Peter Frankel and his wife Tracy Poe faced a common challenge. They wanted to wire their home to accommodate the latest technology options, yet they don’t want to reequip in five or 10 years.
Instead of working with a standard electrician to patch together a series of solutions, their builder had them meet with a low-voltage electrical contractor who specializes in high-tech wiring options.
The need to incorporate high technology in new homes is increasingly being met by such contractors who are retained by builders to sit down and discuss the vast array of options for security, lighting, climate control, computer networking and advanced home entertainment systems.
The couple’s Evanston home now has recessed speakers with separate volume controls in the dining room, kitchen, and patio as well as surround sound in the living room.
They decided not to go with a remote control option for the sound system. However, their low-voltage contractor did manage to turn their phone system into a cordless intercom, made nearly every room Internet ready and installed a central electronics master panel.
The installation of a master panel along with pre-wiring each room in the house allows the option of later adding lighting controls, a video monitoring system, security system and other technology, some of which may not even be available today.
“Who knows where technology is going to be by the time my son wants a computer?” asks Frankel. “We wired almost all the rooms with Internet access, cable and telephone.”
It’s not just high-end homes that are being equipped with the new options.
“Network systems are very much in demand even for our homes priced in the mid-$100,000s,” said Esa Noe, vice president of sales for Schaumburg-based Kenar Homes, which mostly builds homes in the $350,000 range.
To meet the demand for an increasing array of technology options, Kenar turned to First Point Residential Communications Inc. of Oak Brook.”We now have two electrical contractors on a project.” Noe said.
“A standard electrician installs the power and outlets. First Point meets with customers to discuss options such as intercoms, home theaters, speaker systems, computer networking and having your phone provide a warning ring if the basement floods.” Rich Akins, president of First Point, says he has aligned with more than two dozen Chicago-area production and custom builders in the two years since starting his company.
“We offer standard packages and custom solutions. Some builders put a base package in every one of their homes,” says Akins, noting that so-called Category 5 wiring, which allows multiple phone lines and assists high speed Internet connections, is a common base package.
Buyers demand choices
Now that there are greater numbers of options for what the Internet and other new technologies can do for homeowners, Akins says demand for such choices is growing. “It is getting to be like plumbing,” he says. “You don’t just bring water into one place in the home and stop–you distribute it where you need it.”
Akinssays that using Category 5 wiring to establish a basic structured cabling system allows homeowners to configure their own Internet service, cable connections, security and other systems.
Such wiring will add anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 to a home, depending on its size. A basic package may typically cost $1,800 to $2,000.
Sam Hamby, of Custom Residential Systems, a low voltage electrical contracting firm in Hoffman Estates, works with more than 15 local home builders.
“More and more people are going for a complete package where it is as easy as `plug-and-play’ for them when move in,” he said.
Ed Augustin, vice president of purchasing for Kenneth James Builders, says home buyers must be aware of how much such systems can cost.
“Home entertainment systems alone can range from $9,000 to $30,000 and more,” he noted.
However, with his firm’s Network Home option, computers and printers can be networked just like at an office. Also, cable, satellite and DVD player images can be sent throughout the home from one location, eliminating the need for multiple sets of equipment or services.
One spot controls all
A master control box, similar to an electrical fuse box, is located in the basement. “Instead of buying multiple broadband accounts, you can buy a router, put it in the master control box and have multiple computers share a single high bandwidth connection,” Akinssaid. The same process is possible for cable television and satellite television.
The lines in the master control box are marked so that a homeowner can easily add components and change the network of connections through a simple plug-in process.
Frankel says, “The master control panel makes it easy. I can hook up the DVD player to a new room or choose which rooms have cable TV or DSL (digital service line) connections. All of the cables are labeled, so it is easy to reconfigure.”
With a networked home, video monitors can be tied into the system and programmed to appear on a predetermined television channel. “You set the baby’s room monitor to a channel and the front door monitor can be set to another channel,” Akins said.
Scott Sevon, president of Palatine-based Sevvonco Inc., and builder of an advanced technology Millennium Home in Glen Ellyn, notes that video cameras as small as a button can be mounted on items such as a picture frame and pointed at a baby’s crib to allow non-obtrusive use of technology in the home.
Sevon has built a number homes with advanced technological controls for all aspects of a house, including heating and cooling systems.
Sevon says it is now possible to call your home from a cell phone and activate a preset program that turns off the security alarms, turns on lights and brings the temperature to a comfortable level.
“When you go on vacation, you can press an `away’ button and the household temperature is set for energy savings, and televisions, radios and lights are programmed to go on and off in a pattern that makes it appear as if someone is home,” Sevon said.
The operating technology for these systems has developed to the point where you don’t need to be an electrical engineer to program the controls, according to Sevon. “The controls are very intelligent and much easier to use than even a few years ago,” he said.
Lighting systems can be programmed to turn on entry lights with an extra button on a garage door opener. It also is possible to monitor and control the temperature in multiple zones throughout a house. The system can be tied into a computer network so the homeowner can monitor temperature and humidity levels over the Internet.
Who typically needs such a system?
“A homeowner who travels, or has multiple homes,” Sevon said.
Wiring for high-technology
Equipping a new home with the latest Internet service and hookups for cable TV, lighting controls, cordless phones, intercom service and a home theater involves several steps:
– Hiring a low-voltage contractor, in addition to a regular electrical contractor.
– Building a network of wires to handle the various high-tech services.
– Installing a central service box to control which data is fed to various parts of the house.
