When Lee Lareau, owner, claims that Brunswick, Maine-based Custom Home Theater Systems & Automation has "never held up a project for any reason," it's kind of hard to believe.

After all, delays happen all the time. He insists, however, that it's true.

The Brunswick, Maine-based integration company does most of its work with builders.

"The good and bad of it is, in construction, it's rare that anything is on time. Most projects are over budget and late," Lareau says.

Part of the reason that the integrator has never held up a project, therefore, is probably that the projects were already held up.

Still, Lareau's point when he makes his claim is that his company takes pride in staying on schedule. It's not just a combination of luck and builder delays.

"What do we do to make sure we never hold anybody up? We work really long hours if that's what's needed," he says.

Extensive planning, in many cases, eliminates the need to work those long hours.

"Before we go to a job site, we know what we have to do. We have a task list," Lareau explains.

"It's pretty clear to my crew that we need to get in and out as quickly as we can, but we know that if we rush it's going to come back to haunt us in a service call or something. The good news in this business is the more you do a particular task, the faster you do it. It becomes routine."