Smart Home Tech = Smart Investment

It’s becoming less common, but it still happens: A prospective buyer walks into a model home or an in-progress production build and is confronted with zero data drops. No low-voltage boxes, no accommodations for Ethernet cabling — just a wireless gateway stuck in a garage or utility closet.

Your humble Crestron blogger had this very experience this past autumn. The realization that an entire development of newly built homes lacked hard-wired digital infrastructure was nothing short of alarming. It was an object lesson in just how important connectivity has become — for most of us, it’s a must-have, as important as plumbing and electricity.

And those who might’ve been responsible for that oversight clearly don’t understand the error: They’ve likely diminished the value of that home, and they’ve extended the selling process to boot. “I've seen data from the National Association of Realtors that showed that having integrated technology can increase the value of a home by about 5%,” says JoAnn Arcenal, Crestron’s director of business development. Additionally, 77% of buyers are interested in smart homes, and 81% prefer properties with pre-integrated smart home tech. “There’s also research that most homeowners can realize a return on investment of about 50% on what they're investing in their smart home technologies,” says Arcenal.

The good news is that most pros in the design-build community understand the fundamentals, that “Cat cable” is as critical as wall studs. It’s the next set of questions, though, that unlocks the true potential of the smart home: What experiences can that home network create?

The “First Ask”

“Basic home security has become a given,” says Arcenal. This is something that consumers know about, and they understand how a smart door access system or a video doorbell can have an immediate impact. “But that can lead to another conversation: Do you want to see the feed from that video doorbell on any of the TVs in your home? Do you want to see it on a touchscreen that controls other devices? Do you want the lock on that door and the video doorbell to work together? Do you want to be alerted when people are coming and going even when you’re not home?” That discovery process can be especially enlightening when it comes to home technology.

“The other things we’re seeing as far as client awareness are ‘smart’ thermostats and connected appliances,” says Arcenal. The former’s only logical — those devices were on the market at the beginning of the move toward more connected homes. As for the latter, “When there is an opportunity to integrate an appliance, we're seeing more and more manufacturers making their appliances connection ready,” says Arcenal. “Suppose you’re leaving work or the store, and you can begin pre-heating your oven remotely from your smartphone — it’s very easy to understand the benefit there.”

The Next Level

Beyond what customers (and builders, for that matter) know going in — and are prepared to ask about — there’s a lot of technology they may be aware of but haven’t yet grasped its full potential. “There’s been a lot of chatter about lighting, but consumers are just starting to understand tunable luminaires, lighting automation, and how shading fits into that larger picture,” says Arcenal. “When the homebuyer realizes that they don’t need manual clutches for every shade and that they can control entire zones of lighting instead of operating individual switches, you really see — pardon the pun — that light bulb go off.”

That light bulb is the realization that smart lighting is about more than convenience. “We can balance natural and artificial light in a way that’s very energy efficient,” Arcenal explains. From clock-based automation to functions driven by photo sensors, technology exists that will raise and lower lights and shades to cool a space in the summer and warm it in the winter or default to natural light in a room when the sun is high. “Now let’s integrate a motion sensor that knows that if there's no one in that room for a period of time, that can shut down the lighting to save money,” says Arcenal. Add to that the extra benefit of automated shades, namely, preventing sun damage to floors, fabrics, and other finishes. All of these bring extra value to the smart home in very tangible ways. “Imagine a high-end living space with designer furniture, artwork, specialty flooring — the cost of protecting that will vastly outweigh the price of replacement or repair,” she adds.

Planning for the Future — Or the Next Buyer

“The questions we get a lot are ‘How easy is this to use?’ and ‘How easy is this to change?’ — and that last one from the design-build community especially,” says Arcenal. “That’s why having that hardwired infrastructure is so important.” Think about it the same way you might think about plumbing: It’s vastly easier to change a faucet than to add a faucet, right? The same holds true with technology. “As far as software is concerned, a smart home platform that’s intuitive and reliable is just as vital,” says Arcenal. (And for the record, every Crestron Home® OS update has been completely free of charge.)

“The conversation that happens at the outset of a new build or a renovation is so important,” says Arcenal. Questions such as “What are you doing now? What do you hope to do one day?” can be very revealing. Arcenal provides an example: “Suppose a client says, ‘Well, we love having distributed audio in the bedrooms, living, and dining rooms.’ Great. Do you think you might want that feature in other rooms in the future? And suppose you had to sell the home? Wouldn’t it be a net positive to have that wiring in place for any future expansions?”

That’s also why technologies such as Crestron’s DM NVX® AV-over-IP solutions are gaining so much traction. “It’s very scalable,” says Arcenal. “Adding sources, adding zones — with AV-over-IP, entertainment is just another part of the home network. It’s running over the same kind of cabling that delivers the internet to the home office. We now have ‘edge devices,’ which allow you to bring sources such as your turntable into that home network, too.”

The mindset of the modern buyer when it comes to technology has truly shifted from “nice to have” to “must have,” says Arcenal. “It’s no longer ‘Do we want smart home tech or granite countertops?’ — the answer has become ‘all of the above.’”