1999, the year the CE Pro 100 list debuted, also marked the introductions of SpongeBob SquarePants, Bluetooth technology, and the European Union. Twenty years later, SpongeBob is still on TV, Bluetooth is a ubiquitous technology, and the European Union is still … OK, never mind on that one.

Continuing an upward trend since the end of the great recession, the CE Pro 100 reported booking solid revenues in 2018. Overall, the list of the highest revenue custom installation companies in the U.S. reported a healthy $2.02 billion in total residential custom installation and recurring monthly revenue (RMR) in 2018.

The group’s median revenues were $5,291,209, or $5.2 million, up 1 percent from the previous year. Many other key business metrics among members of the list are also robust, including a predicted 12.7 percent growth rate for 2019.

The revenues that make up the CE Pro 100 list were changed a few years ago. For many years, the qualifying revenues were solely based on income derived during the installation process of various subsystems (see sidebar for complete list of subsystems). But with the inception of subsidized alarm-based smart home off erings, and the growing trend for traditional custom integrators to off er service agreements, the basis for the CE Pro 100 list shifted to include RMR as an income source. Excluded from the CE Pro 100 revenues is income derived from over-the-counter retail sales of equipment that is not installed, along with revenues from online sales of equipment that’s also not installed.

As noted, a growing trend among the companies on the list is RMR. Th e industry was built on revenue from installation services, with little to no reliance on income from recurring services like alarm monitoring or service. But that is changing. For 2019, CE Pro 100 members report earning an average of 7.1 percent of their revenue from RMR.

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