The Custom Home Technology Checklist: 15 Decisions to Make Before Your Walls Close
You'll spend weeks choosing light fixtures, cabinets, countertops, and even door hardware. You'll agonize over wall colors. Your home's technology is just as personal as any of those finishes: how you'll watch, listen, work, and keep an eye on things should fit the way you live.
There's one big difference. Finishes can wait until the end. The wiring behind your technology can't. Once the walls close, adding a cable becomes a project instead of a five-minute job.
That's why the best time to bring in your low-voltage integrator (the team that handles your network, audio, video, and security wiring) is the same time you're picking lighting, cabinets, and countertops. At Dynamiq A/V Integration, we start by asking you about the end result: how you want to live in the home. Then we fill in the gaps you didn't know were there.
Here are 15 decisions to make while the walls are still open.
Outdoor Living
1. Decide where your patio TV's sound should come from
This is the regret we hear most. The outdoor TV goes up, the patio speakers go in, and then comes the question: "Can I hear the TV through the patio speakers?" Unless the TV's audio was wired back to your equipment rack, or to wherever those outdoor speakers connect, the answer is no. The TV and the speakers end up living separate lives a few feet apart. If you're planning both a patio TV and outdoor speakers, say so early, so they can be wired to work together from day one.
2. Plan your patio like the room it really is
The patio is the number one space people forget to plan, and the one they most often look back on and say, "Shucks, I wish I could've, should've, would've." It's easy to think of it as "outside" instead of a room you'll actually use. But for many families it becomes the favorite place to gather. Think now about how you'll use it: watching the game, playing music, hosting friends. Planning the wiring for those moments before the walls close costs far less frustration than wishing later.
3. Don't leave the outdoor kitchen out of the conversation
If you're building an outdoor kitchen, we're adamant: plan it together with your patio entertainment area. Whoever is at the grill wants to hear the music or the game too. Hearing TV sound or music over the outdoor speakers while you cook is one of those small touches people forget about until everything is installed, and then it's too late to add easily. Treat the outdoor kitchen and the patio as one entertainment space when you plan the wiring.
Your Wi-Fi Network
4. Hardwire your Wi-Fi access points instead of relying on "boosters"
For a while, builders went through a phase of thinking everything would be wireless. That hasn't turned out to be the case. Those wireless "boosters" are really repeaters: they catch a signal that has already weakened on its way to them and pass it along. Stacking wireless on top of wireless just adds one more thing that can go wrong. The fix is to run a cable from each access point (the small device that broadcasts your Wi-Fi) back to your equipment closet, so every one of them sends out a strong signal.
5. Plan enough access points, including outside
A simple rule of thumb: plan roughly one access point for every 1,000 square feet of home. Then always add one outside, because your walls block the signal and your patio deserves good Wi-Fi too. If you have a wraparound porch or an L-shaped backyard, add another one to cover it. This is much easier to plan on paper now than to fix with workarounds once you've moved in and start noticing dead spots.
