Distinctly Montana Spring of 2003 - Article on "Smart Homes"

How smart is your home?

What is a smart home?  To me it’s one that’s paid for.  A “smart home” is a buzzword.  It describes a home that takes advantage of the latest technologies and techniques in an effort to make life easier, more enjoyable, more efficient and with luck, more cost effective for it’s occupants.  

A “smart home” involves integrating the various systems found in a home together for a purpose. Communication between various devices and systems takes place. Information is gathered, exchanged, decisions are made, action happens.  In a “smart home”, knowledge equals power which may equal savings. A “smart home” looks after it’s self and it’s owners.  It warns you when your pipes are about to freeze.  A “smart home” offers you remote control from inside or out, from a cell phone or via the Internet, from across the street or across the world.  

Systems?  Who needs stinking systems?  System equates to order, scheme and structure. Some of the systems found in a modern Montana home might include:

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), snow melt, septic/water/sprinkler (control and monitoring), lighting indoor/outdoor, stereo/music/home theater, video (CCTV), satellite broadcast, burglar/fire alarm, radon/carbon monoxide detection, hot tub/spa/Jacuzzi, leak detection, internet/phone/data, indoor/outdoor temperature, humidity monitoring, weather monitoring, power back-up, in-wall vacuum…  

Perhaps you’re scheming to build or rebuild a home?  Consider the possibilities when you choose your architect, builder/contractor and/or sub-contractors.  A good measure of their skill and competency is their knowledge of what’s possible, valuable and within the scope of the budget for your project.  

Are you considering a Home Theater?   To quote an old friend…

“Like a pool or a fireplace or a Jacuzzi, people don’t know what home theater will do for them until they experience it.  Home theater is used much more often than any of those, however, and by more family members, because it’s not just the same thing over and over, but runs the gamut of laughter and thrills and music and human life.  When home theater is the center piece of integrated residential electronic systems, it is to TV and the stereo as central air is to the pot-bellied stove.”  Ted Uzzle, Professor of Audio Engineering at Columbia College in Chicago.
 
How much is a smart home?

There’s the old saying; “A dollar now, ten dollars later.”  While the walls are open run the right wires - you’ll sleep better at night.  We’re blessed (here in South West Montana) with wonderful trades and technically gifted people here in Gallatin Valley…  Be smart with your home before you begin.  Ask your friends who they like and use, make calls, surf the net for ideas, ask questions, ask for a demo… 

Written By:  William Costigan, president of poindexters.com - Bozeman, MT.