What Should Meeting Room AV Actually Cost? A Straight Answer

A straight-talking guide to meeting room AV pricing, where the cost really goes, and how to budget without getting caught out.

Chris Gore | Updated 2026

Ask three AV suppliers to quote for the same meeting room and you will likely get three very different numbers. One comes in cheap. One comes in eye-watering. One sits somewhere in between with a list of exclusions you have to chase down. If you have ever tried to budget for a room refresh or a multi-site rollout, you already know how frustrating this is.

There is a reason for the confusion, and it is not that suppliers are making numbers up. It is that most quotes only price part of the job. Once you understand what actually makes up the cost of meeting room technology, budgeting gets a lot easier, and so does spotting a quote that is missing something important.

Why AV Quotes Never Seem to Match Up

The kit itself is usually the easy bit to compare. A camera, a screen and a speakerphone from one supplier will not be wildly different in price from the same items elsewhere. Where quotes start to diverge is everything around the hardware: labour, containment, programming, testing, and what happens once the room is live.

A cheaper quote often just means less of that surrounding work has been included, not that you are getting a better deal. That gap tends to surface later, usually as a support call nobody budgeted for.

Room Size and Complexity Change the Numbers Too

Cost also shifts depending on what the room is actually being used for. A small huddle room with one screen and a basic camera will always cost less than a boardroom with dual displays, ceiling microphones and a control system tying everything together. That much is obvious.

What catches people out is the jump between a standard room and a slightly more complex one. Adding a second screen, extra microphones, or integration with an existing booking system can push the price up by a lot more than the hardware alone suggests, because each of those additions usually means more programming and testing time as well.

What Actually Makes Up the Cost

Meeting room AV spend generally falls into four buckets. Understanding each one makes it far easier to compare quotes properly and plan a realistic budget.

• Hardware: screens, cameras, audio, mounts and cabling. Usually the biggest single line on a quote, and the easiest to compare like for like.

• Installation: labour, containment, programming and testing. This is where quotes vary most, since scope of work is rarely defined the same way twice.

• Support and SLA: break-fix response times, spare parts, and helpdesk access. Often quoted separately, or not quoted at all until something breaks.

• Monitoring: remote health checks and proactive alerts that catch a fault before a member of staff has to report it. Frequently the first thing cut from a budget, and usually the thing you end up wishing you had kept.

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The Budgeting Mistakes We See Most Often

Businesses rarely overspend on hardware. They overspend on the gaps left by not planning for everything around it. These are the three mistakes that come up again and again.

• Only pricing the install. A budget that stops at go-live ignores the years of support and maintenance that follow, which is usually where the bigger spend actually sits.

• Comparing quotes without comparing scope. A lower number is meaningless if it excludes programming, testing or support that a higher quote includes.

• Treating monitoring as optional. Skipping it saves a small amount up front and usually costs more later in call-outs, downtime and frustrated staff.

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Action Steps for Building a Realistic Budget

• Ask for a like-for-like breakdown. Request hardware, installation, support and monitoring as separate lines from every supplier you compare.

• Budget for the whole lifecycle. Work out a rough annual cost of ownership, not just the one-off installation figure.

• Check what triggers extra charges. Find out in advance what counts as a call-out versus what is covered under a support agreement.

• Price monitoring in from day one. It is far cheaper to include than to add once a room has already started causing problems.

• Get a second opinion on any quote. If a number looks too good to be true, ask exactly what has been left out before you sign anything.

For more detail on planning technology spend properly, our SPOR Learning Centre covers everything from asset management to keeping large room estates running without constant support calls.

The Bottom Line

There is no single right price for meeting room AV, but there is a right way to budget for it. Look past the headline number, ask what is actually included, and plan for the years after installation, not just the day the room goes live. That is what separates a quote that looks cheap from a system that actually stays cheap to run.

None of this means you need to overspend to get it right. It simply means asking better questions before you commit to a number. A supplier who is confident in their pricing will happily break it down for you. One who avoids the detail is usually the one leaving something out.