Leaving it all to the experts, smart move

It’s probably no surprise that the smart home requires more than a hard drive plugged into the wall. Manufacturers of home automation products sell the gear largely through independent dealers, often audio-video specialists working in the home theater arena who have the expertise to install and customize the programming.

“We ask the customer, when you get home, what do you want to have happen?” says Jon Blanchard of Vantage Studio in Beverly Hills. “Some people want the lights to turn on, some people want to also start some music and maybe the TV in the kitchen. The possibilities are endless.”

Costs depend on how many rooms of the house you connect and what automation systems you use. Semaphoric Smart Homes’ base system from Control4 runs $3,000, says Semaphoric owner Matt McKenna, whose business card reads “Systems Engineer” and not “CEO” to underscore the essential tech credentials. That price automates one room, all media and lights.

Expanding control throughout the house, as the Salisburys did, brings the total for a Control4 system to around $15,000, which is the same as the cost of Best Buy’s ConnectedLife.Home, including installation. That’s well below the $35,000 to $50,000 price tags for systems of top-end companies Crestron and AMX, whose proprietary technology keeps costs higher. Crestron, however, is marketing a lower-priced, more user-friendly system called Adagio for around $14,000 that has won good reviews on a few tech websites.

Seattle software company Lagotek has entered the game with a wireless product that it says can lower energy costs by a third with its climate controls. Price: $8,500 for a 4,000-square-foot home.

In your search for total control, Troy Bolotnick of Bolovision Digital Systems in Westwood advises going with a system that can be upgraded easily, has a long life, is easy to use and is reliable. “You want something that’s been around for a while,” he says.

— Joe Robinson