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.

Starting Small

 

For many of us, the first step into home automation connected something in our homes to the internet. While many hobbyists may have started with a remote power switch like an iHome Smartplug. These allow you to turn a lamp on or off through an app on your phone. If you want to be more sophisticated, you may start with a Nest thermostat or some Phillips Hue lights. Each of these technology pieces automates one small section of your home, making it easier and hopefully more convenient. A quick search at Home Depot shows how many options you have.

 

The next step, which starts to move you between hobby and semi-professional, is when you connect all these stand-alone pieces of technology. This gets complex because each of your installed devices will have its own app or remote control (or both) and making them play together is hard. You have a choice to make and to pick a control system. If you are an Alexa, Google, or Siri user, this decision may make itself, but then not all the devices you have installed will work for all systems. Programmers maybe get excited by IFTTT, HomeKit, or other integration platforms. These platforms are not necessarily complex but making them work together and produce simple programs can be challenging. They take time, focus, and the ability to remember what you named the lights in the lounge!

 

In a smaller home or apartment, then HomeKit and Alexa work well, and you can create convenient scenes. The downside is that not all the devices necessarily play well, and software updates can cause nightmares. In large homes, it can be a very complicated process, and naming becomes a nightmare. Also, owners of larger homes or anyone who wants their home technology to adjust to their lifestyle without programming may wish for a better approach.

The Professional Approach

 

Home automation companies like BRAVAS were created to help provide a professional answer to home automation. This need grows out of a few fundamental truths:

 

1. Things that should work together often don't.
2. Once you have got them working together, then usually don't stay that way.
3. When you have a home with many rooms, you don't necessarily have the time free to do all the installations yourself.
4. Higher quality, quieter, and more sophisticated solutions tend to cost more and be more complicated to install.
5. If you have a design to fit into, off the shelf may not work, and you may need something more custom.

 

It is not unusual in these large homes to spend at least 5% of the home's purchased price getting the technology right. If the owners also want home theaters, media rooms, golf simulators or other specialist rooms, the costs can be much higher. Of course, the right home automation well-installed can add even more value to the home.

 

In the end, the best reasons for using BRAVAS may be none of these. When you select a partner like BRAVAS to do the work on your home, you pick someone who can help you get the design right, do a quality installation, and be with you for as long as you have the home. Additionally, we have access to solutions and technology that is not available to the public, and we only install what we know works well and consistently.

 

Of course, things go wrong - this is, after all, technology!  Another great benefit of BRAVAS is that across our 15 locations, we have more specialists and gurus than anyone else in the USA, with the best 2-year warranty program in the industry. If you have a problem, we have either seen it before or have a person who can work it out.  

 

Whether you have a big home or a small one, at BRAVAS, our home automation experts are dedicated to turning your Beautiful Places into Smart Spaces. What can we do for you?