Five early decisions that shape performance, aesthetics and serviceability, followed by a private questionnaire to define scope.
Begin by defining the experience you want from the home: lighting and shades, music and cinema, networking, security, climate, outdoor systems and resilient power. Early scope gives the design team room to plan wiring, equipment space, panel capacity and architectural details before the home is closed in.
For window-treatment planning specifically, see our Lutron motorized shades and drapery design guide, including Palladiom, Sivoia, Roman, skylight, outdoor and specialty-shade coordination.
The control platform affects interface design, keypad strategy, panel layouts and the way subsystems are coordinated. Savant, Control4 and Crestron can each be excellent choices when matched to the project. Lutron HomeWorks typically anchors lighting and shading at estate scale. The right decision is the architecture that best suits the residence, its users and its service expectations.
Smart home and home automation prewire is easiest to install while framing is open and costly to add later. Structured cabling, Cat6A, fiber and conduit create the wired backbone for access points, cameras, displays, audio zones, controls and future upgrades while keeping the finished architecture clean.
Lighting circuits, shade power, equipment rooms, panel schedules, backup power and controls should be coordinated as one technical system. Regent5 brings electrical and low-voltage capability together so these decisions can be developed with the architect, builder and design team instead of resolved trade by trade in the field.
Investment follows scope, scale and finish level. Rather than force a generic price onto a custom residence, establish a realistic project range early, then refine the design as lighting, shades, audio video, security and energy selections become more specific. The questionnaire below helps us understand the level of system you are planning.
Regent5 works with homeowners, architects, builders and owner representatives throughout Northern California. Select engagements extend to Santa Barbara, the Los Angeles area, and Orange County. Complete the questionnaire below and we can begin with a more informed discussion about system architecture, priorities and next steps.
During design, before framing. The least expensive moment to route conduit, place equipment rooms, and plan lighting circuits is while the home is still on paper. Once drywall is up, the same decisions cost more and constrain the design. If construction has already started, the priority is completing the low voltage rough-in before the walls close. Finished homes can also be retrofitted: wireless systems such as Lutron RadioRA 3 bring scene based lighting control to existing switch locations, and panelized systems can be phased in during a remodel.
A complete plan covers lighting control and motorized shades, whole home audio video, any dedicated theater or media room, networking and Wi-Fi, security, surveillance, and access control, climate integration, and energy systems including battery backup and generator power. Just as important are the items you never see: structured wiring, conduit pathways, panel and rack locations, and a hardwired network backbone.
Each can run a whole home well. The better decision is system architecture, not brand popularity: the interface you prefer, depth of customization, integration requirements, service model, and the lighting, shades, audio video, security and energy systems being coordinated. For a custom home, a unified control layer for daily functions usually creates a cleaner experience than a collection of unrelated apps, while still allowing best-of-breed subsystems underneath. Regent5 installs Savant, Control4 and Crestron, and clients can compare systems side by side at the Regent5 Showroom & Design Center.
Yes. Regent5 designs, installs and services smart home systems for homes and estates across the San Francisco Bay Area, planning lighting control and motorized shades, audio video, networking, security and energy systems together with the structured wiring, conduit and rack locations behind them, from design through programming, commissioning and long-term support.
Investment varies with the scale of the residence, the number of integrated systems and the finish and performance level selected. A meaningful budget is best established from the drawings, fixture schedules and project priorities rather than from a generic per-square-foot figure. The questionnaire on this page includes the project ranges we commonly design within so the initial conversation can begin at the appropriate level. Budget the project in layers: design and engineering, infrastructure, devices and fixtures, programming and commissioning, and long-term support.
Decide during design which systems must remain operational during an outage: the network core, automation controller, security, gates and access control, selected lighting, refrigeration, pumps and other critical loads. Short-duration electronics should have UPS protection, while critical circuits can be coordinated with battery storage or a properly designed generator system. The home should also be planned for graceful operation when internet service is unavailable and for controlled restart after power returns. Backup-power scope must be coordinated with the electrical design and installed with proper safety and transfer equipment.
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