What is Home Automation?

    Home Automation means a lot of things to a lot of people. For example home automation to some people is a light on a timer, to others it can be many lights, security, Air conditioning, and Audio Video all tied together. Perhaps it would be easier to tell you what Home Automation is not...

Home Automation is not:

    Home Networking: This one gets a lot of people. A few years back several companies started offering Structured Wiring Packages for homes. This is not home automation. This is a simply a more unified approach to wiring a home and is by no means a complete home automation system. By providing the consumer with a way to centralize all the low voltage wiring in the home these manufacturers did indeed give more functionality to the same wiring. These systems do not usually address the end result of home automation rather they are the beginnings of a back bone for home automation. Most home automation systems will have a back-bone of a structured wiring system along with overall centralization.

    Wireless Web Pads: Although this can be a part of a home automation it is just that. A part. As the web becomes a bigger and bigger part of our everyday lives it will become important to be able to access data and news etc. wirelessly within the home. These same pads at some point in the not too distant future will also be able to control other things within the home.

    Web-Tv: The idea of Web TV is great. Surf the internet from your TV and get your e-mail on the couch. It was a great idea and still is. Unfortunately it has never been carried out well by anyone to this day. Do not confuse this with home automation. These systems cannot control other systems, they cannot even control the audio / video systems they are hooked up to but someday they might. This, just like a web pad, is a part of a large home automation system.

Home Automation is:

    Simply put, the act of combining several sub-systems in a home (i.e. Heating, Cooling, Audio, Video, Lighting, Security, etc.) to achieve a simpler way of life. Instead of pushing eighteen buttons to set up for some event in a home you would just push one.
    For example if you were having a party and you wanted to get ready you would have to:
--Turn On and Off several sets of lights
--Turn On Music in several rooms and set the volumes
--Set the thermostats back for all the warm bodies about to arrive
--Make sure the outside lights were set to turn on at dusk
--And choose which type of music you wanted to listen to.
    This would require you to spend at least an hour running around getting all these things ready. Normally this would take even longer in a larger home. So with an automation system you spend some time programming in prewritten scripts (scenes or modes) and push one button instead of eighteen to do the exact same thing. This functionality means that you don't have to worry about interfacing with every sub-system in the house.

What are some of the things I need to know about Home Automation?:
1. Home Automation is not easy. Many companies want to make you think that Home Automation is easy, quick and painless. I am here to tell you that this is not the case. You will have that Saturday when everyone is coming for the Superbowl is coming on and everyone is coming to your house to watch it and nothing works. This is and electronic system and it does break. That is why it is very important that you let a proffesional design your system from the ground up and test out all the bugs. Even then it will break at some point but that is what you have us for.
2. Home Automation can be expensive. I do not say this to scare you off. We are more than willing to help someone into a home automation system at any budget but do not expect to get the moon and the stars for less than the price of the moon. It cost money to buy the basic building blocks of the systems before you begin to inner-connect them.
3. Communicate what you want up front and thourougly with a professional about what it is you want your system to do. Chances are if you do not know the professional does not know either. Spend some time before you meet with a Home Automation Consultant gathering information about how you live and what your likes and dislikes are. Make sure you have a good idea of what you want to automate and what you don't. Listen to suggestions and think them through, remember a good home automation consultant has done this a few times, but in the end remember it is your house. Throughout the process communicate often and in detail about what you wan the system to do in the end. The more you do the better your system will be.
4. Get it in Writing! I have spoken to so many clients over the years who simply did not ask for a list of what would be programmed into their system. This is a big mistake. Get the details in writing. Don't be afraid to ask what those programming hours are for. The more you know about what it will do the more you avoid problems later.
5. Educate yourself! I spend a tremendous amount of time educating my clients before I ever begin to sell them anything. I have found that an educated client makes for a happier client. The more you know the better prepared you are to answer questions about what it is you want. 6. Ask about the service plan: At one point or another the system or a part of it will break. Make sure the company you are dealing has some sort of service agreement or warranty period. Be detailed about it and ask what it does and does not cover.

I hope the above items have informed you about what to do when shopping for a home automation system.

----Kyle Griffith