What Drives Your Smart Home Costs?

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Explore the Difference Between DIY and Professional Solutions 

Recently we published a blog explaining the costs of our smart home systems and did a high-level overview of precisely what goes into the pricing. Not only is it about using higher-grade components, but also incorporating professional designs to make technology work more efficiently and reliably. At a high level, this might make sense, but we know it can be hard for some to visualize. 

Sometimes, it is easier to go over some more concrete examples of what a smart home company does. So let us look a little more in-depth into some of the aspects of our smart home projects and what’s driving the costs throughout Baton Rouge, LA homes. 

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How Much Does a Smart Home Project Cost?

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As the Go-To Smart Home Company in Tampa, FL, We Help You Budget Efficiently 

Usually, during our initial conversations with potential clients, the first question is about price. It makes sense for both you and your smart home company to approach the topic early to make sure you're the right match for each other. Our benchmark response is that though the price will vary based on the systems you want to include, for the most part, projects end up costing $8-12 per square foot. 

The natural follow-up question is, why? We understand that people want to know where their money is going, which is why we decided to craft this blog to outline the general costs of these projects. Though the equipment will take up the bulk of the budget, it's important to account for all the labor that goes into getting the smart technology in your Tampa, FL home running smoothly. 

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How to Avoid Common DIY Outdoor Audio Problems

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Find Out How a Professional Delivers Stellar Sound Anywhere

Do you want to add a spark to your patio, pool, backyard or veranda? Usually, the first thing people think of is integrating outdoor audio. Outdoor audio seems like an easy enough addition to your New Orleans, LA home, and what better way to liven up the day than with the right playlist? But placing a few speakers near the wall or resorting to portable Bluetooth speakers won’t do the trick.

If you’ve ever experienced bad outdoor sound—whether at a gathering or a restaurant’s live music night—you know how quickly it can ruin your day. Vibrant sound is much easier to accomplish indoors where there’s less noise interfering with the signal and four walls prepared to bolster it.

Not only does a DIY setup lead to poor, uneven sound quality, but it can result in damaged electronics too! This blog focuses on the most common outdoor audio complaints we hear and explains how a professional installer can address each.

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How to Personalize Your Smart Home Experience

Relish in Technology Designed with Your Unique Needs in Mind

Many clients ask us why they should work with a smart home company when they first reach out. Very few realize we’re there to provide a service rather than just sell them products. Which is why many think going to their local electronics store is a better move. As the go-to smart home company in Lafayette, LA, we bring our own set of experience and expertise to advise you on the best technology. We then design it in a way that elevates your everyday lifestyle.

Though greater reliability may be the biggest perk of working with a smart home company, getting a system tailored to you is just as important. How do you want to interact with your technology? Everyone will have a different answer which is why all our projects have a personal touch in the ways outlined below.

SEE MORE: Raising a Family with Home Automation

Manage Technology Your Way

The most significant selling point for many smart devices is the ability to manage everything from a mobile app. However, there may be times when a mobile app is not the best approach. During a movie marathon, a handheld remote will still feel more natural. Need to turn on the lights when your hands are busy? Enjoy hands-free control by linking your smart home to your favorite voice assistant. Each of our installations includes various control solutions, depending on what you feel fits best.

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Your Guide to All the New, Exciting Updates with Control4 OS 3


Free software update offers simpler controls, more customization options, easier access to favorite rooms or activities, and much more

 
With any home automation system, the most important piece is the control system. It’s what you use to manage everything in your house, so the system needs to be intuitive, responsive and powerful.

These attributes are precisely what you get with Control4’s OS 3 software update. OS 3 is a free update for users with an EA-category system, and it delivers “over a thousand new features and interaction enhancements,” according to the Control4 website. These improvements range from tweaks to the interface to higher-quality music streaming, and much more. As a smart home company in New Orleans that installs Control4 systems, we’re here to show you some of the changes OS 3 will bring to your automation system.

SEE ALSO: How to Make Your Daily Tasks Simple with Smart Home Control
GREATER CUSTOMIZATION
Every home automation system is different because every home is different. With OS 3, Control4 has made it easy to customize your interface exactly how you want it to be.

As just one example, you can now pick a photo from a selection of preloaded wallpapers for every room in your house. For a more personal touch, you can also upload your own images. These wallpapers make it easier to see which room you’re interacting with. If you have wall panels in your home, you can take a picture of the area around the panel and set it as the home screen to help the panel better blend in with your décor.

The most substantial change in terms of customization, though, is OS 3’s new Favorites system. You can now select favorite rooms or favorite activities and access them in seconds by pinning them to your home screen. OS 3 also lets you customize your interface further by adding, removing and rearranging icons. This eliminates clutter and gives you faster access to your most-used apps. Favorites are also synched to individual devices so that you can have certain selections on your phone and different ones on a remote, wall panel, etc.

SIMPLIFIED CONTROLS
Letting you select favorites is just one way OS 3 has made controlling your devices simpler. Anything you’ve chosen as a favorite can be accessed from the main Rooms Screen, from lighting control and motorized shades to your smart security system and speakers. OS 3 has also added gesture control for activities like your cable or satellite TV guide, as well as sliders for volume control.

Speaking of volume control, OS 3 has made managing media throughout your home a breeze. An Active Media bar instantly shows you what’s playing when you select a room and lets you adjust the volume, change tracks or see the quality of the music being played.

For media control at a broader level, the new Sessions system lets you see and control media anywhere in the house. You can raise or lower the volume in individual rooms or systemwide, add or remove rooms from different media Sessions, or turn various devices on or off. Now if you want to turn off your outdoor speakers but leave music playing everywhere else, you can use Sessions to simplify the process.

MISCELLANEOUS IMPROVEMENTS
Here are a few other highlights from the OS 3 update. Systems with OS 3 can now support Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) music streaming from services like Tidal, the highest quality audio available for discerning listeners. The icons within the app have also been tweaked by making them larger and the text easier to read. New filtering options also make it easier to monitor the status of individual systems across the home.

OS 3 represents a significant change to your Control4 system, with a multitude of improvements we haven’t even mentioned yet. To learn more, call us today at (225) 442-9849, click our contact page or type a message in the chat box at the bottom of your browser.

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What Tebow Has to Teach Us

Whether you're a Tim Tebow fan or not, he is teaching us something all of us should take both personally as well as on the job.  And it has nothing to do with football!

I already admired Tebow for his drive to make it in the NFL; for his candor about his faith; for his unwillingness to yield to public mockery; and for his determination to be himself.  But then an article by Rick Reilly appeared on ESPN.com and I was hooked!

This guy is amazing.  While most professional athletes live, eat and breathe their sport--not true of Tebow.  Despite his long hours spent in overwhelming devotion to training, self-discipline and leading his team, he will be the first to tell you football is not who he is.  Football is what he does.  And that is clearly evident in Reilly's article!

Reilly knows a thing or two about sports.  He has the distinction of having been voted National Sportswriter of the Year--not once--but ELEVEN times!  Here's how he put his take on Tebow:
There's not an ounce of artifice or phoniness or Hollywood in this kid Tebow, and I've looked everywhere for it.
Why is Reilly almost forced to that conclusion?  Well, I invite you to read his article linked here: https://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7455943/believing-tim-tebow and then what I'll say about what Tebow has to teach us will become abundantly clear!

What Tebow Teaches UsFirst, stay true to your own values.  Always get the job done, but at the end of the day you are the one who has to be able to look yourself in the mirror and be able to tell yourself you did things the right way.

Second, remember that what you do is not who you are.  Its easy to get that backwards.  Who you are should define what you do.  Let your occupation be an extension of your life and values.

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