You don’t know what you don’t know …
2 September 2020
I’ve been adding to a “New Home Ideas” list for months. I’m up to 7 pages now and it’s populated with information on current smart technology I’m using, things suggested to me, research, new tech I think may apply and other miscellaneous notes that at least somehow vaguely relate to smart home.
I’ll share the list in an upcoming post but one of the biggest impacts of compiling the list has had on me is the realization that this is much bigger than Debbie and I. And if we’re going to do this right for the long haul we’re going to need help. Which was one of the reason for starting this website in the first place. But I’m talking about professional help.
Debbie and I decided long ago that we would want a custom home floor plan. I’m talking basic room layout even before we ever put any smarts in it. We thought we might get lucky and find our perfect home on a website but what we found were bits and pieces of homes we liked. This evolved into a cut and paste phase (literally) where we’d cut out the pieces we liked and and arranged them with clear tape. This got us close but scales often didn’t match so it became more of “general idea.”
This is where we started realizing we would need professional help. As in an architect. And since we had never been down that road it sounded a little intimidating — where do we start? After talking to some home builders we are considering for the project we found it’s actually pretty common the approach we’d been taking (which was a relief) and they suggested some local architects that they usually work with. Debbie got busy checking them out and finally decided on one. And we have an appointment to see her in a couple weeks. So we will get back to tweaking our cut and paste plans between now and then. And I will work on organizing my “New Home Ideas” list so it’s easier to figure out.
I was catching up with an old college football teammate and our new home project came up. He asked if we had considered an interior designer for our new home planning. All I saw was more dollar signs but after he explained the benefits like checking architect’s work for appropriate room sizes around planned furniture and window/door placement to maximize space it really made space. All I could think of was the Abraham Lincoln quote:
“If I have 6 hours to chop wood, I’d spend the first 4 hours sharpening my ax.”
So we now have an appointment scheduled with an interior designer next week. Debbie is really looking forward to this and I can certainly understand her excitement as home design/decor is kind of her thing — very similar to how geeked I am about the smart home integration just a lot less nerdy.
Getting back to my “New Home Ideas” list and my smart home planning, I had been doing a lot of research on different options. But I also wanted to get reliable, practical feedback so I subscribed to a bunch of groups on Facebook: Smart Home Automation, Budget Friendly Home Theater, Smart Home Enthusiasts and SmartThings Users Group. Resources like these have been great assets in learning about new products as well as a forum for asking questions and looking for solutions to technical challenges.
It was through one of the Facebook groups that I ran across a smart home consultant. I checked out his website and was really impressed with breadth of technologies and integrations he had experience with. He also offered a variety of engagement options, which being new to this, I liked as well as I didn’t feel like I could get in over my head too fast from a cost perspective. I scheduled a video call for Debbie and I early yesterday morning as he is home-based in Europe.
I didn’t know what to expect but I found the call professional but informal which I liked. After the introductory pleasantries he ran through his background and experience, which was impressive. Then it was my turn to describe my smart home experience, thoughts on our new home functionality and my smart home plans. He asked a lot of thought-provoking questions that I really made me think and question some of the directions I thought our plan would take. Things like affect of internet outages on functionality, visitor/guest experience in our smart home and future proofing.
I was quick to point out that we would not be future proofing anything as that indicated rigid decision making in a fluid environment. I learned that term and definition from a great friend and colleague in the sports business around a stadium construction project and have never forgotten it. Flexibility in planning would rule the day in planning as there was no way to predict the future.
We talked about a lot of different options around many general elements of smart home — switches, lighting, smart appliances, routines, etc. Great conversations as he introduced potential new products I had never considered or heard of. Debbie was engaged in the conversation as well as she will be just as immersed in all this as I will be once we move in. He also discussed his process which I really liked as it seems to be fairly agnostic from a technology approach, favoring best practices and taking a collaborative approach with home owners.
Since the call yesterday I’ve thought a lot about what we talked about and it made me realize how limited my experience with smart home technology really was. If this was going to be done right we were on the right track not only with the work already completed but in seeking help. It also made me realize we were pulling together a great team to ensure our home ends up everything we want it to be. Humbling? A little, but better than second thoughts, frustration and disappointment later.
