Why isn’t my house as intelligent as my car?

In today’s home building market, there are 2 schools of thought as it relates to technology: home builders that wire for everything, and those that wire for nothing, and assume that “everything is wireless.”  Now these are certainly 2 extremes, and there are some that live in the middle, but I want to cast a new light on these two thoughts by using the car as an analogy.  Technology in most cars today is incredible compared to a home.  I am still blown away by the fact that a customer expects a $100,000 car to have amazing technology, and yet million dollar homes are sold everyday without a single tech feature. 

Let’s start with the arrival: Almost every new high end car sold today knows you as you approach, either with a fob or your phone. Most have mirrors that will then unfold, the door unlocks, the A/C or heat kicks into gear, and as you open your door, the lights come on.  Does your home do that? Why not?  For the price of a few parts and a custom integrator’s programming, this is incredibly easy to create. For example, we can use a fob or the garage door opener to trigger the lights to come on, the door to unlock, and your heat or A/C to adjust to comfort setting.     

Next, what happens in a new car after you are inside?  In most new cars, the lighting slowly dims away, the climate control starts appropriately heating or cooling to your temp setting, the car connects to your phone, and your favorite music starts playing automatically from your phone. Does your home do that? Once again, with a few off the shelf parts and a little programming, it’s very easy for a custom integrator to recreate this. By simply using an existing motion sensor from your security system, we can program your home to adjust the temperature, set the lighting, and start your favorite playlist in the kitchen after 5PM when motion is detected.   

Now back to my original statement about wired vs wireless technology, let’s look back at the car. The door sensors, audio system, lighting, and hvac are all interconnected with wiring. The only wireless devices are the fob and phone. The home should not be any different. While it is possible for a custom integrator to use wireless security, speakers, etc, there are major differences in the two.  First of all, wired systems are more reliable. The slightest glitch in the WiFi can affect making sure your home wakes up to you every time, not just most of the time.  Secondly, a wired system is faster. Speeds across a wire are superior to that of wireless, and so the welcome home experience is substantially more “instant” when the garage door opens, for example.  

Lastly, a wired system is simpler and more invisible. Tesla has won accolades for design because of how minimalist their interior is. Very few buttons, and as much automatic as possible.  In the home, wired systems consist of small keypads to control all of the lights and music, speakers are flush in the ceiling, and small tucked away motion sensors that lack a large bulky battery compartment. The only wireless devices in these homes, like the car, is just your phone. In home that depends on wireless, larger bulky speakers have to be mounted in room-stealing places like the kitchen counter, lights are still stacked across a wall with 7 different switches, and the HVAC not being inter-connected keeps the house burning more energy than necessary.              

So rethink your home.  Expect technology to simplify your living experience, not just your driving one.