I remember when I first started and would go to my local ADI, electrical supply house or training, I was the young pup.
The only guys in my age range were the helpers and wire monkeys. 
Even meeting with clients was sometimes a struggle to relate with, as music taste and TV/Movie choices were vastly different.

As a business owner, I felt like I didn't belong, or was trying to get away with something.

Nowadays, with years creeping up, married, divorces and re-married (10 years each), kids and grand kids in the house, I don't feel out of place anymore. 
I miss the good ol days :-)

Mouse Died in my vans HVAC system. Turned it on this morning and about passed out from the wall of stinch that hit me.

Calling it an early day tomorrow to take it into the dealer. Took one look under the passenger seat to pull apart my blower and said HELL NO!


lol, thats funny. Ive been told that im an old fart and belong on a front porch with a shotgun in my hand yelling at kids ;)

Got the photos back from this project today. Was also sent 6 sets of blueprints to quote on by the same builder (so, at least I've got that going for me).

Project shown includes 150+ zones of Radio RA2, 4 Lutron drapes, 9 sets of Lutron coupled roller shades, 7 Sonos zones, Sonance VP speakers and inwall subs, Snap cams and DVR, and GE alarm.com.

Photos really show how important lighting and (here's the sales pitch) lighting control are. All systems operated by apps, not by automation system.

Theater includes Vienna Acoustics LCR, 2 Triad 12 inch subs, Sharp 90". Gotta get back to get a straight ahead photo of the screen and speakers, though.

Awesome results, I love everything about that house! Would love to see more theater pics.

Love how the whole back of the house opens completely up.

So many features I have in mind for my ultimate home.

Nice job!

Nice job, but holy crap everything running off apps!!

Let me guess customer said why pay for a control system when I can use free apps?

I found this to start to be pretty common. Biding on a job today with a customer that has automation in his former home, (Crestron). In the original meeting the customer says he would be happy with multiple apps instead of the automation system I recommended. He understood the difference but was simply trying to get his cost down. He wants app for cameras, app for security, app for game room, app for sonos. I am not going to turn down the job and I will wire for automation for future and give him what he wants but I found it odd that he would go from Crestron to multiple apps. I asked if there were any issues with his current Crestron system. He said no. Just how much it cost him. We all know that some customers could handle a multiple app system but what about the wife? the kids? Grandparents? Babysitter? I asked him all the questions on why and it all came down to the cost. Crazy

Mike - Great looking project and excellent work as usual!  Thanks for sharing...

I'm doing a lot of this too.  I still provide a traditional remote (URC or RTI) in the zones with video and may have some integration with lighting etc., but most of the other systems are accessed using apps.

In my opinion lighting control is still best handled with wall mounted keypads and backed up with app for remote access and convenience. 

Surveillance cams generally work well from app for remote access.  Gate cams can be displayed real time on one or more dedicated in-wall displays which makes viewing them convenient.

I'm using Sonos more often for distributed audio... there's an app for that :)

Thermostats can be Nest or Lutron with apps.

Security... there's an app for that too.

What I will often do is provide some simple automation/integration just using contact closure/inputs between security, lighting & remote control processor.

With this it's easy and affordable to provide the most frequently requested automation features such as home, away and bedtime macros that can set security, lighting, shading, thermostat setback, and make sure all the TVs are off when you leave.

This is the kind of stuff my clients really want for convenience and it's easily accomplished without full blown automation systems.

Thanks, Paul for both the feedback and understanding of using apps. Tp clarify, we are using wall keypads for shading and lighting (plus the Lutron app, but I doubt they'll use it), keypad for daily alarm use with app for out of house/reminders, app for Sonos, app for CCTV, and dedicated URC for all TV areas.

We also use a few simple system intergrations and agree with your thoughts on this. Personally, I like this solution and it works both within the budget as well as my comfort level for short term install and long term servicing.

App guys...

How often if ever do you run into "sorry we can't do that" when dealing with client requests? When/if you do run into it does the client usually say "thats okay then" or do you run into "why cant i do that?"?

Are you still doing AV with a typical control system and leaving subsystem control to the apps?

Can you provide any other insight/information/reasons you prefer it etc about using apps vs full automation aside from cost/price?

Other reasons to prefer the multi-app approach would be:

-Minimal programming: Even though programming can be a revenue stream, it also slows down turn-around time on jobs and may be a barrier to more profitable parts of a job if they get cut from the budget. It also makes those jobs harder to service in the future.

-Apps requires little to no intervention on our behalf when things change: For instance, Sonos will adopt new music services far before most "integration friendly" companies or solutions will, and it's a fully automatic process. Thinking of any arbitrary subsystem, it's nice to know the manufacturer is usually quietly working behind the scenes to roll out a new feature, such as when Lutron released the level editor for iPhone. Subsystem manufacturers have way deeper pockets than we do and can afford to develop the apps far beyond what we may be able to, all in the name of keeping the customer happy which is OK by me.

When you bring A/V control into the mix, one way we have done it that works well is to use something along the lines of URC CCP or ProControl which are a self-contained A/V control system complete with app.

All this being said, I still think a truly integrated solution is right for most installations of let's say $25-30k or better.

Do you realize that you just made an excellent argument for a single app that controls everything? If it works well for A/V, why not the entire house?

Well I guess I was just trying to illustrate that a standalone A/V control system can function as part of a non-integrated multi-app system.

I absolutely agree that integrated is better than non-integrated but there is a group of clientele out there where non-integrated may make more sense sometimes.

 I ran into this project some time ago and was wondering if any of you know what kind of labels/labeler made those?

They look like they might be a Rhino cut down to fit.