Most households who reach a search for “smart home consultant” want one thing: a single, senior point of accountability for the technology of the residence. Someone who designs the system from the architectural drawings, manages the trades who build it, writes the software that runs above it, and stays with the property for the life of it. That is the practice this site is for.
We call ourselves technology architects rather than smart-home consultants — the term “smart home” was invented for a different scale of project, and the residences we work on usually carry sixty to two hundred connected devices, a custom-programmed Crestron deployment, Lutron HomeWorks shading, and a household pattern that no off-the-shelf system can read. But the search query is the right one. The role you’re looking for is what we do.
In the residences we work on, the role spans four disciplines that elsewhere in the industry are usually delivered by separate firms. We bring them under one consultancy because handing off between them is where the household feels the failures.
Reading the architectural drawings before a cable is pulled. Marking up the lighting, shading, climate, audio-video, network, and security plans against the way the household will actually live in the residence. Producing a master plan that the design team and the trades can both build from.
Coordinating the trades who pull cable, mount panels, terminate fibre, and rack the equipment. Holding the schedule against the architect’s milestones. Catching the small decisions on site that, if missed, become four-figure punch-list items at handover.
Writing the code by hand for Crestron and Lutron, native, no middleware. Scenes that survive the principal being away for three months. Climate logic the household never has to think about. An on-panel surface composed for the architecture of the room.
Property intelligence for the life of the residence. The same engineers who designed the system read it daily through Intuitiv AI, surfacing the small drifts before they become phone calls, and return to refine the surface as the household’s rhythm changes.
Not every residence does. A standard smart-home product, installed by a regional dealer, is the right answer for the majority of the market. The threshold at which a senior, independent consultant becomes the right call is narrower than the industry pretends.
The signal is usually a combination of three things: the property is being built or renovated to a standard where the technology must be invisible (no exposed equipment, no off-the-shelf panel UIs, no jargon spoken to the principal); the design team is serious (architect of record, interior designer of record, builder of record — each named and held accountable); and the household is one a typical regional dealer cannot read at the level the residence demands. If two of those three are true, a home technology consultation with a senior independent firm pays for itself many times over the life of the system.
If only one is true, the right move is often a sharp regional dealer running a Crestron Home installation with a quality programmer on the keys. We will say so honestly in the first conversation. We do not take work that should be done by someone else.
A short written brief is enough to start the conversation. We respond personally, within two business days. There is no obligation; we accept a small number of commissions each year, and the first conversation exists to determine whether the work suits us both.
If the project is at pre-design or schematic, we can be on the architectural drawings before the first cable layout is committed — the cheapest moment, by an order of magnitude, to make every subsequent decision. If the project is under construction, we can step in alongside the existing integrator to course-correct. If the residence is in service, we can audit the system, write a remediation plan, and operate Intuitiv AI on top of whatever is already there.
The questions that come up most often on first conversations.
A regional dealer sells, installs, and services a manufacturer’s product line within a defined territory. A consultant of the kind this practice operates as is independent of any manufacturer, attached to the residence for the life of the system, and bills for design and engineering — not for the hardware in the rack.
Often. Many of our engagements are alongside an existing integration firm where the firm is delivering the install and we’re responsible for the design, the programming, and the long-term operation through Intuitiv AI.
Our engagements are quoted against the scope of the residence and the depth of involvement — design through commissioning, design + oversight, or full continuous management. The Engagements page describes the two standards in detail. Fees are independent of equipment costs; we don’t mark up hardware.
Crestron (custom and Crestron Home), Lutron (HomeWorks for lighting and shading), and the IoT layer that connects them. We are platform-agnostic on the IoT layer (Ubiquiti / Pakedge for network, Kaleidescape for AV media, etc.) and platform-native on the control side.
Yes. Active commissions across North America (California, Texas, Florida, Aspen, the Pacific Northwest), Latin America (Mexico City), Europe (Greece), and the Pacific (New Zealand). The senior engineer attached to the residence travels.
Frequently. The firm has a senior practice in inheriting residences from a previous integrator — auditing the code, writing a remediation plan, and taking over operation. We can sit alongside the original installer or replace them; we’ll write a candid recommendation after the first survey.
A short, written brief is enough to begin. We respond personally, within two business days.
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