First published April 2021. Rewritten and last reviewed 3 September 2026.
Lairds AV is an authorised Lutron dealer and programmer, and we have designed, installed and programmed Lutron HomeWorks lighting and blind control in private houses across Scotland for many years. This article explains what HomeWorks is, what an authorised programmer actually does on a project, and why the difference between a house that has Lutron and a house that has been designed around it is decided long before anything is fitted.
What Lutron HomeWorks is
Lutron describes HomeWorks as a system “designed for the world’s most uncompromising lighting and home automation projects”, and as the only residential control system engineered to work natively with its full range of lighting, window treatments and keypads. In plain terms it is a whole-house system that runs the lighting, the motorised blinds, curtains and shades, and, through integration, heating, audio, video, security and voice control, from keypads, an app and schedules that follow the day.
The part that matters to an architect is that it is a designed system. Lighting circuits are wired to central or distributed dimming rather than to wall switches, keypads replace the bank of switches at each door, and every light in the house becomes part of a scene rather than a thing to be turned on and off. The blinds are treated the same way. The result is a house where a single press at the front door sets the whole ground floor for the evening, and where the wall beside the door carries one engraved keypad rather than six switches and a dimmer.
What an authorised dealer and programmer does
Lutron systems are sold and installed through trained dealers, and HomeWorks is programmed with Lutron’s own design software by people trained to use it. That authorisation covers two different jobs.
- Design. Taking the lighting designer’s or architect’s scheme and turning it into a circuit schedule, a keypad layout, a panel schedule and a set of drawings that the electrical contractor can wire from. Deciding which circuits dim, which switch, where the processors and panels live, and how the blinds are powered and controlled.
- Programming. Building the scenes, schedules, keypad engraving and integrations so that the house behaves the way the client wants, then adjusting it after they have lived in it. Programming is where a system either feels natural or feels like a gadget, and it is never finished on handover day.
When it has to be decided
A HomeWorks house is wired differently from a conventional one, so the decision to use it belongs at RIBA Stage 2, and the circuit and keypad design belongs at Stage 3 and 4, coordinated with the lighting designer and the electrical engineer. Blind pockets, power to each window, panel locations and containment are all on the drawings. Introduced after the electrical package has been let, it becomes a variation rather than a design, and the client pays for the difference. We say this in our CPD sessions, because it is the single most common cause of a compromised result.
For an existing house there is a wireless route. Lutron’s RA3 system gives the same feel of scenes, keypads and schedules without rewiring, and we cover it on the RA3 lighting control page. We recommend on the building, not the catalogue.
Questions we are asked
Does HomeWorks work with our lighting designer’s scheme?
Yes, and it works best when we are in the room with them. The lighting designer decides what the light does; we decide how it is controlled and dimmed, and the two have to agree on drivers and dimming methods before fittings are ordered.
What happens to the keypads if the internet goes down?
Nothing. The system runs locally on its own processor. The app from outside the house needs a connection; the house itself does not.
Can the blinds and curtains be included?
Yes. Lutron’s own motorised shades and drapery tracks are part of the same system, and we design them with the window details. See Lutron window treatments.
Lutron HomeWorks in Scotland
The full description of the service is on the Lutron HomeWorks page. We normally work for the client, with the architect, and the earlier the conversation the better the house. Start a conversation, or ask us to bring a CPD session on lighting control to your practice.