Sonos + OneVision: Why Service Is Becoming the Real Growth Engine for Residential Integrators

Residential integration has always been built on the thrill of the install. New gear. New rack. New project. New client. New referral.But over the last few years, the economics of integration have been shifting. The business is no longer won and lost on a single job. It is shaped by what happens after the job is “done”. The phone calls, the troubleshooting, the updates, the service tickets, the angry texts on a Saturday morning, and the slow realization that the service department is either the most overlooked liability on the books…or the most valuable asset. Sonos and OneVision are aiming to fix that.

That shift was the heart of a recent conversation between Sonos’ Casey Clemens and OneVision’s Joey Kolchinsky, where both leaders offered a clear message to the channel: service is not just overhead anymore. It is becoming the operating system for sustainable growth. This conversation was prompted by a recent episode of AVNation’s ResiWeek.

And in a year where many integrators remain skeptical about manufacturers’ motives. Especially after widely discussed software instability in the market. The conversation also raised a bigger question: what does a “healthy” manufacturer-integrator relationship actually look like when service and long-term client experience are the real business?

The Old Model: “Sell, Install, Move On”

For many residential integrators, the traditional growth loop is still familiar:

1. Sell a project
2. Install the project
3. Survive the service calls
4. Hope the client refers the next client

It works. Until it doesn’t.

As Kolchinsky put it, integrators today are increasingly realizing their company’s value is tied to something beyond one-time revenue: ongoing relationships and the customer experience that protects those relationships over time.

That aligns with what many owners already feel in practice: a business with a recurring service base tends to be more stable, more predictable, and more attractive from a valuation standpoint than one built only on new installs.

The issue is that the model most residential firms grew up with never fully “priced in” what service actually costs.

Service was treated as the unavoidable tax you pay to keep selling. Now it is becoming the product.

The Reality Check: The Economic Relationship Hasn’t Caught Up

One of the sharpest points in the discussion was also one of the simplest: the channel’s incentives are aligned, but the economics often aren’t.

Kolchinsky argued that manufacturers, integrators, and end users are all ultimately pulling in the same direction. A reliable, high-quality home experience. But the structure of the industry hasn’t always supported that reality.

Integrators depend on manufacturers for hardware and software that hold up in the field, along with training and tools to support those products efficiently. Manufacturers depend on integrators to deliver the client experience and protect the brand inside the home. And homeowners increasingly expect the performance and uptime of consumer tech. With the white-glove support of a premium service provider.

Everyone wants the same destination.

But the road gets bumpy when service is the responsibility of the integrator…while the manufacturer’s only transaction is the original hardware sale.

That tension has been growing. And it is one reason conversations like this keep resurfacing across the channel: integrators are being asked to deliver higher support outcomes. Without always having the systems, margins, staffing, or tools to make it sustainable.

“It’s not about one-time sales anymore. It’s about ongoing sales and recurring services and recurring relationships.”

Sonos’ Position: “We Have the Privilege…And the Responsibility”

From Sonos’ side, Clemens framed the partnership through a strategic lens rather than a promotional one. He described Sonos’ approach to supporting professional dealers through four pillars, starting with simplicity. Essentially, reducing friction in how integrators do business with the brand.

But the more interesting takeaway wasn’t simplicity as a buzzword. It was Clemens’ explanation of how Sonos sees its role in the residential channel.

He argued that scale and visibility come with obligation: if a manufacturer is large enough to influence the channel, it also has a responsibility to help “raise all boats,” not just move product.

That is an important distinction, because it is a different posture than the one many integrators assume manufacturers have: maximize unit sales and let the channel absorb the pain.

Instead, the Sonos perspective here was that dealers need more than hardware. They need operational leverage.

Not because dealers are failing. Because the industry’s expectations have changed.

The “Working In vs Working On the Business” Problem

A thread that ran through the entire conversation was the challenge of bandwidth. Residential integrators are often caught in a cycle where the business runs them:

• Too many service calls
• Too many client check-ins
• Too many “quick fixes” that aren’t quick
• Not enough time to build repeatable processes
• Not enough time to market
• Not enough time to train
• Not enough time to scale

Clemens called out a common dynamic: when you spend all day working in the business, you can’t work on the business. That is where service platforms like OneVision enter the story. The pitch is not just “remote support.”

It is operational breathing room. It is a way to reduce the constant interruption tax that keeps owners and teams trapped in reactive mode. And from a growth standpoint, that breathing room matters because it creates time to pursue the real levers of scale: better documentation, better sales process, better marketing, better training, and more consistent delivery.

Cynicism and Trust

No modern service conversation in residential AV can avoid the trust issue: integrators have been burned before. In this discussion, both Kolchinsky and Clemens acknowledged what many in the channel are thinking. And what some say openly:

Manufacturers do what they do for their bottom line. Clemens described parts of the industry response as “cynical,” while also admitting he understands where it comes from. And then came the framing point that matters most: the partnership will inevitably be viewed by some as a reaction to software issues from roughly 18 months ago.

Clemens did not deny that narrative exists. But he pushed back on the idea that this effort was created only as damage control. He explained that the strategy behind these channel-support moves began years earlier, and that getting partnerships to market often has a long runway.

In other words: the timing may look reactive, but the intent may not be. Whether the channel accepts that explanation will likely depend less on the messaging and more on outcomes. Because trust in the modern integration world is built the old-fashioned way:

It works. It keeps working. And when it breaks, somebody owns it.

 Who Is This For? The Right Mindset

One of the more practical questions integrators ask when they hear about service platforms is: Is this for me?

Is it for a $500K shop?
A $2M shop?
A $10M shop?
A 50-person integrator?
A one-truck operation?

Kolchinsky’s answer was not tied to company size. It was tied to mentality.

He described how different stages of growth create different barriers:

• A one-person company may be philosophically aligned but financially constrained
• A 5–10 person company is often still owner-led in service, with emotional resistance to handing it off
• A 20+ employee firm may be removed from the day-to-day service pain, making it harder for leadership to feel urgency
• A 50–100 employee operation may see service as a pure business decision, not a survival issue

The consistent theme: service transformation is rarely just a tool change. It is an identity change. It requires integrators to reconsider what they sell and what they are actually responsible for after the job is complete.

Clemens reinforced that point from the Sonos side, noting that dealer tier does not necessarily reflect business sophistication or project scale. Some “lower tier” dealers may be doing large homes but moving fewer Sonos units per job. So if there is a sweet spot, it is less about revenue or volume and more about readiness.

The integrators who win in this model will be the ones who treat service as an intentional offering. Not an unavoidable burden.

“Modernizing the Channel” Means Operational Maturity

When Clemens said he wants to see an “evolution of the channel to something more modern,” he was not talking about new product categories or shinier gear.

He was talking about operating models.

Residential integration has historically been built on:

• craft
• hustle
• passion for technology
• reputation and referral

Those are strengths. But they do not automatically create scalable business infrastructure.

Clemens drew a contrast between commercial integrators, who often have some concept of pipeline forecasting, and residential firms that may still rely heavily on word-of-mouth timing and customer referrals.

The point was not “residential is behind.” The point was: residential needs support frameworks that make it easier to operate with the maturity clients now expect. And interestingly, Clemens also addressed the role of AI in this modernization conversation. With a caution many integrators will appreciate.

AI can help, but only if you have people and systems who know how to use it responsibly. Opening ChatGPT for the first time, he warned, can be “just as dangerous as it is effective.”

That is part of the broader message: modernizing operations does not mean adding more work. It means finding leverage. And using specialized services and platforms when it makes sense.

“You don’t need to go and burn yourself out to go build up an entirely new arm of your small company.”

The Bigger Vision: A Channel That Sells Outcomes, Not Hardware

The clearest long-term prediction from the conversation is this:

Residential AV is moving away from a pure hardware-reseller identity and toward a value-added managed services identity.

Kolchinsky spoke about how AI may eventually enable service teams to respond instantly, offer in-app support based on the client’s specific home configuration, and create a model where human technicians focus on the hardest issues while routine support becomes faster and more consistent.

But the limiting factor is not just technology.

It is access to data, diagnostics, training, and manufacturer integration. That is why OneVision’s approach includes integrating with multiple remote monitoring and management tools and pushing for deeper manufacturer collaboration — because better context produces better support.

In practical terms, it suggests the next phase of service maturity will not be won purely by “hiring more techs.”

It will be won by:

• better toolchains
• better remote capability
• better manufacturer feedback loops
• more standardized service delivery
• a client experience that feels intentional, not improvised

Why This Matters (For Integrators)

Residential integrators are at an inflection point:

• Service is no longer just the thing you “have to do.”
• It is becoming the thing that protects margin, brand reputation, and future sales.

The client expectation gap is widening:
Homeowners now live in a world where software updates are constant and uptime is assumed. But residential AV is still expected to feel premium and invisible when it works.

The winners will be operationally modern:
That doesn’t mean bigger. It means more efficient, more consistent, and better supported. With service that can scale without burning out staff.

Key Takeaways (Starting Monday)

1. Service is not overhead. It is a growth function. If you treat it like a cost center, it will stay a cost center.
2. Your service experience is your brand experience. The homeowner doesn’t separate “manufacturer problems” from “integrator problems.”
3. Modernization is about leverage, not heroics. If your business requires constant emergency effort to function, it will not scale.
4. Trust will be earned through outcomes. Manufacturer partnerships will only matter if they make service easier and client experience better.
5. The channel is shifting from installs to relationships. Repeatable service is how residential integration becomes sustainable long-term.

What to Watch Next

Clemens closed with a hope that Sonos is not the only manufacturer stepping into this kind of partnership model. And that more voices in the industry will help normalize service platforms as a standard part of business operations, not a niche add-on.

Kolchinsky echoed that sentiment with a practical observation: in local markets, once more than one integrator adopts a structured service approach, homeowners and partners begin to treat it as normal. And the sales friction drops.

That may be the real indicator of what’s coming.

Not whether this partnership is successful as a one-off announcement, but whether it signals the start of something bigger:

A channel-wide shift where service becomes the product, and growth becomes the side effect.