like to work with my mind and hands, and being a technician is a good fit.”

 

He finds that communication between H&S staff is a strong reason to recommend H&S to clients. “We don’t have a large staff. But we do more based on our communication than you’ll see in any corporation. Our staff trusts each other tremendously. They’re great people to work with day-in and day-out. We help each other personally,” he said.

Danny enjoys the freedom of his position, not having to be managed. “Steve (Garritson, H&S Co-Owner) gives me freedom to do my job. He knows and trusts what we can do,” Greco observed.

 

In turn, Danny trusts his teammates. “When I sell a job, I hand it over to operations. I rely on them to line it up to our standards. They do a tremendous job,” he said.

 

When the day or week is done, Danny likes to follow his love of sports. He enjoys tossing bags in a local league, spending time with his girlfriend Kelsey and his family. He is also seeking exempt status on the Bad Golf Tour.

 

Danny can be reached directly at dgreco@hsprotection.net or 262.894.2461.

(Editor’s note: This is Part III and the conclusion of our Bar Cameras blog — The Hardware Store. Thank you for joining us.).

The Hardware Store

Though H&S scopes out materials before each installation, there are times where additional parts are needed. Sometimes they need to be ordered or a member of the team brings it out to the site. And sometimes the technicians head to the hardware store next door to keep the process flowing.

Hills takes a couple of trips across the street from the BR to pick up conduit couplers and later to conduit pipe. A big part of a successful install is having the right tools for the job.

“It’s good to have a hardware store next door,” Hills chuckled, after picking up 10 feet of conduit pipe for $9.55. “Hopefully this is our last visit,” he laughed while talking with the woman sales clerk as he paid.

Before putting in the last two cameras, Hills and Mence must run the conduit piping to a junction box, where the cabling will then be directed right and left through more conduit piping to their final destination: the two corner cameras. “It’s a very methodical process,” Hills said.

Threading the cabling through the conduit piping is done manually, either with or without fish tape (harder plastic wiring taped to the cable to ease it more quickly and easily through the piping). In this case, Mence pushes the cabling through, while Hills navigates the fish tape, pulling the wiring through from the far end of the metal tubing.

Troubleshooting

As Hills and Mence wrapped up the final stages of the install, connecting the cabling to the two outdoor cameras, they looked forward to their next assignments with interest. Hills is scheduled for a security system install in New London, WI, and Mence will head to Beaver Dam to put in alarm communicators. Both enjoy the diversity of the assignments, the drive time through central Wisconsin and getting to interact with new people.

With the cameras connected, Hills and Mence put the finishing touches on the BR project, getting the internet connection and firing up the DVR (Digital Video Recorder) to test the cameras’ connectivity.

Of the eight cameras, seven come up the screen. Hills troubleshoots, changing ports with the cable to see if that is where the problem lies. No dice.

He heads downstairs and out back to check on the cable connection to the camera, while Mence checks on the camera angles indoor to ensure they aim in exact direction that the customer wants.

As Hills returns with no success in bringing up the eighth camera on the screen, he gets on the phone with the equipment supplier to let him know about the problem and see if he can solve the problem while he’s onsite. They determine it’s likely a faulty DVR, and it must be replaced, and Hills contacts Lukasavige to let him know about the glitch. With the customer, Hills decides the following Monday H&S will bring a new DVR to the business.

Hills gives the BR staff a tutorial to operate the system, navigating the mouse to demonstrate where to click on the screen for various functions. He promises to give them further instructions the following week when he returns with the new DVR to ensure they are comfortable and up-to-speed on the system.

As Hills and Mence cleaned up, Hills noted the importance of leaving the site as clean as when they arrived, and: “The most important thing is making sure you have all your tools.”

Ironically, he began searching for his drill, first outside, then inside the BR, before coming back outside and finding it next to where he’d finished the final camera install. “That’s what I’m talking about,” he laughed.

“You need to have a backup for your tools. If you lose a cutter, you better have another cutter ready,” he observed.

(Editor’s note: This is Part I in a series from H&S Protection on a recent bar/restaurant video camera installation to give customers insights into how we protect their businesses.)

Once a security systems sale concludes, our installation team goes into action. Recently we followed Matt Hills and Walker Mence as they finished an eight-camera indoor/outdoor (six indoor, two outdoor) installation at a bar/restaurant in Amherst, WI.

Operations develops a scope of the install, preps the installation team and determines the most convenient time for the customer so H&S doesn’t impede during high traffic customer hours. In this case, Matt and Walker started on Monday, when the BR (bar/restaurant) was closed so they could get most of the work done with no business interruptions. Tuesday, they finished the project in time before the BR opened later in the day.

“We make a big effort to get everything done in the high traffic areas when the business is closed. We don’t want to impede customer service.  Jeff (Lukasavige, Operations Manager) puts that into our calendars,” Walker explained.

Work began Tuesday with all four indoor cameras placed per the customer’s direction and with professional insights from H&S personnel. Additional wiring and drilling through the backwall concrete was required for this two-tiered install.

Walker took on the finishing touches of the indoor cameras Tuesday, while Matt jumped on the drill. “We’ve got to start with a smaller hole and then if we need to, we’ll work our way onto a bigger one,” Matt observed.

Before firing up the drill, Hills put in his earplugs and went around to each member of the BR staff to offer them ear protection as well. “We make sure to give earplugs to the cook staff. I always carry extra ear plugs,” he said.

Drill Time

“This is the fun part,” Matt said, as he fired up the drill, applied force to dig the bit in, and the dust started grinding out. Punching through after several minutes, he explained how the next step was to run conduit through the hole for the two outdoor cameras.

While Matt examined his work downstairs, Walker put the finishing wiring touches on cameras upstairs.

When Hills went outside to admire his handiwork, it wasn’t quite up to his standards. To get the right angle on the mount once he ran the cabling through the concrete, Hills decided he needed to drill a slightly stepper angle through the wall.

His second drill session deemed a success, Hills inserted tubing, then threaded the cabling through the hole. He attached a four-square box, and slid the cabling through it before beginning the next step: running conduit pipe to the back of the building and then right and left to the corners.

(Stay tuned for parts II and III of this story.)