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From Disaster to Dream Home! takes you inside the homebuilding process, from the ground up. In each episode, acclaimed interior designer Jana Rosenblatt brings you both the time-tested practices and the latest trends in homebuilding through conversations with leading architects, designers, and industry experts. Whether you’re building a custom home, rebuilding after a natural disaster, or renovating an older home, From Disaster to Dream Home! is your trusted source for the insights and connections you need to bring your home dreams into reality! www.FromDisasterToDreamHome.com
This is the EWN Podcast Network. Chances are the home you recently lost to a natural or man made disaster was just a regular house, but it was your home. You want to rebuild and get back into your home as fast and easily as you can, but wait. There are lots of new things to consider in the running of our homes. Luckily, we have Lonnie Dubrovsky, president of TangoNet technical solutions with us today.
Speaker 1:Stay tuned to learn about state of the art low voltage home automation in our home entertainment, home control, and home security systems.
Speaker 2:Welcome to From Disaster to Dream Home, the podcast that takes you inside the home building and rebuilding process. When interior designer, Jana Rosenblatt, had an 80 foot tree fall in her house, she saw the opportunity to create the customized home of her dreams. From Disaster to Dream Home provides you with the information and resources Jana wished she had during her rebuilding process. Now she's sharing with you the expertise of leading architects and home builders and the newest products and materials on the market. Here's your host, Jana Rosenblatt.
Speaker 1:Welcome back, home builders and remodelers, to another episode of From Disaster to Dream Home, the podcast that will take you through the process of building or rebuilding a new home from the ground up in 52 episodes. If you are rebuilding after the loss of your home or building a new home from the ground up, each episode of From Disaster to Dream Home will help you know what you and your design team will need to do to make the construction process fluid so your dream home can rise from the ashes. We have Lonnie Dubrovsky, the president of TangoNet technical solutions with us. Lonnie is a low voltage home automation specialist, and his company is a Crestron systems integrator that designs systems that their clients love, whether it's a home theater, multi room music, whole home control and automation, or commercial applications like video conference rooms, video walls, and camera systems. Lonnie's team takes the time to get to know their clients and optimize their systems to enhance their day to day lives and make things more enjoyable.
Speaker 1:If you can't wait to get home now, just wait until you have one of their systems. It is so important from the beginning of the planning for a new home build to understand the possibilities so you can wisely choose and plan for the things that you may not have had there before but can truly be life and lifestyle changing. Lonnie, thank you so much for being with us today.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:It's amazing. And you're in a podcast studio that you created, so that's another thing that you do.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Recording studios, podcast studios, home theaters. I mean, and anything that, you know, our clients need and want, we will bring to the forefront.
Speaker 1:Awesome. So the home automation is a huge conversation to have in under an hour, but let me start this way. If an alien landed in California tomorrow with plans to build a new house, how would you explain what smart home technology is?
Speaker 3:Good question. They're probably more advanced than we are, but you
Speaker 1:Could be.
Speaker 3:Maybe we
Speaker 1:should ask them.
Speaker 3:Exactly. They'll they'll teach us a thing or two. But I I would tell them that, you know, welcome welcome to our world. Let me let me show you a few things that that will that you'll be able to do or control or see, whether it's, you know, turning on the TV or watching a movie, turning on the lights, adjusting the temperature. You know, would really go through the the in and outs and see what piqued their interest.
Speaker 3:And and when I saw it when whenever I would see any kind of excitement, I'd be like, oh, okay. Let's let's go more in this area.
Speaker 1:Right. Uh-huh. Yeah. And can you explain, basically, like, in in a in a short version, the scope of work that your company includes in home automation?
Speaker 3:So it's everything from the conceptualizing and designing of of the AV system to implementation. So that would cover the prewiring, which has to be done obviously before the drywall closes, the installation of the equipment, and most importantly, the programming of the system, which we do custom tailored to the homeowners so that, you know, the the user experience is something that the homeowner is going to love. The biggest mistake of of that I've seen, like from projects that we've taken over, are companies that just crank out different kind of programs throughout every system that might make sense to the programmer that made them. But it's definitely not gonna make sense to the person that that's using it because the way you're using your house isn't gonna be the way I'm using my house, and it's not gonna be the way that, you know, person c uses their house. So we design everything from the ground up and try to make everything as user friendly and the way they wanna use their system.
Speaker 1:Fascinating. The range of home automation available to the homeowner seems to grow every day. I'm not even sure how to start this conversation about, you know, nuts and bolts. But let's imagine that my client is beginning to work with an architect on the plans for a new construction home. They know the style, the place it'll be built, and I know that they have an interest in including some state of the art technology.
Speaker 1:At what stage in the design process is it best to bring you in?
Speaker 3:The earlier, the better. Because the more planning and the more preparation and and the more visualization and, you know, feedback from the homeowner of what what they want would be the key elements. Sometimes it gets rushed when it's when when, like, they you bring when you're brought in right before the drywall's about to close.
Speaker 1:I say that later. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Right. But we're usually brought in in the planning budgeting phase prior to construction
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:And and make sure the system will fit into the budget because that's important, and then fine tune from there. So there there there's always like multiple options that that we can do. But sometimes, you know, we're not that lucky. It doesn't work out that way. Sometimes AV is an afterthought, and we're only brought in, you know, at the last possible second or even even when it's too late after the walls have been closed.
Speaker 3:And when that happens, it's not the end of the world because we always find a way to to make it work. And my my team are kind of like wiring surgeons. Yeah. So so, like, if the drywall's closed, they'll figure out how to do it with the least possible minimal cuts as they can.
Speaker 1:I can hear the filter cringing right now.
Speaker 3:Run through attic or or crawl space, but it's always best to be brought in as early as possible.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh. And what are the range of things that we should consider at this early stage before the plans are completely drawn? Hopefully, there's an outline for you. How do you broach what what we just look at first?
Speaker 3:I mean, budget's a big factor because that will dictate what, you know, what we can actually implement. And it also depends on what the homeowner wants. So my job at that early of a stage is to educate the homeowner on what's out there, get a feel for their vision and how they want their system to be, and then come up with a plan that isn't too overwhelming for them. So And smart homes are also, like, energy savings and cost savings tools. Like, they they can be those things.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:So so, you know, we always we always take that into account too where, you know, it might make sense to spend a little more and get a few extra features than, you know, cutting corners and worrying about not having them later. But we'll we'll and, you know, I'm sure we'll cover all that future expansion and things that we always build into the system.
Speaker 1:So if there isn't yet a budget line item for our, you know, home automation and all the things that come with this the technology, what is the level of investment that needs to be made for different products and components? I mean, do you do you sort of break people down in, you know, this is a 50,000 guy dollar guy. This is a hundred and 50,000 guy. I mean, how do you kind of know where to begin?
Speaker 3:I mean, the it's a really difficult place to to start because a lot of the time, we're not even given a budget. We're told, you know, what what somebody wants, and we kind of draft up a proposal with, you know, a blanket proposal. Here's what you can do if you want speakers in every room, if you want cameras all over the place covering exterior, sometimes covering interior. But it's all scalable. So, you know, in those situations, I say, here's your menu.
Speaker 3:This is everything that we can do. Let you know, we can narrow it down from here, and and, you know, sometimes it's less than they expect to spend. Sometimes it's more, and we have to fine tune it and and go from there. But it it's always different because some someone might have the plan. Okay.
Speaker 3:I just want super basic. I just want a surround sound room. I don't want lighting control. I don't want really any kind of smart home stuff. I just want basic, you know, intercom access from from, like, access control from my front door.
Speaker 3:I wanna be able to open the gate. I wanna be able to turn on my TVs. So, you know, we provide every type of solution through the spectrum for more limited to the more advanced.
Speaker 1:If if budget is a factor and especially if people someone is rebuilding after disaster, there is an amount of money. It's not as much like people who have been dying to build a house all their lives and have saved for it properly. So if budget's a factor, are there cost effective strategies for implementing some smart home features? And how can we prepare now for upgrades in the future?
Speaker 3:So we always take the homeowner through all of the options and and costs that that are associated with everything. Like speakers, for instance, you know, the there are many different grades of speakers that we use. Our our main brand is a company called Sonance. They all they have entry level, medium, and high level offerings. So in in situations, I usually like giving the middle ground solution for for those kind of thing.
Speaker 3:Same with cameras. Same with TVs. You know, there there's always different options. So I'll always try to use a middle ground option that is that is probably a little bit better than the entry level, but there's always room to go down to that entry level if we need to, you know, bring bring the budget down a little bit. But, you know, it's it's really modular based.
Speaker 3:So it it depends on, like, many factors, how big the house is, how many room, what what the homeowner wants, how many speaker zones, how many rooms there are for speakers, what what they wanna control. It it it definitely ranges. But I'd say for, like, you know, the the most basic, you should you can account for, 20,000 and up from there. I mean, it can go up to crazy numbers, you know, depending on what what the the homeowner wants to accomplish. But the, like, the the more advanced systems will probably be somewhere in the range of, like, 80 to a hundred thousand, I would But but goes up from there as well.
Speaker 1:It already sounds so bad to me.
Speaker 3:It it just depends on what on what they're looking for.
Speaker 1:Of course. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Home theater a home theater could could be crazy. It could be cost effective. So it's it's all what the budget is and what the homeowner wants, and we'll we'll what we do is we bring the best solution that we can afford that the homeowner can afford. We bring the bet that best solution to them so they'll love it.
Speaker 1:Love is good. So on so in my experience, on my new home building projects, I find that weeks into the installation of the plumbing and electric and the electrical, suddenly, one day, the homeowners realize that they need to include the entertainment features of the home before the walls get closed with the drywall, which you've alluded to already several times. We talk about starting early, but often it's almost too late and there's a real scramble. So are architects not bringing this up in the conversation? You know, who I I now see that it's my job as an interior designer.
Speaker 1:But how do clients know to that this is a conversation they should be having?
Speaker 3:We're I mean, we're usually not in touch with the architects at all. So I I don't think it's something that that is in their their process or in their mind when when they're doing their job. We're normally bought in brought in by the contractor or by the design firm Mhmm. You know, of or or the homeowner if they were referred by someone that they know. I realized I I missed one of your questions in the last question.
Speaker 3:How do we plan for future upgrades?
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah. Well, it's never too late for that one.
Speaker 3:Right. And and that's the beauty of the systems that we do, especially with the Crestron systems because they're very easy to update without needing to rip everything and start over, which is often the case with the other platforms. So we always make sure to or we try to make sure we, in the budget, can prewire even areas that we're not doing now so that that we can come back and do phase two at any point later.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That especially in this in the world of rebuilding because you've lost your home, that would be great because, you know, sometimes it's a cash flow issue, but not necessarily an affordable, you know, affordability issue in the long run. And so what exactly is Crestron? What is the umbrella of of that company's definition?
Speaker 3:Crestron's the pioneer of home automation. They've been in the business for over fifty years, and every company is struggling to get to where they are. Uh-huh. They're they're still considered the best. And when when we I mean, over the years, when we were evaluating other automation platforms and other companies to go with, because we do work with other companies as well, Crestron is the one that stands out.
Speaker 3:Crestron is the one that is the most reliable. It's the most secure. It's the most customizable that that we can really customize and make as user friendly as we want. It's it's also very built well, it's built for longevity. Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:So so Crestron is the one of the only companies I see out there that you can still find houses. Like, we did a walkthrough a few weeks ago in in a house that was running a a two series system. The two series came out in 02/2002, and the house is still working as well as it did on day one, which what what can you say for other manufacturers out there that that would be work you know, that that would have that kind of longevity?
Speaker 1:You know, we think about that, you know, as whether we're building or rebuilding about our life in the home and the amount of years we wanna be in it. And, certainly, no one wants to start something that they're gonna have to, you know, redo or that's gonna be challenging.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:But let's talk about how we'll control the technology. Are we using our phones or a handhold remote controls? Or are you gonna put a wall panel somewhere where I might want to put a piece of wall art? Does the and, also, does the whole family have the same amount of control? What's up with the control issues?
Speaker 3:So yes to all of the above. No to the wall art because Uh-huh. The the wall panels, if you have any, are strategically placed kind of near where the light switches are. It would never it would never take up a wall that you would put art on.
Speaker 1:I'm encouraged.
Speaker 3:You are using your phones. You are using remote controls. You are using iPads if you wish to use iPads. And like whether family members have the same control or not, they they can or they don't have to. So, you know, if you have a guesthouse that you only want the guesthouse to control the those elements, if if a visitor comes in and obviously, you don't want them to be able to turn on the lights in your master bedroom or, you know, interact with the rest of the house, that would be isolated to that room.
Speaker 3:So the same thing would go for, you know, a teenager if you wanna only give them access to do certain things. You can customize that app so that, you know, it can't do everything that your app can do.
Speaker 1:That's good to know. Mhmm. That's good to know. So how about voice
Speaker 3:And I and I would disable, like, the alarm panic button, for instance, because you never want that to be pressed by accident and have the police come. So that's something that that I would take out of of, like, you know, an app.
Speaker 1:That technology, when I was a teenager, was, you know, pretty new, the panic button thing. And, yeah, it was constantly getting pushed in our house.
Speaker 3:But, typically, the whole family does have the city control. Right.
Speaker 1:People would go, what's that? Police would and, you know, the the police or fire department would come, which was always odd.
Speaker 3:Lovely.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And what about voice activation? How can our smart home components coordinate with voice control systems like Alexa or Google Assistant, or do you install a new you know, something original to the the system?
Speaker 3:So those voice assistants are pretty basic, and they're great and they're not great in terms of reliability. They're good for playing music and, you know, doing some limited functionality, but we don't really use them for anything beyond that. With those devices, there's also a big concern for privacy. And I'm sure, you know, you I'm sure you've heard some of the the issues and occurrences being reported by by those kind of things, like conversations leaking out or, you know Yeah. Different incidences like that.
Speaker 3:But there is a voice control that we use. It's it's a closed platform that has an eye on security where anything voice related never gets transmitted out of the network. Mhmm. And so it's optimized to work also with natural speech. So, you know, it's a little bit less clunky than talking to one of those voice assistants.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. But the most important thing is it doesn't send the information out to the cloud. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:So it's a much more sophisticated version of the technology, and it's more insulated within the home.
Speaker 3:Correct. And anything that you can fathom doing from your phone, you could potentially do mostly from voice Wow. Which is pretty amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It is.
Speaker 3:And and what what I like about the the voice control, which which a lot of people don't don't really think about at the beginning when they when they think about voice and and AI and stuff like that, is that a lot of the a lot of the things that you'd wanna customize later on, you'd have to call in a programmer or like, you know, my team to come and reprogram that element of the system. Mhmm. But the nice thing that that with this voice command, it kind of eliminates the need for that. So if you wanted to say, every time it rains, set the temperature to 72 and turn on the fireplace, it's gonna know to do that.
Speaker 1:Wow. You have So on
Speaker 3:my or like, every night, like, at my house at 10PM, my blinds close. You know? So but but I had to program that in. Now you can just say, every night at 10PM or at sundown or whenever, close the blinds and open them back up at 7AM, and it'll do that every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But what about that morning you've drunk too much and you really didn't want those to open?
Speaker 3:You you can change
Speaker 1:it. You can claim too. Good. So we spoke in a recent episode about security systems and touched on how we can tie in the security systems to our smart home controls and devices. Do you coordinate with security companies and work as a team, or how much do you do versus what other people do?
Speaker 1:How does that work?
Speaker 3:With with alarm companies?
Speaker 1:Yeah. With the with a full blown security system, you know, banks.
Speaker 3:Yeah. We we always wanna make sure whatever they are putting in is a platform that we can integrate into our system. Uh-huh. So so that's number one. And what they do doesn't really relate to us, but we'll we'll always be in communication, get the zone list from them so that we can program the list and know which zones are open, not just zone 34 because that won't tell the user much.
Speaker 3:And then once it's a system that integrates, we often just need to integrate it. And they they need our help too. Like, sometimes they need us to open a certain port on the router. So we always work really closely with with the other vendors that that are providing services.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And when you're planning a home automated system, how do homeowners decide between wired and wireless solutions in various devices and systems?
Speaker 3:So the when it comes to wired and wireless, most of the things that you're gonna want are gonna be wired. Wired. It it gives the allure of being wireless even when they're wired. Right. But they're wired to an equipment closet or they're wired you know, it it's not like visible wiring.
Speaker 3:The only I mean, remotes are obviously wireless. The lighting, if it's a retrofit job, it can also be they can be wireless dimmers that communicate to a gateway. But everything should really be hardwired because it's just so much more reliable. Occasionally, we don't have the luxury of doing that and, you know, we can we can deal with wireless. Crestron has wireless gateways and and other things that can work wirelessly.
Speaker 3:It's just always better to hardwire when we can.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And that may lead into the next question, which is what are the differences in approach in working with an existing home or when retrofitting a system in versus a new home build? And that may be where some of the wireless may be necessary.
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, retrofits are always a welcome challenge. You you know, the the the more challenging Lani. The more challenging, the more rewarding. Right? Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:But we we we always take the time to analyze the location for a retrofit, Try to find the smartest and, you know, easiest, best way to to get wiring if if you can, like I said, through attics, crawl space. Occasionally, like I touched on before, we will have to open a small amount of drywall, but our team works like surgeons. So Uh-huh. You know, they don't like cutting anything. It doesn't need to be cut.
Speaker 3:And and we always take care to keep whatever was cut out, put it in, and make sure it's very easy to repair and patch. Mhmm. And usually, it's not a big deal because it's it's just drywall. But we, like, we're always meticulous to keep to keep whatever we can as great as possible so that it's very easy to repair.
Speaker 1:And do you have as much business in in, you know, retrofitting older homes as you do in new building, or is this something that people are mainly considering when all of a sudden they've got, you know, the world you know, the options open to them?
Speaker 3:We do. There's there's actually a lot of homes, especially in in LA and in Hancock Park and, you know, that wanna keep the historical look of Right. And and don't wanna don't wanna really mess with that. So so we it's all over the board, you know. Whatever the the designers and the homeowner, whatever their vision is of the house, we will make that come to life.
Speaker 3:But but it I mean, retrofits are are definitely 50% of
Speaker 1:our Oh, okay.
Speaker 3:I would say because, you know, there there's a lot of retrofitting. Whether it's just that, you know, they didn't run wiring whenever they they built the house and the new client bought the house now, and hey, what do I do because I wanna I wanna have AV? It it has it has to be a retrofit situation. And and the main the main thing with retrofitting is for lighting, it's easy because the dimmers just have to be swapped out with a wireless dimmer that we can control. And for for speakers, I mean, we just have to figure out a way, if there is a way, how to get it there, whether it's easier to do in wall or in ceiling.
Speaker 3:But most likely, if they wanna do anything advanced, they're usually doing some kind of construction where we can, you know, tie it.
Speaker 1:Right. We're yeah. I mean, that's when it
Speaker 3:And get it done.
Speaker 1:Often comes up when you're, you know, doing something that's gonna make a mess anyway. You think, what else can I do to make more of a mess? And so then what is the timeline on a new build for the installation of the low voltage wiring? What that will run the whole system. And when do you need access to the whole house?
Speaker 1:When is it best for you guys to come in?
Speaker 3:Are you talking just about just about wiring?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:But just the wiring?
Speaker 1:The wiring, yes, so that we can shut the drywall. Okay. What's the time frame and when's it best for you to come in at that point?
Speaker 3:So timeline varies because it depends on the scope of work. Right? If it's Uh-huh. If it's going to be a more basic install, it it might be a week or two. You know?
Speaker 3:We might not need a lot of work. Mhmm. But but if it's a really large scope and we're wiring the whole house and we're we're doing a full smart house, I would say that that could take a month or two of Uh-huh. Of the prewire.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So another reason why you have to plan ahead because you have to know when that month or two can happen. And do you
Speaker 3:need We always wanna come in just sorry. To Yeah. No. No. That's good.
Speaker 3:We always wanna come in after the electrician is done with their work. Uh-huh. So that we don't cross paths. Once they're done, we're we normally come in, do all of the low voltage wiring at that point.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That was exactly then
Speaker 3:and then the drywall can get closed.
Speaker 1:Good anticipation. Yeah. So and that brings up another question about electricians. Why don't they do low voltage wiring? I I don't understand why they're all they're separate teams.
Speaker 3:It's a completely separate trade.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:You know, even though it may sound similar and familiar, what we what we do as low voltage integrators is is very different. The the trade doesn't intersect. We work very closely with electricians, and we're in communication with them throughout the build. But one example that I have is like with lighting, you know, they're responsible for installing the lighting, and we we need to be in the loop on the load counts, on the wattage, so that we can then recommend the correct dimming modules, and we can know we can plan out for the right amount of keypads going out through throughout the house and and get that all, you know, figured out because it it just doesn't intersect. Like they they handle the high voltage.
Speaker 3:We handle the low voltage. But, you know, they rely on us for for our trade, we rely on them for their trade.
Speaker 1:So they've probably laid out, you know, where the hub of the main boxes and things will be for the electrical. Do you when what are the key considerations when planning and installing the infrastructure of the wiring on your end, on the low voltage end?
Speaker 3:Well, usually, the contractor will have an equipment area in the plan for for us, and the the lighting panels are sometimes there as well. Sometimes they're they're not. They're in a different closet, and we need to run, you know, some kind of cable for in for intercommunication. But for the most part, where it doesn't matter wherever it is, it's just designated by the contractor. And the when we when we do that, the electrician will wire the lighting loads to our lighting panel, and we provide the lighting panel.
Speaker 3:And then we take the low voltage out of there and have it go to our system.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So you do overlap in terms of the the outcome. So you really do have to communicate.
Speaker 3:We do. Yeah. Absolutely. And and now, the industry is kind of changing a little bit with with lighting, where I've seen homeowners kind of disappointed over the experience of lighting. Like they might spend an arm and a leg on this really fancy lighting fixture and then want to dim it down to the point where they can't because it won't go that low.
Speaker 3:And and so then they bring in a lighting specialist to put a lens or diffuse it or try because that that light just doesn't have the ability to give them the experience that they want. So so where where the industry is kind of shifting a little now is that there's low voltage lighting being developed and and being provided now by the low voltage integrator that that in tandem with the electrician, we are partnering up and handling the lighting. And and what the benefit of that is is they're not dealing with, you know, an unhappy customer that that is complaining about the lighting and and the experience. The the client's getting the experience that they want, whether it's changing colors or changing intensity, all all of that. And they're still doing the installation and and, I mean, they may that's where they make most of their money anyway.
Speaker 1:But
Speaker 3:but, you know, partnering up on the lighting is something that I can see the industry So
Speaker 1:you're gonna you're so you're you're talking mostly about the blanket of light of the recessed lighting, the the whole house lighting, at when you're talking about this this kind of thing so that the whole house is more controllable. And what you're suggesting, correct me if I'm wrong, is that you have there are superior fixtures that you're gonna bring to the table, but now but the electricians are still gonna put them in.
Speaker 3:It's pretty new. I mean, this is where the industry is is heading. But, yes, the that that's that's where it's heading. All light fixtures are controllable, though. We can control any lighting load.
Speaker 1:Okay. Yeah. So I can pick up something pretty and, you know, and and and it doesn't have to be made specifically for the purpose. It it will be able to be controlled.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Okay. That is a
Speaker 3:great thing. And and then one of the cool things about where where the industry is headed with with this new kind of lighting is the circadian lighting, which I don't know if you if you know about, but it it's pretty it's pretty cool. It's basically lighting that in your home that will adjust based on the time of day. So it will adjust
Speaker 1:sunglasses?
Speaker 3:Kind of. But but but you you don't notice the change.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's it's
Speaker 3:pretty organic. So what it does is it will it and and they say that it's really good to support human health. Uh-huh. And and that it it the the lighting intensities and temperatures are are literally minimizing the effect of electrical light, and it's supposed to make the body work better. I mean, you know, the
Speaker 1:this is all new stuff. That is mind boggling.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It helps the body determine the difference between natural daytime
Speaker 1:and nighttime. Actually. But, you know and and hopefully, that you know, we've done a couple of shows on lighting, and this would be, you know, that the overall lighting in the home would, you know, ebb and flow with your circadian rhythms, and, you know, that would be very cool. And then you still have the ability to put you know, bump it up or put you know, you can do things you want doing it. So so you wanna get the wiring in there after the electrical and before the drywall gets in.
Speaker 1:And then when do the components come in? Because, you know, the things that you're implementing, the TVs and the speakers and things are pretty sensitive. So when when do we have to make sure the schedule allows for that timing?
Speaker 3:We're the last ones in. So we No. You're not the
Speaker 1:only one that says that. But yeah. Yeah. Go ahead.
Speaker 3:No. But, I mean, it makes sense because we wanna put all that stuff in when all the dust is gone. Yeah. So it's normally in three phases. We'll do the wiring, then we'll come back towards the end, start building the racks, put in all the equipment, hook it up, and then the final step is the programming and implementation of everything.
Speaker 1:Okay. That is very understandable. So we've talked a little bit about lighting, and and and I'm now convinced, and I feel good about the fact that we can in you know, we can bring in light fixtures that accent the moment that are still, you know, that are still what we want to, you know, to to light up the room, but give, you know, a flare in whatever direction that we're that we're looking to.
Speaker 3:And mind you, sometimes the the lighting problem that I described previously is due to the light bulbs because sometimes, like, the LED light bulbs don't don't give that, you know, incandescent look like like the like the normal light bulbs. So light bulbs are also a factor to to think about.
Speaker 1:Oh, and your fixtures are are including the LED. Correct. Correct. But I'm just saying growing out. When there's Yeah.
Speaker 3:Just checking. Lighting. Right. Just a regular fixture.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, I think
Speaker 3:Changing the bulbs can also make a difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I think that there'll come a time when all light fixtures are LED anyway at some point. So are there industry standards for specific products that the homeowners should be aware of when selecting their appliances? We talked about light fixtures, but also their audio visual components to ensure compatibility with the control systems that you're installing.
Speaker 3:Like, what what what kind of equipment are you talking about?
Speaker 1:Like You know, the speakers and the TVs and the you know, do you work with kitchen appliances and appliances and and things like that?
Speaker 3:It's it's rare. It's possible. Again, anything that the homeowner wants to control is is possible to a certain extent. You know, a lot of those smart appliances are best used using their their app. Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:But we we, you know, we have done things where we're controlling coffee makers or controlling hot water heaters again to to save on energy and save on on costs. Usually, there it's that focus. But regarding speakers and TVs, there again, I like to pick stuff that that have a good track record and longevity. There are some brands out there that that don't have that longevity. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And depending on the budget and price point, we'll always put the best products into the mix. Uh-huh. And then, you know, if for whatever reason we can't we can't afford it or it goes over budget, then we go to, you know, the next best option.
Speaker 1:K. And so it sounds like a lot of your kind of creativity is in the the creation of that entertainment system, whether it's localized in a home theater and your family room, and then it could spread, you know, within the house. What are the things that you include? What are the the line items that are under you know, that that you're gonna bring to the table when we go to design those systems?
Speaker 3:So lighting, multi room music, HVAC control. Mhmm. And and Crestron makes all their own thermostats and temperature sensors.
Speaker 1:So HVAC is the heat and air?
Speaker 3:Correct. Security cameras, which which we control through the system, touch panels, blinds and shade control, TV control, home theater control, whether it's, you know, landscape music or or some kind of outdoor system, outdoor TVs. Mhmm. We could control sprinklers. We could you know, the the the list goes on.
Speaker 3:We we've done turntables where if there's a driveway and not enough room for a car to turn around, the car just goes there. They hit the button for the car to to rotate, and they can back out.
Speaker 1:But, I mean, how do we even come up with that thought? Like, how does that come up on your to to do list of things you wanna include?
Speaker 3:Well, the homeowner said, I'm doing this. Uh-huh. Can we control it through your system?
Speaker 1:So Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:That that's when, you know, the wheels start turning, and we try to figure out, well, how are we gonna do this? Okay. Let's figure it out and come up with a solution. So, you know, we we always find a way. There's nothing that's in
Speaker 1:the house. You touched on, you know, the outside entertainment factors that people are putting in, you know, huge viewing rooms and things like that outside. But what about the considerations for the surveillance cameras and doorbell cameras and things like that? Is that something that you're that if if you're the first one in there before the security people, are you gonna work on that with us?
Speaker 3:Yes. That that's part of the prewire because we Uh-huh. We we would prewire those cameras. But if there's any advice that that I have to give is to try no matter how eager the homeowner is, to try not to do the do it yourself method because there you know, the rings and the nests and and those kind of
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Smart home cameras, a, aren't the most secure. The LAPD just just recently sent out an advisory that now what people are doing, and it's been happening for a long time, but they just sent out an advisory, is they're disabling the Internet as soon as they see one of these Ring cameras. So so, you know or Nest. So it's very easy for them to disable the Internet, and then those cameras don't record. All all of our systems not only record
Speaker 1:You mean the criminal in front of your house is gonna disable your Internet?
Speaker 3:They're gonna disable your Internet, whether it's cutting it, whether it's jamming it. Uh-huh. You know, the it's very common thing right now.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:And and all of our camera systems do record to an NVR, which means it's recording to a hard drive in the house. Uh-huh. So even if the house loses power, we'll normally usually have a battery backup on there Uh-huh. So that the cameras will still record in the event of a power outage for several hours. And, you know, that just increases security and knowing, you know, what what happened, being able to monitor your house from the inside and see what's going on on the outside.
Speaker 3:But I think I took your question in a different direction.
Speaker 1:No. No. That's okay. Mean, I could just listen to you all day. It's just an endless sea of ideas and information.
Speaker 3:But most of that do it yourself stuff is not integratable, and you're gonna like, you usually end up in a situation where you can't update, like, you know, you can't change that then to a hardwire if we don't have a hardwire there because that's all Wi Fi. So it ends up being a limitation that ends up being a problem later on.
Speaker 1:So in a way, those DIYs are a little bit of a false sense of security, and that
Speaker 3:It's great for the average, you know, like, a person that's living in an apartment and just wants to put in a camera to monitor something.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:But but there is a lot of that false sense of security because you're only as good as your Internet when it comes to that. I see. And power. If your power goes out, you know, those cameras aren't recording either. So, you know, it's it's definitely a big step down from what a home could have.
Speaker 1:I imagine if you're if you're going to invest in a certain amount of of smart home wiring, that kind of starting with security is where people
Speaker 3:Right. Not not to mention Yeah. Those cameras also stream twenty four seven to the Internet. So it will also bog down your Internet. So a lot of people end up thinking, well, why is my Internet so bad?
Speaker 3:I'm paying for a really fast signal. But once you have ten, eight, six of these cameras that are streaming twenty four seven, they really they they really affect the speed.
Speaker 1:Okay. So, Loni, my my ring has been broken for about two years. And so I have a little note, you know, post it note on my front door. Please call me if you really wanna reach us. So are there that reminds me to ask you.
Speaker 1:Are there jobs too small versus too big for your company? Like, if if I just wanna get, you know, the camera thing done and, you know, be able to communicate and use it as a doorbell, is that too small? Okay.
Speaker 3:We don't we don't work with Ring. So
Speaker 1:No. No. I mean, you know, to bring in a system that would be instead of
Speaker 3:Right. No. We would do that. We we do we do all types of installs. So if it's just bringing in a door station, like a two n or door bird door station, or if, you know, wiring up four or six cameras, we we do that stuff all the time.
Speaker 1:Okay. So to now kinda change it back into the house and and some of the interior uses, Controlling the temperature of the house remotely twenty four seven is a great use of technology. Will our HVAC team talk to our home automation company and work together? And are there specific systems that are being installed that will properly integrate, or is that another area like you've mentioned where the the components are flexible and you can work with a lot of variety?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. We always coordinate with the HVAC contractor. The the brand of of HVAC doesn't normally matter. It's more the thermostat that that's being used. So I I touched on it a little bit earlier, but Crestron does make their own thermostats.
Speaker 3:They also make their own temperature sensors that allow for the control and the monitoring of of the temperature. And for retrofits, they make really sleek ones that that could go on the wall behind you, you know, and and replace whatever's there now and and give you that kind of control. And that that one is wireless. So, you know, it's the best of both worlds when Mhmm. When you when you do that.
Speaker 3:But the HVAC company is gonna work with us to tell us where the temperature sensors are gonna go because they're gonna want it near the return. And and if there's multiple rooms, they which is better than just a standalone thermostat. You can have a temperature sensor in both of those rooms, and and what the thermostat then does is it knows the temperature in in each room. And if one room gets too hot, it will then turn on because it were it averages out somehow and calculates, you know, where the temperature should be at. So if one room is too hot or too cold, it's gonna adjust proportionally based on where the temperature sensors are.
Speaker 1:And so that's something that we can not only will there be a wall panel somewhere in the house or maybe two, but, we'll also be able to control that on our phone. So, you know, if it's a chilly night and we want a house warmed up, but we, you know, keep our temperatures low normally, you can control that and have it toasted at home.
Speaker 3:Exactly. And and in a new build, the thermostat don't have to be on the wall. You know, they can be hidden and just have the temperature sensor.
Speaker 1:Which is a beautiful thing.
Speaker 3:But for old school people that like walking up to a thermostat, which we have a lot of those as well, then, you know, we can accommodate that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I would work on getting the client to work through that. Whatever their attachment is to the wall thing, I would work through it. So window treatments are one of my personal favorite uses of remote control technology, which can also be tied into the main home automation controls. With ceiling heights getting higher and higher in our in the houses that are being built, so do our windows.
Speaker 1:And there are many rooms where we want to control the temperature and the light. What are the range of window products window covering products that you suggest?
Speaker 3:So Crestron makes all their own blinds and shades and which include the motor. They have their own fabric for every application. And they have for for shades, they have a great selection of fabrics that you can choose from. And light transparency, you know, different light transparencies depending on what what the look is, different length, and depending on the height, you may need a different motor because the the smaller motors only accommodate up to a certain height. So for anything that that is higher, you need a bigger motor, which means you'd have to build in a more room in the pocket.
Speaker 3:So all of this needs to be planned for in advance when when we think about shades. For drapery, they make their own drapery motors, their own drapery track. They can do curve track, angle track. They they can accomplish anything. They do not make their own drapery fabric, so that's where you come in to and we have we have shade shade fabricators that we deal with.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:So you're you're designing with
Speaker 3:the fabric.
Speaker 1:And you would put in the rod system and the the system that's gonna move it and control it, but we can have we can, you know, outsource the drapes themselves.
Speaker 3:Correct. Even the shades can can be custom. Yeah. You know, it it just doesn't need to be because Crestron has such a great selection of the fabrics. And then in a in a retrofit situation where someone may have a shade a motorized shade already, like Saumfi, for instance.
Speaker 3:Saumfi can be controlled, we can integrate that into our systems.
Speaker 1:Okay. Great. That was a very important question.
Speaker 3:But the the limitation is we can't know the status. So with Crestron shades, we know whether the shades are open. We know where the if they're closed. We know if they're paused. On the actual phone, you can even swipe down halfway, and it'll only open to the point you swipe down because it it knows it knows the infrastructure.
Speaker 3:Yeah. With Somfy, it will only know it won't know if if it will open. So we can only send an open command. We can only send a stop command, and we can only send a close command. Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:So so sometimes in those situations, you know, there's there's room for confusion because it it will and and sometimes there's only a relay Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's the integration it limits.
Speaker 3:So by location. It's controllable. We always make it as as friendly as possible, and we try to program things where, you know, if it if it knows that we press a button to open it and we're sending the same command to close it, it will know because it just opened to close. But, you know, we do our
Speaker 1:huge range of, you know, price range of window treatment options. Are there is there a range within the Crestron options as well in terms of, you know, a very, simple bought baseline shade versus, you know, a a more intensely expensive model?
Speaker 3:Definitely. It ranges. And it and it depends on the if there's gonna be a fascia, if there's gonna be you know, they they they have different kinds of models that are exposed or that are in a pocket or that, you know, that that are that are hidden. There there are many different motors. So we always get the the window plan from the designers and from the contractor, go to Crestron, show them what the openings are gonna be like, and and then come up with the the pricing based on that.
Speaker 3:But overall, they're pretty competitive. And there have been a lot of situations where they have won over the business because the customers are doing the competing quote.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's
Speaker 3:great. And they'll they'll beat them.
Speaker 1:So I'm still just a little bit confused about how all the elements get organized to all work together. You have an interior designer, hopefully me, choosing the light fixtures, the appliances, the window treatments, and and, you know, with my clients. Then you have the audio visual guys, but they sound like in this case, they're you designing the program. So that makes it a little bit easier there because most audio visual designers don't play well with others. And then the builder is working with the HVAC installer and the electricians, and the landscape designer who is usually invited to the party late.
Speaker 1:Who is really coordinating all the things that you need to bring together?
Speaker 3:The homeowner will will mainly be the one to tell us, I want the sauna controlled in the backyard. I wanna control the pool. I wanna control the the the homeowner will dictate what you know, I wanna monitor the temperature in the wine room. I I any any application that you can think of usually comes from the homeowner, and then we have to interface with that specific installer or the vendor to make sure we can control the sauna, make sure we can control the Yeah.
Speaker 1:So so you do the reaching out as much as you need to Right. Once the homeowners, you know, verbalizes an interest.
Speaker 3:Correct. Or or the or it could be the contractor too, the builder,
Speaker 1:But interior designer.
Speaker 3:Could be. Absolutely. It's endless on on what we can do.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's amazing.
Speaker 3:But but it all what makes it all beautiful when it comes to home automation and Crestron specifically is it's one app. It's one app that you that the homeowner will use. So that's what that's what keeps it simple for them versus having to control the pool through an app, having to control the music through an having to control the thermostat through an app, having to control the door system through an app, the garage door through another app, the cameras through another app, the alarm through another app. The list goes on. You can have 20 apps doing what this one app will will be able to accomplish.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Which introduces, you know, my my next question that which which is for many of us, the bottom line is fear.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:What kind of super brain is needed to run and operate a smart home, especially when it has a lot of bells and whistles? And can anyone learn how to operate the control panels, phones, tablets?
Speaker 3:Even your dog.
Speaker 1:Not my dog. But but do go on.
Speaker 3:It may be overwhelming when, you know, for for the homeowner to think about, but we're really good at handholding, number one. Yeah. And and we You have
Speaker 1:a department in charge of that? Yes. Teachers among you.
Speaker 3:We're patients and handholding and being able to help the owner homeowner navigate throughout the whole process. So so, you know, it really starts at the planning, but we design our systems with ease of use in mind. So that's number one. We customize each system, like I told you, from the ground So so, you know, I wanna know how you're gonna be using the system. Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:And even once we give you the keys to the kingdom and you're gonna play with it Uh-huh. For a while after you move in, I I want you to have free rein, and then then we'll do another round of customizations to make sure that we then, you know, hone in on whatever the difficulties were and figure out the most efficient way for you to get to whatever you were trying to do.
Speaker 1:I'm sure it's incredibly rewarding when you can start to see the synapses falling into place and someone, you know, really being able to use this, like, you know, playing a a high level musical instrument. You you play your home.
Speaker 3:It's this unbelievable feeling of appreciation that we get from the homeowner
Speaker 1:I bet.
Speaker 3:Because we're we're giving them this tool in the palm of their hands that they never had before Yeah. In many in many cases. In some cases, they've had a version of it, but it's not to this level.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 3:And and it's just such an appreciation that my whole team gets pleasure from, and that's really why we're in this business because it's just such a rewarding Very to to be in.
Speaker 1:And so what do you see as the next big thing coming down the road that we should all know about and be watching for?
Speaker 3:I think the next big thing is really the AI and voice control, which isn't that streamlined yet. Uh-huh. That that's really gonna be the next the next turning point where I know we've seen it, like versions of it in movies. Yeah. And we're hearing more and more about AI integrating with with everyday life.
Speaker 3:But it it's just, you know, such a cool concept to be able to walk in and just speak normally and and even without walking, without saying anything, the house can know you're in the house. And and let's say it's programmed that when you walk in the house, it's gonna turn on CNN, play Beethoven, and set the lights to a certain level. You know, it like, a house could know that. Yeah. A house could know when you hit goodbye mode and you're leaving that it shuts the blinds to save energy, sets the temperature to what it's supposed to be at, make sure the lights are off, make sure the front door is locked, make sure the gate's closed, the hot water heater's off, what whatever the case may be.
Speaker 3:You know, good night mode could be something similar where it's a version of that. It sets the alarm, closes the blinds. It it could it could it just enhances lifestyle so much that it's it's, you know, something that that as a homeowner, you get spoiled to. And when you go to a hotel even, you're like, oh, I I I miss my house.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's right. Yeah. You're gonna wanna go home instead of go away. If it gets good enough, I'm not leaving.
Speaker 3:But it's so customizable to, like, the like, we've even done, like, dog mode for clients where, you know, they're leaving for work, and the house knows if they're if they're not home because the alarm is armed. So it knows. If they're not home by sundown or by the time it gets dark, it'll turn on a light where the dog likes to sit, and it'll put friends on the TV because the dog likes to watch friends.
Speaker 1:Will it feed them?
Speaker 3:It can if you have a feeder if you have a feeder.
Speaker 1:Oh, right. Sure. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It can. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Amazing. So, Loni, this was a great introduction for me and for our listeners. Hopefully, this episode will help help people understand that they should consider their options early when the plans and the budgets are still flexible and fluid. For more information about your home automation options, I suggest you reach out to Lonnie and his team at w w w dot ten conet dot com, and we'll share the social media links on our website, which is from disastertodreamhome.com, where you can find all of our previous episodes and photos of each step of the construction process.
Speaker 1:Janet Design Interiors is a full service interior design firm working with commercial and residential clients. If you're thinking about a company move or a major home renovation or you're rebuilding after the loss of your home and you are in the Southern California area, please reach out to janna@jannadesigninteriors.com. Thank you so much for being with us, Loni.
Speaker 3:Thank you again. I look forward to working with you maybe in the future.
Speaker 1:Me too. I'm gonna you're gone my my, autodial now.
Speaker 3:Fantastic.
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining us on this episode of From Disaster to Dream Home, the podcast that takes you inside the home building and rebuilding process. Each week, we bring you time tested practices and the latest trends through conversations with top professionals in the building industry. You can find other episodes of From Disaster to Dream Home at ewnpodcastnetwork.com, as well as Spotify, Apple Podcast, Audible, and most other major podcast streaming services. Need design help? You can contact us or find out more about our guests at fromdisastertodreamhome.com.
Speaker 2:Until next time, let us guide and inspire you as you create the home of your dreams.