BybrPamela Hammonds
Today'sbrtechnology allows us to manage our households as efficiently as we conductbrbusiness on our mobile devices. Smart tablets and phones can keep our homesbrrunning smoothly, even when we're thousands of miles away. Need to turn thebrthermostat down while you're on vacation? Do that on the drive to the airport.brSomeone at your door? Answer as though you're at home even when you're on thebrbeach. So what does it take to live more intelligently? We asked areabrhomeowners and industry professionals for their advice.
From DIY to Hiring a Pro
WhenbrStephen Ellis sold his family home in Southlake last year, he left behind a petbrproject. He had designed and installed the majority of his smart home systembrthat allowed the Ellis family to play music, control the television, adjust thebrlights and more with the touch of a button—or rather multiple buttons. “We hadbrone remote for the family room, another for the media room, a separate app forbrmusic, another for lights,” Ellis says.
Evenbrthough the system worked, it didn't function efficiently. So, when the familybrbuilt their new home, Ellis planned his smart home carefully, walked the housebrduring construction, indicated where he wanted outlets, and hired a team ofbrexperts to handle the wiring and installation of a Savant system.
While thebrSavant App won the Best New Product Award at the Custom Electronic Design andbrInstallation Association (CEDIA) national convention in Dallas last year, it'sbrone of many options for controlling a smart home.
Now thebrEllis' family home has a central media server so movies can be streamed frombrone central location, and all HVAC, lighting, window shades, music, andbrsecurity cameras and recordings are managed through Savant. There is even anbroption for creating scenes—scenarios with custom settings. “I can hit a buttonbrfor entertaining, and then Pandora plays music, the fireplace comes on, lightsbrget dimmer, and shades come down,” says Ellis. “I love the fact that I canbrcontrol everything from our iPad.”
Raising Your Home's IQ
Even ifbryour home has automated features, if they're more than five years old, youbrmight be surprised at what has changed. “The biggest game changer has been the abilitybrto use a smart device and have full control of your home at your fingertips,”brsays Adrian Ballard, manager and system designer at Starpower in Southlake.br“You can be halfway around the world and still control your security system,brpool, audio/visual—anything you want to do.”
For one Southlakebrfamily, it's those times away from home that make them most appreciate theirbrsmart home's features. “Every time we've gone on vacation, we've had momentsbrwhere we didn't know how to do anything,” says Jarrett Cadiz, laughing. “We actbrlike complete idiots because we have to stop and think to turn on a light whenbrwe enter a room.”
Cadiz,br23, installed his smart home system and outfitted it with motion sensors andbrother features that detect and remember his family's lifestyle. And then, afterbrdeciding his home was still not ingenious enough, Cadiz designed technology tobrmake the system more convenient, perceptive and reactive to how he and hisbrparents live.
“Ibrcreated a layer to fill in the gaps and sit on top of existing systems sobrthey're not just programmed—they actually react to our activities,” says Cadiz.brSo revolutionary was his concept that he formed a company, BeeMatic, Inc., andbrdubbed it an “artificial intelligence platform.”
Forbrinstance, when four o'clock rolls around, Cadiz gets a ping on his phone; hisbrhouse is asking if it's time to work out. “If I reply, ‘yes,' the airbrconditioner turns down and the music turns up,” Cadiz says. He's evenbrprogrammed their Amazon Echo into the system. So if his mom is in the kitchenbrwith messy hands, she can ask Alexa (the Echo's voice service) to change thebrmusic without stopping to clean up to touch a button.
Andbrsince the BeeMatic layer has learned the Cadiz family's day-to-day routine, thebrhouse recognizes when it's time for bed (with softer lighting and armedbrsecurity) and when they're out of town (with lights that dim at variousbrintervals). But Cadiz can still override the system when needed. “I was awaybrfrom home and trying to call my dad but he wouldn't pick up,” Cadiz says. “He'sbra little hard of hearing, so I muted the TV from my phone and tried again. Hebranswered right away!”
A Growing Industry
The globalbrsmart home market was valued at $20 billion in 2014 and is expected to reachbr$58 billion by 2020, according to Market and Markets, a worldwide marketbrresearch firm. And while the industry is growing and evolving, smart homebrtechnology is also becoming more mainstream.
Perhapsbrthe biggest misconception, says Jeremy Beck, owner and president of FuturianbrSystems, is that only the über wealthy and luxury homeowners can afford a smartbrhome. “Technology has come down in price,” Beck says, “and it's completelybrscalable.”
Withbrlocations in Southlake and Vail, Colorado, Beck, a Carroll grad, says familiesbrwith smart homes can use their automated systems to save money and protectbrtheir assets. “You start with a primary controller that communicates with the otherbrsystems in the home,” Beck says. “You can adjust your climate when you're awaybrfrom home, start heating the hot tub on your way home, and provide enhancedbrsecurity.”
CEDIAbrreports that last year, home theaters and media rooms remained at the top of homeowners'brmost popular projects, followed by multi-room audio and home automation andbrcontrol. In 2010, the average cost of a home theater installation project wasbr$16,400. In 2015, that average project more than doubled to $39,000.
But thatbrdoesn't mean home automation projects are limited to the very wealthy.brAccording to CEDIA, the median home theater price systems integrators sold wasbrjust $16,666, and the median audio installation was $11,000.
“Homeownersbrwith a wide variety of budgets can turn to our members for help creating indoorbrand outdoor entertainment centers and to make their homes enjoyable,brintelligent and more secure,” says Dave Pedigo, CEDIA's senior director ofbrLearning and Emerging Technologies. “They view these investments as not justbrways to improve quality of life, but also to increase the value of theirbrhomes.”
So Where to Start?
BothbrBeck and Ballard advise investing in an infrastructure that can handle thebrincreased activity your smart devices will utilize. “People often make thebrassumption that their consumer grade network is enough and it's not,” Beckbrsays. “They're designed to handle four or five devices and that's it.” Yourbrbasic router just isn't up to task.
“If youbrhave 50 devices in your home and you send a command to one, on an unmanagedbrnetwork, every device is receiving that information,” says Ballard. “On abrmanaged network, if you send a command to your lighting, it's closed off so thebrsecurity system doesn't receive the ping, the AV doesn't receive the ping. So thebrresponse is quicker.”
Ballardbrlikens a managed network over an unmanaged one to driving down LBJ Freeway atbr10 p.m. versus rush hour. “Traffic just isn't an issue,” he says.
Unlessbryou have a technologically savvy family member, like Jarrett Cadiz, who canbringeniously develop the intelligent system you've always dreamed of, hire abrpro. CEDIA.org is a great place to find qualified, professional teams tobrinstall a smart home system. As the design installation association authority,brCEDIA provides training for technicians and routinely acknowledges thosebrcompanies that excel in the industry.
Askbrfriends with systems about their automated home designers or technicians, checkbrBBB ratings and read online reviews. You'll also want to look for establishedbrcompanies that will be around to service and upgrade your system in the future.
Thenbrestablish a budget and set priorities in case you can't afford everything youbrwant. “We can put the core pieces in place initially,” says Ballard, “and selectbran established manufacturer so we can build on the infrastructure later on.
A visitbrto an installer's showroom can allow you to view products, discuss options, askbrquestions and weigh pros and cons. If you have your home'sbrblueprints—especially if it's fairly new or, better yet, underbrconstruction—those certainly help your technician ascertain the options. At thebrvery least, bring photos of the rooms at various angles to determine equipmentbrplacement at your first meeting, Ballad suggests.
“There'sbrbeen a push by manufacturers to encourage consumers to do their ownbrinstallations,” says Beck. Wireless door locks and the Nest thermostat are twobrprime examples. “But an expert can design a roadmap so your system isbrconfigured correctly,” he adds.
If yourbrhome has an outdated system, it might be possible to simply upgrade componentsbras long as they are sound, the manufacturer is still in business, and abrretrofit makes more sense than starting over. “We handle every client on abrcase-by-case basis,” says Ballard.
Perhapsbrthe only thing more frustrating than having to manually run your home'sbrequipment with multiple controllers is having an automated system that worksbrinefficiently. “We've seen people try to save money by purchasing products offbrthe web that are outdated or even used,” says Beck.
Beforebrinvesting in products you install or hiring professionals to design and installbra system for you, be a smart homeowner and make informed choices. Yourbrintelligent home should work for you—so you can relax and enjoy spending timebrwith family and friends. SS