Planning a smart home for a new home build starts long before drywall. Lighting control, motorized shades, home theater, networking, security, and energy systems all depend on decisions made while the plans are still on paper. This guide walks through how Regent5 plans home automation for new construction and remodels across San Francisco, the Peninsula, the North Bay, South Bay, and East Bay, Wine Country, and the Carmel and Monterey area. Work through the five steps, then use the design questionnaire below to scope your project.
The first step in smart home planning for a new home build is naming every system the home will carry: lighting control and motorized shades, whole home audio video, a dedicated home theater or media room, AI surveillance and alarm, enterprise grade WiFi, and energy management with battery backup and generator power. Each system you name early gets wiring, panel capacity, and equipment space designed in from the start. Each one added after drywall becomes a retrofit. Scope drives everything that follows, so this list is worth an hour with the floor plans before any other decision.
Professional new construction smart homes run on a central platform, and the choice shapes the wiring plan. Savant, Control4, and Crestron each coordinate lighting, shades, climate, entertainment, and security from one interface, and Lutron HomeWorks QSX handles panelized lighting control at estate scale, with Josh.AI adding private voice control. The platform decision determines keypad locations, panel schedules, and the equipment room layout, which is why it belongs before the electrician roughs in. The fastest way to choose is to use the platforms side by side at our San Carlos showroom.
The low voltage rough-in is the least expensive work of the entire project and the most expensive to redo. Structured wiring runs to every television, access point, camera, keypad, and speaker location while the framing is open, with conduit pathways left for future pulls. A hardwired network backbone is what makes everything wireless actually reliable: access points, cameras, and streaming all perform best on wire, and WiFi in a large home is only as strong as the cabling behind it.
Lighting circuits, shade power, panel schedules, and generator transfer are electrical decisions that live or die by the automation design. Regent5 holds both C10 electrical and C7 low voltage licenses, so the line voltage and the technology are engineered as one drawing set and coordinated directly with your builder and architect. One contractor accountable for both sides is the difference between a lighting plan that works on paper and one that works at the wall.
Smart home cost for a new home is driven by three things: the size of the home, the number of systems integrated, and the finish level of what you select, from keypad finishes to shade fabrics to theater performance. We do not publish prices, because a number stated without a fixture schedule describes a house that does not exist. Instead, the design questionnaire below lists the investment ranges we design within. Select the range that fits your project, complete the scope sections, and the proposal we write from your drawings is engineered to it.
Regent5 is a C10 and C7 licensed electrical and low voltage contractor, CSLB 1033103, based in San Carlos and serving San Francisco, the Peninsula, the North Bay, South Bay, and East Bay, Wine Country, and the Carmel and Monterey area. Complete the questionnaire below and we will come back with system architecture and a scoped recommendation for your build.
There is no honest single number. The investment depends on the size of the home, how many systems are integrated, and the finish level of what you select, from keypad finishes to shade fabrics to theater performance. We do not publish prices, because a number stated without a fixture schedule describes a house that does not exist. The design questionnaire on this page lists the investment ranges we design within. Select the range that fits your project and the proposal we write from your drawings is engineered to it.
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.
A complete plan covers lighting control and motorized shades, whole home audio video, any dedicated theater or media room, networking and WiFi, 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.
Finished homes are retrofitted every week. Wireless systems such as Lutron RadioRA 3 bring scene based lighting control to existing switch locations without opening walls, and panelized systems can be phased in during a remodel. New construction simply lowers the cost of the infrastructure, because the wiring is installed while the framing is open.
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 can compare them side by side at the San Carlos showroom.
Yes. Reliable wireless is built on wire. Access points, cameras, displays, audio zones and automation equipment perform best with a planned hardwired backbone, and every wireless device ultimately depends on the network behind it. During construction, structured cabling and conduit are inexpensive compared with opening finished walls later. For security, a managed network can also separate IoT, camera, guest and personal-device traffic where appropriate, while keeping firmware, credentials and network equipment actively maintained.
Budget the project in layers: design and engineering, infrastructure, devices and fixtures, programming and commissioning, and long-term support. In a custom home, the hidden infrastructure—conduit, structured cabling, equipment racks, network hardware, dedicated circuits, shade power, cooling and backup power—often determines reliability and future upgradeability. Establish the scope during design, carry a technology allowance in the construction budget, and refine it as lighting, shades, audio video, security and energy selections become final.
Not simply because the home is automated. Automation processors, keypads, network equipment and sensors are relatively modest electrical loads. The larger issue is whole-home electrification: EV charging, heat pumps, electric cooking, pool equipment, large audio video systems, batteries and other high-demand loads. California energy guidance notes that many homes can electrify without automatically upsizing service when load calculations and load management are done early. Start with a whole-home load calculation, then determine whether the existing service is adequate or an upgrade is justified.
For permit applications submitted on or after January 1, 2026, California's 2025 Energy Code applies. Residential projects have mandatory lighting-control requirements, including dimming in habitable spaces, automatic-off controls in certain rooms, and qualifying outdoor controls. Centralized, multi-scene and energy-management control systems can be used when they provide the required functions and physical controls. Coordinate the lighting-control design with the architect, electrical drawings and local permitting authority early rather than trying to solve compliance after fixtures and keypads are selected.
It can help, but there is no honest universal savings percentage. Results depend on the rate plan, HVAC system, electric loads and household behavior. Automation can reduce wasted lighting and HVAC use, coordinate motorized shades, schedule EV charging, pool equipment and water heating during lower-cost time-of-use periods, and coordinate batteries or load management around peak periods. The best strategy is to design the automation around the home's actual loads and the utility rate plan rather than relying on a generic savings claim.
Potentially, especially for battery storage, heat pumps, heat-pump water heating and other electrification measures, but funding and eligibility change frequently. As of August 2026, TECH Clean California reports that its single-family HEEHRA and general single-family heat-pump incentive funding is fully reserved or waitlisted. PG&E's Self-Generation Incentive Program may support qualifying battery-storage projects subject to program eligibility and available funding. Check current programs before equipment is selected, and do not build a project budget around an incentive that has not been confirmed.
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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