Often when we approach a homeowner brief, we have to walk the fine line between recommending the best solution and scaring them off!

When we mention a control system the reaction might be “we don’t need anything complicated” when in fact a control system is scalable, solid and allows everything to be managed within one App. It’s quite the reverse of complicated.

What is a home control system?

Think of the processor as the brain of the operation. You hit a button somewhere in the home and it sends that command to the processor. The processor in turn tells the light circuit, the shade, the door lock or the TV to do something. That instruction might be to turn off a porch light. Or it might be to change a scene which allow the shades to lower, dim the lights and start playing music in the dining room, in seamless synchrony.

The commands can be as simple or as customized as the homeowner wants them to be.

 

Single room or whole home control?

A great time for introducing a control system into one room would be a media room upgrade.

You might want to add a new projector and an AVR. Each of these comes with its own remote control and you’ll no doubt have a bank of light and fan switches on the wall. How perfect to be able to use one remote control and press one button which turns on the screen, the projector, the AVR, chooses the media source and lowers the lights and even your shades.

What if you use the space for more than just relaxing and watching movies? No problem. Hit another button for “entertaining” and the lights will go up to inject some life into the space and the amp will drive audio to the speakers at your pre-programed preferred volume.

The beauty of the control system which starts in one room is that it can be scaled up as you fall in love with its benefits and identify where you might want to hardness its uses in other rooms of the home.

As you start to watch the move you suddenly realize you might not have locked the front door. No problem. Use the control App to check and lock that door. Left music playing in the living room? Just hit that audio off button and know that it’s been taken care of.

 

Which control system should you choose?

There are a few on the market, from DIY version such as Apple Homekit to professionally installed systems such as Control4 or Crestron Home. We love the latter as it not only allows us flexibility to bring in all sorts of other smart home devices such as garage door control, landscape lighting, water features, etc but also gives homeowner the ability to create their own scenes, linking things like lighting and shading by rooms or spaces.  And shades already being controlled by another processor like Lutron, for example, integrates beautifully with Crestron.

Yes, we are biased when it comes to our preferred control system but fundamentally all of these solutions work in the same way. They send commands via a processor, to tell smart technology to do something.  The differences are between the warranties, the reliability of the technology and the type of device you are comfortable with.  Do you want touch panels, keypads, remotes or a mobile device with an App. All of these options are available in lots of finishes, depending on the manufacturer.

Is a control system best for new construction or for a remodel?

You can introduce a control system to either a new build or a remodel project. The limitations with remodels are down to where wires can be run. There is no way you’d want to cut out high voltage lighting wire runs to incorporate some lighting control so that’s where you’d use wireless switches instead of keypads. If you are designing a new home then that’s when you can plan ahead and install a centralized system, eliminated multiple gangs of light switches and instead have a control keypad in each room to manage your lighting and any other technology of your choice.

Door locks, AV control and battery powered shades can all be added to existing homes and be controlled wirelessly, so you can achieve the same control but the processor commands are being communicated wirelessly rather than via a control wire behind your walls.

I want to change my home control system?

Sometimes a family buys a home which has an existing control system. If its an older system we’d always recommend having a certified dealer take a look at it to determine what is’t controlling and if it would make sense to upgrade it to a current version.  Or maybe you have fallen out of love with your control system and want to simplify things.  Give us a call and we can set up an appointment to carry out a discovery visit and talk you through the options.

At the end of the day a control system is there to simplify, not complicate your home life.