How we work
What happens when you call, in the order it happens.
Eight steps, most of them conversations. The ones that cost money are in the middle, and by then you will have a written plan and a number you agreed to.
- 01
A conversation
Day one
You call or write, a person answers within a business day, and we ask what the house is and where you are in the process. Dreaming, drawing, framing or already living there all start here.
- 02
We come and look
Within a week
Usually within the week, at no charge. We walk the house or the drawings with you: what each room is for, where the switches are, where the equipment could live, what the Wi-Fi has to reach.
- 03
A plan with a number
A week or two later
Scope, a realistic range, what belongs in phase one and what can wait, and the parts we think you should not spend money on. Written down, so you can compare it to anyone else's.
- 04
Design with your trades
Before framing closes
Device locations, wire paths, keypad and shade details settled with your architect, builder, electrician and designer while it is still on paper. This is where most of the money is saved.
- 05
Prewire while the walls are open
Framing to drywall
Our own crew pulls the wire, sets the boxes and documents every run. Wire is cheap before drywall and expensive after it, which is why we would rather be early than clever.
- 06
Install and program
Trim to move-in
Equipment in, racks built, keypads engraved, shades hung, speakers in the ceiling, all by people who were here at prewire. Then the programming, which is the part that decides whether you like it.
- 07
Set the scenes with you
Move-in
We sit in each room at the time of day you use it and set the lights, the shades and the music to what you actually want. Then we show the family, not just one of you.
- 08
Live with it, then tune it
Afterwards
The first season tells us what the plan missed. On a service plan we adjust it, watch the network, and come back before small things become calls.
Where your house is
The order is the same. The starting point is not.
A house still on paper
The best time to call. We sit in on the electrical plan, size the equipment room, route the conduit and put shade pockets in the framing drawings. Nothing is visible and nothing is expensive yet.
A renovation
Walls are open in some rooms and finished in others. We wire the open ones properly and use Lutron's wireless dimmers and battery shades where they are not, so the whole house ends up on one system without opening a finished ceiling.
A finished house
Most of our work. Music, lighting, shades, a media room and Wi-Fi that reaches the far bedroom can all be done without a renovation. We will tell you which rooms are easy and which one is the hard one.
A system somebody else installed
We start with a paid assessment visit to document what is there, then tell you what to keep, what to replace and what it would cost. Plenty of these end with a repair and a service plan rather than a project.
Not sure which step you are on
Tell us about the house and we will tell you where to start.
If there are drawings, send them. If there is a system already in the house, tell us what it is. Either way the first conversation costs nothing.
Common questions
What people ask at step one.
- How long does it take?
- A finished-house project of a few rooms is usually two to six weeks from the plan being agreed, most of it waiting for equipment and shades to arrive. New construction follows the builder's schedule, and the system is done when the house is. We will give you dates once there is a plan, and we will tell you when they move, which on a construction site they do.
- Who actually does the work?
- Our own crew, from Armonk. Nobody is subcontracted for the wiring, the installation or the programming, and the people who come back to tune the system are the people who installed it.
- What does it cost to get started?
- Nothing. The first conversation and the first visit are complimentary, and so is the plan with a number. The only paid first step is an assessment of a system somebody else installed, because that is real work with a written result.
- Do we have to do all of it at once?
- No, and most people do not. We prewire for the whole plan while the walls are open and finish rooms as budget and timing allow. The expensive part is opening the walls, so we only want to do that once.
- What happens after you leave?
- You get a walkthrough, written documentation, and a service plan if you want one. Monitoring starts at $79 a month and catches most problems overnight. Without a plan you can still call us; you just go in the queue behind the people on one.
Start a project
Tell us about the space. We'll come out and give you a straightforward plan.
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.