Design, design….and design!
Three key words (kind of!) but most important to remember when starting on the first steps of putting a variety of systems together into what people call a ”smart home” – something we are sure you already know.
The builder isn’t just trusting that the walls will stay up, and the architect isn’t hoping that the size of the rooms just works out OK in the end. They have a set of drawings and specifications to work to, or their plans drawn out and documented.
The same should be true of the elements in a smart home system design. You shouldn’t just trust that you will be able to watch TV, or be able to access all your digital music easily, or get reliable wireless broadband. You should be shown how the system will go together, and be able to discuss how to control the home cinema, or the scenes set using the lighting controls. This all part of the design service and design process at thinkingbricks.
Half the battle in getting to a robust and well thought out system design is defining the brief of the project. You may be thinking that if only you knew what to discuss with the client, that would be a start!
No problem – over the years we have built up a simple breifing document which we use to help uncover your technology needs, from what they want to see on TV, through how they like music to be delivered around the house to how they want the systems to interact (for example, lights in the home cinema room, or an audio system that will trigger a favourite radio station as a wake up alarm).
Once we can understand the client’s needs, we can provide you with ballpark specifications and quote work to discuss with the client and background support for you in dealing with the client, in refining the eventual brief.
Once the ballpark quote work is agreed, we move onto the design phase. And you don’t just get a design sent through, with no explanation. We pride ourselves on making our systems fit the brief exactly. We make sure that you can see what the systems will do on paper, and understand the role of the different cables and why they are being run.
Over a short series of telephone calls and a site visit, we will go through the process of generating the Version 1 design, which becomes the template for any further amends and will ultimately be used to run the first fix (initial) cabling, and then put the smart home system together, even down to the systems in place to control everything.
We come across many M&E customers who have been “blinded with science” when it comes to smart home technology. Over a cup of tea, or a telephone call – we can very quickly work out what you and your client will need.
To see what that meant for one our our customers referred by an M&E consultant – go to the portfolio pages and read more: http://www.thinkingbricks.co.uk/projects/ProjectC&H-BarnStorming!.pdf