The National Canine Defense League was looking in the 1970s for a catchy phrase that could protect the dogs that were purchased in haste at Christmas time and then not wanted by spring. They came up with the line: 'A dog is for life, not just for Christmas.'

The same idea may be accurate for the partner you pick to do your home automation work. When you choose an automation company to do the job, like selecting a General Contractor (GC) to help build your house, you expect what they will deliver when they are done. But unlike your GC, your smart home is a living and changing system, and you need to ensure they will be with you long past the end of the job. Maybe the BRAVAS slogan should be, "we are not just there to install something; we are there for the life of your usage of it." Not quite so catchy!

Most technology areas are a mixture of DIY/hobbyist, semi-professional and professional. The difference between these is typically apparent and is often signaled by price. A good example may be cameras. Assuming you want a separate camera (more than your smartphone), you can spend a lot less than $1000 as a hobbyist and get yourself a great Canon or Nikon and an excellent kit lens.  You can upgrade your camera body and lens as a semi-professional and easily spend closer to $10,000, or you can, as a professional, buy the top-of-the-line camera body and spend close to $10,000 just on that. The additional lens a professional will use can cost the same again, if not more. Of course, you can, as a DIYer, spend $25,000 on your first camera, but it’s probably not going to happen.

The same does seem to hold true for home automation companies. When considering what you are going to do in your home to make it automated, there is a significant jump between semi-professional and professional. In this blog we will review why there is a big jump and if you need to take that jump.