AV Is Not an Afterthought: Why It Belongs in Early Design Conversation

In the timeline of a new build or major renovation, AV has a bad habit of showing up fashionably late—and not in a good way.

Walls are already up. Conduit is poured in concrete. Ceiling grids are finalized. And someone says, "Hey, when does AV come in?"

By then, you’re either stuck with limited options or facing costly change orders. And it all could have been avoided with one simple shift: include AV in the planning conversation early.

The Hidden Costs of Leaving AV Out Too Long

When AV is brought in after the rest of the building systems are designed, you run into:

• Infrastructure conflicts: No room for cabling pathways, server racks, or display mounts.

• Design limitations: You’re stuck choosing tech that fits the space, not the use case.

• Change orders and rework: Modifying ceilings, walls, or power runs gets expensive, fast.

• Missed user needs: The space doesn’t actually support how people will work, learn, or communicate in it.

None of these are just "AV problems." They're project-wide pain points that delay timelines and inflate budgets.

Why AV Belongs at the Table From Day One

AV isn't a bolt-on feature. It's a critical component of how your organization communicates, collaborates, and delivers experiences.

Bringing in your AV partner early allows you to:

• Design spaces around real use cases, not just square footage

• Coordinate infrastructure, power, and acoustics upfront

• Avoid expensive rework or compromises down the line

• Choose tech that aligns with your goals and workflows

Whether it’s a hybrid-ready conference room, a lecture hall, or a command center, AV works best when it’s part of the design, not retrofitted into it.

What Early AV Collaboration Looks Like

No, you don’t need a 50-page spec sheet on day one. But a conversation with an AV partner during programming and schematic design can:

• Identify room types and tech requirements

• Flag coordination issues before they’re baked into drawings

• Inform realistic budgets and timelines

• Align the AV roadmap with your broader IT and facilities strategies

And if you’re working with an architect or builder already, good news: we love collaborating with them. We speak their language and know how to plug into the design process without slowing it down.

Let Strategy Lead the Way

At Level 3 Audiovisual, we guide organizations through early-stage AV planning via our Strategize service. That means:

• AV needs analysis

• Room and system planning

• Long-term lifecycle strategy

The result? Spaces that are not only functional and future-ready, but also designed to support how your people actually work.

So if you’re dreaming about your next space, renovating a legacy building, or just tired of retrofitting AV into places it was never meant to go—let's talk early.

Because the best AV solutions don’t come in at the end. They help shape the space from the start.