Smart Home Planning · February 18, 2019
Smart devices are not the same thing as a smart home
Individual connected devices are easy to buy and easy to install, and each one does what it promises. The trouble arrives at about the fifth one, when the phone holds a folder of apps that do not know the others exist.
A system is different because the pieces act together. A thermostat that coordinates with lighting and shading means one press lowers the shades, brings the lights up and sets a temperature that does not fight the sun. Add security and AV to the same interface and the house starts behaving as one thing.
Sensors and schedules push it further, so that most of the routine happens without anyone deciding to make it happen.
The reason this is harder than it looks is compatibility. Not everything is designed to work with everything, and some devices insist on their own control. Getting to a single interface means choosing components that will cooperate before anything is bought.
The design work is the real content of the job, placement, structured wiring for power and network, room to expand, deciding what takes priority, and the programming that ties it together. That work is invisible when it is done well, which is rather the point: the installation is involved so that using it afterwards is not.
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The consultation is complimentary and it starts with a walkthrough or a set of drawings. You will leave it knowing what is realistic in your house, what it costs, and what can wait until phase two.