Episode 14 - DIY vs. Professionally Installed Home Automation

Shopping for a Smart Home used to mean one of two things.  You either bought a kit from a company like Insteon or HAI and spent countless hours tinkering to make things work.  Or you went with a dealer-installed system like Control4, Crestron, or Savant.  

Nowadays home automation consumers are presented with even more options. Coming to market is an ever-increasing lineup of powerful, inexpensive, and simple smart home products designed to make home technology fun and approachable for all.  

This has created its own set of challenges though.  It's become increasingly difficult for consumers to differentiate between these DIY home automation products, and their much more expensive dealer-installed brethren.  In this episode Seth and Jason attempt to explain some of the key differences between a DIY system, and one that is put in by a home technology professional.  There are a number of very important distinctions that anyone in the market should understand.  Tune in to find out more...

Show Notes

Special Episode 1 - The Smart Home Show #14

HomeTech.fm's Seth Johnson joined Michael Wolf and Aaron Cohen on The Smart Home Show to discuss technology options for Aaron's new home. We focused our conversation on audio/video but also branched out into home automation and control in general.

You can find The Smart Home Show as well as many other great podcasts over at Technology.FM.

Episode 13 - Ohad Zeira from WeMo

On this weeks show Jason and Seth discuss the weeks news and interview Ohad Zeira, Director of Product Management/Growth Platforms at Belkin. They discuss Belkin's WeMo Home Control Solution and use cases every day users of the platform use to solve every day problems. 

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Show Notes

Episode 12 - Video Distribution

DirecTV Wires Are Ugly Campaign

DirecTV Wires Are Ugly Campaign

Episode 11 - Hiring a Home Automation Professional

Today's technology landscape presents homeowners with plenty of DIY Home Automation options.  But for various reasons, many may still opt to hire a professional to implement their Smart Home system. 

In this episode of the HomeTech podcast, we dive into this topic.  First we discuss some of the considerations to be made when deciding whether or not to hire a professional Systems Integrator in the first place.  Some basic questions to ask yourself here include: How complex is the project?  How much time are you willing to spend implementing a system yourself? Do you like to tinker?  Or would you prefer a more hands-off approach? 

Deciding to hire an integrator is just the beginning.  Next you need to know where to turn to begin your search.  We dive into some great starting points including referrals from friends and family, recommendations from architects and builders, and a few websites including Angie's List, Thumbtack, and CEDIA's Find a Pro page.  

Once the search is narrowed, we discuss some of the important qualifications to look for in your Home Automation professional.  Common questions that you should ask your Systems integrator, as well legal questions like licensing and insurance are covered. 

Hope you enjoy the episode! If you're so inclined, take a moment to leave us some feedback! We'd love to hear from you!

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