Smart Home Installation Over the Years
Introduction
This case study has a little bit of everything that we can offer residential properties. See, for instance, the glistening Video Distribution to multiple 4K Screens. The ambitious 13 zone Sonos Sound System install. Read all about our work in turning a family home into a Smart Home over a decade and a half.
Fifteen years ago, we completed an installation with one of our clients. They were so pleased with the work we had done. As a thanks, they referred us on to someone else who was looking to upgrade. However, they didn’t refer us the usual way, but instead suggested we simply knock on this prospective client’s door.
“I’m sure he will have some work for you,” the client said, casually. And so, we followed instructions and did just that…
Fast forward fifteen years… after knocking, we have developed a close relationship with this client. This includes multiple installations in the family home of this new client (Well, not so new now!).
At Lairds of Troon, we recognise that a home is an investment, and we recognise just how much can change over fifteen years. We’ve seen this client and his family grow and we’ve been able to come back time and time again. We’ve ensured that their family home, turned into a smart home, offers them the utmost comfort and usability. On every job we go the extra mile and provide the capability to upgrade and expand technological features. This means that their home continually returns on investment.
Key Installations
Cabling
When this client’s home was still in the early stages of renovation, the team at Lairds installed a massive cabling infrastructure that would accommodate the tech installed at the time, and leave plenty of potential for upgrades, as and when the client should require them.
This is a feature of any installation that we always recommend and even though it adds an extra initial cost, we regularly install secondary and tertiary upgrades that are made easier and cheaper because of this. The cabling infrastructure is what the Audio and Visual Distribution of the home runs on. Those willing to invest in their home, like our client, will reap the benefits for years to come.
Audio Distribution
The audio system we installed is a 13 Zone Sonos Sound System that spans the entirety of the house and provides high quality audio in almost every room. At the time of the installation, to have so many audio zones in a Sonos installation was practically unheard of and we were not 100% sure of what the outcome would be. However, we went for it anyway and, as a result, we succeeded without having to make any compromises on the sound quality or connectivity, making this a great achievement for the team at Lairds.
Video Distribution
Next, we installed the Video Distribution. There are 6x 4K Screens throughout the house, not including the 75-inch 4K Screen in the main entertainment room. Each screen needed to achieve that high quality picture, no matter the varying factors. We installed the HDBaseT 100m Pulse Eight 8×8 Matrix as a central Control point for Video Distribution and through a little bit of tinkering we got three standards of receivers (HDBaseT 70m Receiver, 100m Receiver and 70m with integrated Audio Amplifier) to fulfil all the requirements for the given TV locations, distances, and specific technical settings.
The Centerpiece of the House – The Entertainment Room
The main Entertainment Room is another instalment that we did. It really is the centerpiece of our work in the house. The TV screen is an impressive 75 inches and has a gorgeous 4K resolution display making it perfect for movie nights, watching sports at the weekend or just relaxing to the latest David Attenborough Documentary.
The audio in the entertainment room is provided by the market leading M&K Sound. We installed the 5.1 M&K Sound System to create an immersive and ambient surround sound that perfectly complements the quality picture of the TV. The speakers run through the Yamaha RX-0485 Receiver, which can perfectly handle the 5-channel enhanced surround sound. The Yamaha receiver has the built in Yamaha MusicCast system for optimum usability and control. This gives the client a multitude of options as it can connect to music streaming services, making it perfect for playing music when the television is not in use. To top it all off, it also has the capability of working via voice-command when paired to Amazon Alexa.
The perfect set-up of the Entertainment room was complete and now runs multiple systems such as Sky TV and a Blu-Ray Player, with capabilities for adding more services and consoles.
Other Aspects of Installation; Design, Ease of Control, Potential for Future Upgrades
After these installations, the client now had excellent tech in almost every room. However, to ensure that our clients get the most out of their tech, there is more to consider than just getting the stuff into the home and connecting it. That’s why we take considerations, such as design, ease of control and as we mentioned, potential for future upgrades, into account.
Design
As part of our considerations of the design of the house we wanted to make sure that the tech we installed was in no way obtrusive to our client and that it looked clean and sharp in their home. The cabling infrastructure that we installed goes a long way to achieving the desired discretion. The AV Rack is the brain of the network, contained in a remote part of the house. The cabling then leads from this Rack through the walls to all the systems, creating an invisible nervous system in the home.
Lastly, we made sure to provide our client with an elegant solution to bulky plugs and multiple wires of the equipment by using Sync Box modules. These are implanted into the wall and keep the wires neat. They reduce the distance from the wall to the protruding edge of the plug down to 10mm, so that the TV Screens are flush and clean, right up on the wall.
Ease of Control
To tie it all together we installed the Elan G1 Automation Control Point to provide the ultimate ease of use over all the tech in the house. The Elan G1 is an elegant automation system. It offers integration of the Audio Visual technology, but also lighting, heating, and security. With the Nest Thermostat from Google, our client has control over their underfloor heating. They can use the Elan G1 Control to set timers and temperatures throughout the day. Therefore, becoming fully cost effective and comfortable in their own home.
We installed CCTV cameras to the front and the rear of the property. We used cameras from PTZ with capabilities of night vision, motion detection and a 90° tilt and rotation. Meanwhile, this connects to the network and can be monitored and configured using the Elan Control Point.
Elan boasts the ground-breaking on-screen display user interface for ease of use, or an intuitive, all-in-one remote control. As a result, this feature perfectly ties the house together and creates a synergy between the different network features in the house.
Superfast Connectivity
Lairds installed Ruckus Unleashed WiFi for prime connectivity. Ruckus Unleashed provides the home with superfast upload and download speeds that blow ordinary consumer WiFi providers out of the water.
Potential For Future Upgrades
Our most recent work on the client’s home came when they added an extension to their home that included three extra bedrooms and a garage. For this we extended the cabling as well as a fibre-optic backbone from the attic to the ground. Having that professional relationship with the client for so long, allows them to get the best work from us. They knew to bring us in right at the design stage for the extension. We were able to plan every move in harmony with the other tradesmen and set up our extra CAT6 cabling in a way that granted our client optimum use from their network. By adding the optical fibre Backbone we future-proofed the client’s home as they have the extra option to upgrade using fiber optics, which is soon to be the best accessible way to transmit data along a network.
This is an example of how things can change and evolve over fifteen years. The te
To Conclude
One of the ways we can be sure that we are doing good work is by customer referral. We take great pride when a customer has enjoyed our service. So much so, they have staked their own reputation by recommending us to someone else. And so, this case study is a testament to how we are motivated to do right by our customers, new and familiar, by building and maintaining professional relationships with our clients because we recognise just how beneficial it can be for all of those involved.
Check out our other projects in home automation!
Check out our other recent Case Studies here and here!