Ever requested quotes from similar companies for the same work, only to receive wildly different responses? It’s true of every industry, just as it’s human nature to gravitate toward the seemingly least expensive estimate. But that “savings” often proves to cost more, right? Here at Relative Home Systems, we work a bit differently. 

When it comes to crafting a dedicated home theater, we use the discussion of budget to help discover what our clients need and educate them on how to get there. We have 5 major considerations when determining potential costs for the entirety of the project. We’re using the opportunity of this blog edition to help you understand the process, but also so you know what to look for when requesting a quote for this type of home retrofit project…

1)      Design & Engineering – Without proper engineering and design, every subsequent dollar you spend is practically a gamble. While often not included in preliminary budgets, you cannot expect acceptable results, let alone something extraordinary, unless this process is accounted for. Don’t be left trying to figure how the budget suddenly expands due to needs for which you were not previously informed.

2)      Preliminary Construction – Whether you’re remodeling a particular room or building a new home from scratch, you have to determine your space requirements. Contrary to common practice, most of this cost should not be included in the “theater” budget. Framing, electrical, mechanical and other structural elements should be part of a separate construction budget. Specialty materials and additional labor are common requirements when constructing a quiet room, modifying ventilation, theater-quality lighting and other space changes.

A recent study by IHS Technology determined that by the year 2019, there will be an average of five connected devices in homes throughout the world. The trend has helped push the growth of the connected home, with the smart home automation market expected to be worth over $50 billion by 2020. People have become accustomed to full control at a moment’s notice and their home is no exception. 

Want to join the movement? With our new office in Austin, Texas, Relative Home Systems can work with you directly to craft a solution that will provide you with full control of lights, entertainment, security and more. Here are some questions you should take into account when thinking of the smart home solution that best fits your needs:

What do you want to control?

Though a smart home automation solution implies full control of your home, you can always choose the systems you want to include. Many people, for example, begin with whole home audio/video or smart security and eventually expand their systems to include lighting, shading, and temperature. Relative Home Systems designs a solution that lets you control what you want while remaining scalable---meaning you can easily add other subsystems when you decide to do so.

How do you want to control it?

A number of research firms have predicted varying growth rates for the smart home automation industry. But regardless of the exact figures, the experts agree it’s growing, and rapidly. So what are the key features of home automation, beyond convenience? Here we’ll cover five features of smart home automation for your Memorial, Texas home.

1. Manage your home from near or far

How often do your plans change with little to no notice? With home automation, you have the ability to adjust settings quickly and easily from nearly anywhere using your smart device. Not going to be home in time to take the dog for a walk? You can unlock the door for a neighbor or friend who can take your four-legged friend out for you. Once they leave, easily lock the door arm the alarm, and turn off lights from your office PC or tablet. With remote access, you can monitor your home’s environment both inside and out and turn lights on or off, adjust the thermostat, close the garage door and so much more.

2. Control your home with sleek and stylish options

You and your family are unique and the way in which you interact and control your home can be tailored to meet your individual needs. Press a button on a portable touchscreen, use a handheld remote or a wall-mounted keypad to adjust the music, thermostat or turn on the hot tub.

As a parent of a special needs child, I understand the challenges that come in trying to understand their world. From communicating to keeping a watchful eye, home automation technology is helping families care and provide for kids with special needs in more ways than ever before.ch 16, 2012. Now, who thinks Apple is still working on a TV?

With the help of a home automation Control 4 system, one family better communicates and cares for their son with Autism. As shown in the video below, home automation systems offer so much more than just lighting and climate control.

We give our thanks to Control 4 for providing such great products to help families unlock, understand and offer better quality of life for our children.

Looking to enhance your lifestyle? Do you feel as though your life looks like a coffee table lined with remotes? With home automation, tasks like controlling your thermostat, turning on and off lights, and managing a security system become integrated, personalized, and intuitive. Such systems allow you to entertain with ease, increase the efficiency of your home, and deliver peace of mind.

With Relative Home Systems, those in Houston and The Woodlands, are just one touch away from easily operating all of a home’s smart technology. Whether it’s new construction, a remodel, or a retrofit, we’ll help you determine the best solution for your space.

Integrated

Each of the electronic systems (heating/air conditioning, lighting, security, music) in your home can all be connected and managed by one central processor. With partners like Savant and Control4, Relative Home Systems, can accommodate all your automation needs. A fully programmed custom home automation system can supply information about the operational status of each device. Such an integrated system allows for meaningful reductions in energy use and utility costs.

Personalized

Just because you’re home from the office doesn’t mean you’re done with work for the day. Running a small business or private practice means you’ll need a dedicated space in your Woodlands, TX home for working on everything you need to wrap up a project or close a case. Smart home automation can transform a room in your house into a productive working environment by helping you stay connected with everything you’ll need. Take a look at how smart automation by Relative Home Systems can enhance your home office space.

Utilize Audio/Video for Telecommunications

Working from home doesn’t mean that you have to break off all communications with the outside world. Stay connected with the employees, co-workers and even overseas clients with a strong telecommunication system. See clearly with UHD cameras streaming pristine images to your 4K monitor or television. Hear everything with in-wall speakers throughout your office space, so you don’t have to be glued to your desk if you need to speak to someone. And when you’re on the go, have the video and audio streamed right to your tablet or smartphone.

Create an Automated Waiting Room

If you regularly have clients or patients coming to your house, you’ll need some way to address them when they arrive, and smart home automation offers a solution. An HD intercom will tell you exactly when they arrive and allow you to speak to them without even leaving your office. Combine your HD intercom with outdoor audio to stream music onto your porch, and turn it into a functioning waiting room. And unlock the door from your desk with an automated entry system to give yourself an added sense of security. With smart home automation, your clients and patients will be happier and safer when they visit your home office.

Consumer electronics is one of the fastest evolving segments in all of the electronics industry. The demand for thinner, light, higher resolution televisions with lightning-fast processors has created a new breed of displays.

If you consider how radically video technology has changed in the last 20 years alone, it should be no surprise that televisions are now living up to the futuristic movie scenes we all watched on the big screen.

So while the race for the thinnest display on the market has some people choosing form over function in terms of video quality, we suggest taking a more logical approach…

Television Lifts

Choose what all the videophiles have for years…Plasma. Just picture your plasma screen set it in motion with a popup or drop down lift, concealed in a custom piece of furniture for the ultimate in home technology. Cabinet Tronix offers a vast selection of traditional and contemporary cabinets that are transformed to house your flat screen television.

We invite you to visit this year’s Bellaire New Home Showcase. The showcase is Saturday, May 12, Sunday, May 13, Saturday, May 19, and Sunday, May 20, 2012.

Featuring homes from several of the top custom home builders in the Houston area, the craftsmanship and elegance of these homes is incredible.

We have had the pleasure for the last several years in partnering up with Bentley Custom Homes in providing the audio and video in their remarkable homes. We have installed a lavish theater room featuring an Epson 3D projector, Stewart Filmscreen 96″ projection screen with all equipment controlled with Control 4 at Bentley’s custom home at 5206 Willow.

For more information, go to http://www.bellairehomeshow.com/. The $10 admission benefits http://bellaireparks.org/.

We look forward to the opportunity of meeting you as we support these builders and the Patrons of Parks.

In a recent study conducted by Microsoft, researchers found three barriers that must be addressed before wider adoption of smart home technology can occur. While the majority of households surveyed reported mostly positive experiences with home automation, participants highlighted three challenges including linking disparate systems, poor manageability, and high cost of ownership. The team of experts at Relative Home Systems has been working to address these challenges in each of the automation projects it convenes. If you’re considering smart home automation for your Memorial, Texas home, you’ll want to keep reading.

Challenge #1: Linking Disparate Systems 

With so many smart devices and electronics within a single home, it can become challenging for the homeowner to get the flawless integration they desire. Retrofitting a home with the proper technology requires expertise in smart technology, programming, and networking.

Each project we tackle has its own unique set of challenges and demands, but this is where we excel. Whether you choose to automate a single room in your home or outfit the entire house, our team will design a plan, select the right technology and configure it in a manner that meets you and your family’s needs. We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all solution. We’ll customize a home automation system that blends with your lifestyle.

Challenge #2: Poor Manageability

iPads are fully-capable wireless tablets, that not only run control system apps for your home, but can also control your home while you are there or away.

Most top manufacturers of residential control systems are offering iPad specific control apps that are capable of the following:

Lighting-Adjust your lights without leaving your favorite arm chair or your bed. You can adjust individual circuits or bring up global scenes.

Climate Control-Raise up the heat or bump the air down before leaving work and let your A/C go to work while you sit in traffic or run your afternoon errands. Your house will be ready when you return home.

Security-Remotely disarm your security system and then reset for your housekeeper or repair man.

No matter which room of your home you choose to enhance, a typical media room consists of a large viewing area and a high quality audio package. And don’t forget seating for all your guests to enjoy while watching this summer’s blockbusters. Want to integrate a media room in your home but aren’t sure if you have enough space? Relative has a few suggestions for making the most of any space or any media design setup.

Multipurpose Room
In today’s modern age, a media room can be integrated into a traditional living room, creating a cozy and enchanting space for your guests. A variety of large flat 4K televisions are available for big screen viewing in a small space. Do your kids always have friends over to play video games? Accompanied by a strong integrated network, your modern theater space can have multiple screens for a multiple player game room that everyone in the neighborhood will love. A media room that doubles as a playroom can incorporate a big screen that is only seen when in use. Relative can even install a large projector screen that retreat back into the ceiling. There are really very few limitations to designing whatever you imagine!

After-Hours (and Under-the-Covers) Cinema
For some, watching a movie before bedtime is the ultimate escape. Turning your bedroom into a sci-fi command bridge or a romantic comedy love nest is possible no matter the size of your space. Televisions can be mounted to various locations in a bedroom with limited space or installed using motorized lifts that return the screen into a closet or under the bed when not in use. Custom cabinets can also be built to hide televisions when not in use, while speakers can be hidden in walls or ceilings to blend in with your interior décor.

Small Home Theater
A short room, such as an unused portion of a basement, can be converted to a home theater as well – outfitted with a projector designed for a shorter viewing distance, and a dedicated screen wall. Relative can help you choose the right screen size for the dimensions of your space that won’t overwhelm your guests, yet still provides a cinematic feel. These dimensions will also be taken into account when designing a multi-channel surround sound system, as well as an integrated lighting system.

Relative works with Crestron Electronics to design and program a system that connects your media room to your overall home automation. Whether you live in The Woodlands, River Oaks, Tanglewood, Memorial, Bellaire, Conroe, or anywhere in the greater Houston area, and if you have any questions about smart technology for entertainment, security, green solutions and more, give Relative Home Systems a call!

A golf simulator from High Definition Golf™  can bring your favorite past time into your home. Check out this video from High Definition Golf™. It walks us through the technology behind the simulator from how the courses are laid out to the spin of your ball. The golf simulator can even analyze your swing.

Relative Home Systems can design and install a Golf Simulation room in your home. Whether it’s a dedicated golf room or combined with your home theater, playing golf anytime and in any weather is now within reach.

Someday your floor could be the only security sensor you need for the home, if IBM moves ahead with a patent granted on March 20, “Securing premises using surfaced-based computing technology.”

The patent describes a multitouch floor that can determine who is in the house, and what they’re doing. The floor senses the shapes, weight and number of feet on the ground so it can distinguish between parents, kids, infants, pets … and unauthorized visitors.

From the patent:
The system takes different actions based upon identifying which object is in a particular location. For example, if the system senses that a small child is in an “off-limits” location, such as a swimming pool or hot tub area, the child’s caregiver can immediately be notified to prevent the child from getting hurt. Similarly, if the system senses that the family dog has entered an area that is off-limits, such as a living room or bedroom, actions can be taken accordingly. If the owner is home, the owner can be notified with an alert in order to remove the dog from the off-limits location. If no one is home, a high-pitched dog alarm can be sounded in order to have the dog retreat from the off-limits location.

Smart Floors and Eldercare

The smart floors also could determine the position and movement of the home’s occupants, which has tremendous implications for home health technology, aging in place and telemedicine. If a resident falls and does not get up in a certain amount of time, the floor – like any other security sensor – could send a message to the home alarm, home automation or PERS (personal emergency response system) device to alert a family member or monitoring station.

One problem with traditional PERS pendants and wearable fall-detection devices is that users take them off at night or before showering, and fail to put them on again.

When talking about smart home automation, it’s easy to get lost in what the high-tech gear can do for a house. But whether you live in Austin, TX or any other city, you know that a house is not just a building – it’s your family’s home. And in a lot of homes, the kitchen is where families gather to share their day, plan the next vacation and simply spend quality time together over a home cooked meal. Home automation can make spending time in the kitchen more convenient and a whole lot more fun. Here are a few ways that you can enhance the heart of your home:

Audio and Video

Some people like to relax while listening to music. Some choose to unwind while watching the evening news. And if you’ve ever tried to cook a family dinner, you know it can sometimes be a little stressful. Automated audio and video can help keep you calm while you cook. Smart home automation offers the benefit of bringing your media into the kitchen whether you’re preparing a meal or sitting down to a weekday dinner. And with a smart AV streaming system, like DM 3.0 by Crestron, you’ll have nearly infinite options for when you’re chowing down with the kids or spending a romantic night with your spouse.

Mounted Tablets

Picture this: you’re preparing the most stupendous dish you’ve ever served. You’ve spent hours making it, and your eyes have been glued to the tablet on the counter so that you can follow the recipe in every minute detail. It’s all going perfectly until – whoops, your hand slips and you spill pasta sauce all over everything. Trust us, nobody looks forward to spaghetti-and-iPad. That’s why a wall-mounted tablet with a stable Internet connection is essential to your kitchen. You’ll be able to stay organized without worrying about damaging your technology, or losing track of your recipe.

Ever requested quotes from similar companies for the same work, only to receive wildly different responses? It’s true of every industry, just as it’s human nature to gravitate toward the seemingly least expensive estimate. But that “savings” often proves to cost more, right? Here at Relative Home Systems, we work a bit differently. 

When it comes to crafting a dedicated home theater, we use the discussion of budget to help discover what our clients need and educate them on how to get there. We have 5 major considerations when determining potential costs for the entirety of the project. We’re using the opportunity of this blog edition to help you understand the process, but also so you know what to look for when requesting a quote for this type of home retrofit project…

1)      Design & Engineering – Without proper engineering and design, every subsequent dollar you spend is practically a gamble. While often not included in preliminary budgets, you cannot expect acceptable results, let alone something extraordinary, unless this process is accounted for. Don’t be left trying to figure how the budget suddenly expands due to needs for which you were not previously informed.

2)      Preliminary Construction – Whether you’re remodeling a particular room or building a new home from scratch, you have to determine your space requirements. Contrary to common practice, most of this cost should not be included in the “theater” budget. Framing, electrical, mechanical and other structural elements should be part of a separate construction budget. Specialty materials and additional labor are common requirements when constructing a quiet room, modifying ventilation, theater-quality lighting and other space changes.

A recent study by IHS Technology determined that by the year 2019, there will be an average of five connected devices in homes throughout the world. The trend has helped push the growth of the connected home, with the smart home automation market expected to be worth over $50 billion by 2020. People have become accustomed to full control at a moment’s notice and their home is no exception. 

Want to join the movement? With our new office in Austin, Texas, Relative Home Systems can work with you directly to craft a solution that will provide you with full control of lights, entertainment, security and more. Here are some questions you should take into account when thinking of the smart home solution that best fits your needs:

What do you want to control?

Though a smart home automation solution implies full control of your home, you can always choose the systems you want to include. Many people, for example, begin with whole home audio/video or smart security and eventually expand their systems to include lighting, shading, and temperature. Relative Home Systems designs a solution that lets you control what you want while remaining scalable---meaning you can easily add other subsystems when you decide to do so.

How do you want to control it?

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many of us to work from home and spend time indoors as much as possible. Although this period is causing many to deal with the stress of uncertainty, at least there is certainty that collectively staying home limits the spread of the virus.

Now that you’re spending so much time in your home office, have you thought about how smart technology can enhance your space and make you more productive? With the right tools, you can make your home office more convenient, luxurious, and tailored to your needs.

Let’s explore four ways smart home automation can amp up your Woodlands, TX, home office, and improve how you work from home.

SEE ALSO: Why Go with a Pro for Your Smart Home Installation?

Audio/Video System

With stay-at-home orders in place, people have been communicating more and more through phone calls and video conferencing. You don’t have to worry about conducting video calls solely through your computer — you can connect your computer to a 4K monitor or television and hear your conversations through high-performance, in-wall speakers throughout your office. Don’t like the quality of your computer’s camera for video conferencing? You can set up UHD or 4K cameras to get pristine image quality.