What Drives Your Smart Home Costs?

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. 

SEE MORE: How Can Smart Technology Boost Your Interior Design?

Networking

Networks in a DIY installation are pretty straightforward. Internet Service Providers have made it so you can connect your router to an existing cable or ethernet jack, and voila, Wi-Fi appears. However, very few smart devices are supported with this type of setup. Enterprise-grade networking is needed to keep technology running in your luxury home.

As part of the networking design, we use mapping software to ensure the solution we come up with covers every area of the home. We incorporate much more than a router for these designs to provide strong wireless and hardwired signals indoors and out. It requires high-bandwidth routers, wired access points, network switches and all the wiring infrastructure needed to connect these devices. 

Surround Sound 

Like with networking, DIY surround sound is often as simple as connecting a soundbar to your TV. In our smart home installations, though, we go above and beyond to deliver immersive sound that doesn’t clash with your décor. The first things affecting costs are high-performance architectural speakers that blend within the walls and ceilings. Second, we incorporate trusted AV receivers with advanced calibration features to deliver the perfect audio and video quality in your space. 

Most of the costs go to these devices, but there's also substantial labor involved in getting the design down for the theater when it comes to speaker placement. There's also extensive wiring needed to get the signal from your receiver to all the speakers laid out throughout the room. 

Home Control 

Establishing a robust, all-in-one control platform is another vital budget component. Not only do we take care of all the programming to get your devices communicating seamlessly, but we also lay all the needed infrastructure for smart home control. We record this in dedicated engineering plans that show where wiring is required to connect lighting panels, on-wall keypads, and more. 

These home control plans include the devices you choose to incorporate into your system beyond standard DIY app control. Have access to beautiful, sleek on-wall keypads available in various colors and finishes, ultra-fast touchpads and advanced voice assistants that let you speak more intuitively than their Amazon or Google partners. 

It's best to meet personally with our team to get a better feel for your smart home costs. Knowing your unique needs will help us design a solution and budget that fits you best. Reach out by calling, filling out our contact form or chatting with us below to set up a consultation.