On January 5, 2016 at 14:03, therockhr said...
So question for the integrators out there: Are you all doing custom programming for every residential system you install if you do Crestron? Say for instance the client wanted:
Whole Home Audio
< 8 video zones
Whole home lighting
Thermostats
Security Panel Integration
Door locks
Pool and/or Spa control (?)
Would you all do custom programming for a system like that? It seems like the days of doing a totally custom residential system would be pretty much over. With the control system companies partnering with manufacturers for drivers and with more TCP/IP control based devices seems like you stand to profit more by using the configurable systems like Control4, Savant, etc. Leave the custom Crestron systems to commercial buildings, hotels, conference centers, etc.
I may be wrong as I am not in the industry but have researched these systems a lot over the years. Seems the small benefit (in lots of cases no benefit or hindrance) that a residential user would get from a custom Crestron system does not justify the exponentially more expense and time. Also seems like the integrator could make more by getting in and out of the job quicker and cheaper.
If by custom you mean a custom, scalable, and extensible programming framework and UI, then yes. Many companies (including our own) have invested hundreds if not thousands of hours to develop proprietary and repeatable solutions that save us time and save our clients money. We do not start from scratch or re-invent the wheel on every project. Because of the amount of time and money invested on our end we do not release the full, unlocked source code to our clients. They have paid for 10-20 hours of commissioning time to deploy our programming framework into their system, not for the 1500+ hours it took to build it.
Now, that does not mean we hang our clients out to dry. Each client is granted a non-exclusive license to the software, and we will release an editable version of the source code and UI files upon request--assuming payment in full. The released versions contain locked modules that are coded to the project so they cannot be re-deployed or reverse engineered to the benefit of another company. Of course password protection alone is not going to stop some very experienced Crestron programmers from accessing them (although we've implemented some other tricks), but it's a fairly safe assumption programmers at that level have built frameworks of their own.
Outfits with small staffs or limited experience with Crestron that end up programming every system from scratch (or close to) would be much better off exploring Crestron's new Home Elements framework. It will save you A LOT of time and will allow you to complete more projects. More projects=more money.
