WHOLE HOUSE CONTROL SYSTEMS
It can be confusing enough having more than one remote control for watching TV, Sky, DVD, etc. When you add to that the control of music, heating, blinds, lighting, and CCTV/Security it can become overwhelming – especially when there is more than one room to control.
Whole house control systems are simple and easy to use. They take care of all the different controls for you.
Smart Made Simple – Our aim is that you, and your guests/colleagues will not need training on how to use your system – it should be that intuitive.
Ask us for a demonstration on one of our installed systems, and we will let you use a system without any instructions. We will be there to assist you, should you need it. It really can be that simple, if set up right.
This comes for our experience in hospitals, where the staff are so busy, and change so frequently, that training people all the time isn’t an option – anybody has to know what to do, and everything just needs to work.
The truth is, out of everything you design for your ultimate home, the technology is the aspect you will use every hour, every time you’re at home, every day.
We use openly available, mainstream control systems, and give you full access, passwords and programming information. That way, you never have to feel ‘locked in’ to us – although we would love to continue to look after you and your system for years to come.
SMART HOMES
The next step up from a home which you can easily control is a home which is smart – it does things for you. This is automating common activities and adding some if/and/or/then logic before activating activities.
Such as:
Lighting coming on and off automatically, depending on the time of day, dawn/dusk, and whether you are home or away.
One button, or voice command, to ‘start a film’ which drops the projection screen and projector (which have been discretely hidden) out of the ceiling. The surround sound system turns on, and switches to the film audio settings. The projector turns on, and after a couple of minutes, allowing you to get comfy in your seats, the lights dim down. All this simply allows you to just relax and enjoy the film.
If your alarm is activated, strategic lights can come on and CCTV cameras can increase the speed of recording.
If a window is open in a room, then the system can be clever enough to not turn the heating on in that room.
There are so many variables in a whole house control system. Having a chat with us is the best way to start getting your head around them.
We recommend that you only automate the activities which happen regularly, and try to not to over complicate things.
HOME CINEMA & MEDIA ROOMS
Many families now enjoy watching a film together. It has become a favorite family activity.
The idea of a Cinema Room or Media Room is to get as close as possible to the vison of the film director, and the sound the audio engineer defined. This is not like watching a movie at home – it is like watching a movie in the cinema.
Sound can be designed specifically for a room – as can the visual experience. This gives you fully immersive viewing when you want the distraction, or to escape from the outside world. More ‘life-like’ images captivate and hold your attention so that you can get lost in your chosen program or film.
The design is easier when we have a dedicated room to work with (Cinema Room) but we can also work to get the best out of a multi-use space (Media Room), which can be converted to your home theatre at the touch of just one button.
Screens can be as big as you want, and you don’t even have to have projectors. But there are guidelines on screen sizes and viewing angles, which we will calculate for you. We can also help with black out blinds, lighting control and, of course, cinema seating.
We would be happy to help you find the best balance between your space, performance and budget. Give yourself the ‘best seat in the house’.
MULTI ROOM MUSIC
You want the simplest and easiest way to enjoy quality listening throughout your home. Our systems give you exactly that.
You can wake up to a favorite inspiring track, in the morning and enjoy an uplifting soundtrack whilst you work out in the gym. Then go for a shower and continue to feel motivated as your music follows you through the house before you leave for the day.
You can control music from your phone wherever you in the home. , But if you’ve misplaced your phone or left it in another room there’s always a convenient way to quickly reduce or increase volume, change tracks/stations or turn devices off/on.
Different playlists or radio stations can be played simultaneously in a variety of rooms. Ideal for entertaining when different groups congregate in different rooms with varying taste in music, or everyone self-isolating to their own tunes.
There are several different solutions available. Knowing what you list to and what you listen from will help us select one which works well for you.
HOW DO YOU WANT YOUR AUDIO TO LOOK?
We can ensure that your carefully selected décor isn’t ruined by unsightly black boxes or speakers. We can integrate your home technology with the aesthetics of your interior design.
We provide a range of speaker options to suit you. They include, in-wall, in-ceiling, completely invisible speakers, cabinet and book-shelf speakers, funky speakers, external speakers- all of which can be colour matched to suit you.
Within each range, there is a choice of performance, allowing you to get high end audio reproduction in the rooms where you will be able to appreciate it.
HI FI AUDIO
For listeners and audiophiles who require high-quality reproduction of sound with inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) frequency response we can design and provide a ‘next level’ listening experience. This could be in just one area of your home, or throughout – the choice is yours.
We work with a number of high fidelity brands to get the sound just right for you.
VIDEO DISTRIBUTION
For a small number of rooms it is fine to have a SkyQ or Set Top Box per room, and maybe Apple TVs, and BluRay players. But it isn’t very convenient as you move from room to room.
Sharing a central ‘pool’ of Sky boxes, Apple TVs, a BluRay player and CCTV (amongst many other devices) is so much simpler, and reduces clutter in each room. You can also benefit from getting the highest quality life-like picture on every TV, not just the one connected to the ‘master box’.
Understanding who watches what, and when, and maybe even where helps us select the right way of doing this for your family.
VOICE CONTROL
One of the easiest ways to control your home is by simply talking to it.
Turn your lights down, on or off. Turn the TV on. Open the blinds. Change your TV from Sky to Apple TV. Turn the heating up. Turn the volume up. Select a radio station. Skip to the next song.
There are hundreds of ways you can simplify control of your home.
But beware – getting voice control right isn’t quite as simple as it is to use it. Some of the voice control features need you to go in to them with your eyes (or ears) open. We will help you avoid the pitfalls.
HIGH SPEED WIFI
High speed WiFi is now essential in the home. Whether it’s for gaming, movie streaming, or the home office, a great signal and fast connection are critical.
We utilise enterprise grade hardware to eliminate “dead spots” and get the fastest speeds possible around your home.
Our Wireless Access Points that have the intelligence to hand over seamlessly between each other so you always have the strongest possible signal.
Ensuring a good signal throughout your garden, and outbuildings, give you music/radio whilst BBQ-ing on the terrace, or to help pass the time while mowing the lawn.
NETWORKING
A good solid network is the backbone of most home information and entertainment services. Some call it the ‘The 4th Utility” and some might argue that it’s the 1st!
Routers provided by the broadband companies are built to a price point and are often not capable of delivering the best service around your home.
We can maximise your network giving you the best speeds, performance, coverage, and control of what’s happening.
Hard wired solutions are always best, but not practical for situation. We work with enterprise grade WiFi systems to ensure that you get the benefit of convenience too.
We can provide remote access to help with any IT issues you may experience.
We can combine two different broadband lines to give you a super fast speed.
We can combine, or just have as a back-up, a network through a 4G Mobile Phone network as well.
CYBER SECURITY
With the network becoming so important, so is it’s, and your, protection.
We can provide a commercial grade advanced protection system which prevents malware, ransomware, and many other cyber security breaches. You can also block, or allow, access to adult and other websites. The system we supply didn’t have a single breach in it’s million+ installations when the WannaCry ransomware crippled many hospitals and councils.
Allow visiting friends and family a dedicated internet access network while securely ringfencing more sensitive network-based assets like storage devices, security systems and heating and lighting systems.
WatchGuard offers the most comprehensive portfolio of security services in the industry, from traditional intrusion prevention, gateway antivirus, application control, spam prevention, and URL filtering, to more advanced services for protecting against evolving malware, ransomware, and data breaches.
LIGHTING CONTROL
Once you have had a home with well programmed lighting control, you’ll never have another home without it. Transforming the space to suit your mood with a touch of single button, or by simply asking with a voice command. This is the technology you will interact with most in your home – so it will pay you to trust it to the right people.
Half of our all work is purely Lighting – Design, Control & Supply. Please feel free to visit our sister site www.Lighting-Projects.com to get a much better appreciation of our specialist skills.
Lighting Control is an excellent accompaniment to a good Lighting Design. Effortlessly managing the different layers of light to give the right amounts of light, in the right places, at the right time.
Just press a button for the ‘scene’ you want, rather than trying to switch and adjust an endless row of dimmers and witches.
Keypads are available in a variety of colours and metal finishes with bespoke options for the more individual decors.
Intuitive at every level, and seamlessly integrated with other elements of your home, whether it be light sensors, automated blinds, music and temperature.
LIGHTING DESIGN
Good lighting doesn’t just happen – it’s designed.
There are few things we interact with in the home more than lighting. Yet the importance of ‘getting the lighting right’ is often over-looked, or undertaken without all the knowledge it requires.
Good lighting not only enables people to do what they need to do in each space, it enhances the mood and desirability of those spaces. It contributes greatly to people's sense of well-being.
Half of our all work is purely Lighting – Design, Control & Supply. Please feel free to visit our sister site www.Lighting-Projects.com to get a much better appreciation of our specialist skills.
There can be a big difference between having light in a room and ‘the right light’. Lighting can either dull or enhance a home. Find out what we can do for you.
BLINDS & CURTAINS
Some of the most common feedback we get back from our clients is that they wished they’d bought automated blinds and curtains sooner when it comes to lighting their home. While they may seem like an extravagance, they can actually save considerable amounts of money.
They save you precious time – adjusting multiple windows can be a chore and take up valuable time. Automated blinds and curtains can be customised to open and close in individual rooms automatically to your preferences, or setup so that a single button automatically closes them all simultaneously.
Extremely reliable wireless options are also available for where retrofitting cables is not practical.
CCTV
High resolution digital CCTV cameras have dramatically improved surveillance images. Much improved ‘night vision’ cameras are also available.
Various camera styles can be selected, form overt to covert, to give you the coverage and protection you need.
One issue we hear from clients with their previous systems is how difficult it is to get footage from the CCTV recorder. We are conscious of this, and ensure that your system is simple to use, for anyone in the home.
Number plate recognition and recording cameras are proving more popular.
The company says the lineup delivers advanced analytics, auto-configuration capabilities and multiple form factors to suit every project.
Some CCTV systems can tell you whether a vehicle, or person was detected, and exactly when.
GATE & DOOR ENTRY
You can have total control on who and how people access your home, and a record of what time.
Access can be by, fob, PIN code, Bluetooth connection to your mobile phone. If you are in the home you can have a handset, a handset with video, or simply use your smart phone to see who is there, talk to them, and open the gates. Even if you are away, you can let people in using your smart phone.
You (or we) can create unique PIN codes for delivery drivers, and other trades, and have a record of each time they are used.
With gate entry and video doorbells which link directly in to the CCTV system, you’ll have the peace of mind you need.
HEATING & AIRCON
With smart heating control you can adjust the temperature room by room. You can so this from within the home, or when head back to home from a break away so you’ll get the perfect reception when you arrive home.
Individual room control also saves energy.
We can work with underfloor heating, radiators, air conditioning, and a mixture of all three.
TAKE OVER PROJECTS
We have taken over several projects where clients have been either dissatisfied with their system, or the they have fallen out with the installation company. We are please to say that those customers are still with us.
The ease of a takeover project depends very much on the state of an installation, the equipment used and the availability of any documentation and programs. More often than not, this information isn’t available, so we undertake a physical survey and start the documentation from scratch.
With all of our systems, our clients get all the documentation, programs and passwords. We don’t want to lose the clients, but don’t want them to feel ‘trapped’ and ‘tied’ to us either. We prefer our clients to be our clients because they want to.
RACK BUILDS
We take great pride in our racks. A well built, well planned, well labelled rack is easy to install and maintain. It is true that we are a bit OCD when it comes to this, but that is a good thing – right?
It breaks our heart when we see ‘messy’ rack builds, and what people paid for them. Only the individual who built it knows what is connected to what, and there is usually a great risk of dislodging other cables when you work on it. It is no surprise that messy racks give way more issues than tidy, clean racks. They also take a lot longer to work on, costing you more.
Every cable, plug, socket, switch and piece of equipment is clearly, and logically labelled, and fastened down to prevent accidental dislodgement. A cabling schematic is used and provided, so anyone can see what’s going on, and where.
There can be a lot of value in a rack. It should be treated as such.
TV – PREMIUM - SMART & ULTRA HIGH DEF
TV advertising can be misleading, unless you know the terms. We are happy for you to provide your own TVs, but we do supply the premium models of Sony and LG TVs with the highest resolutions and deepest colors. Having the best display isn’t much use if you can’t get high quality footage and streaming to it, so please avail of our expertise in everything required in the background to make your picture as lifelike as possible.
TV & SPEAKER INSTALLATION.
We undertake numerous TV and speaker installations. We don’t just do whole house systems. We have tremendous experience and knowledge in how to make your installation look clean, and work well for your space.
Going to the next level, we can get exact colour matching , unique custom art or furniture and make equipment appear or disappear at the touch of a button.
Neat installations take a bit of planning and consideration. Getting power sockets and cables in the right place, will they need to be recessed?, and exactly where the bracket going to be positioned so it doesn’t clash with the cables, are some of the things to consider. A little extra effort goes a long way in getting a much better finish.
POWER MANAGEMENT & CONDITIONING
Power management solution portfolio, including protection, filtering, voltage regulation, isolation, and battery back-up , as well as IP managed control solutions.
We all expect top performance from the audio and video systems installed. Today’s audio, video and networking technologies are more sophisticated than ever, but the AC grid that powers our equipment is increasingly overtaxed and often antiquated. AC power problems can cause performance issues, reduced reliability, and damage to sensitive components.
We can advise on, and install clean, ultra-low noise AC power cleaners to assure maximum audio and video equipment performance.
We can also supply voltage regulation and surge protection equipment, which also protects itself, rather than sacrificing itself. This keep you up and running, and still with protection.
Battery back-up is also a consideration if you have regular ‘brown outs’ to keep essential hardware up and running. We can’t power you whole house for the duration of a major power cut, but we can keep essential and delicate items running without the need for a sudden reboot.
Finally, being able to monitor and remotely re-boot hardware can have clients up and running in minutes, rather than needing an engineer to call out.
SOCKETS, SWITCHES & FACEPLATES
We provide a wide range of different styles and materials so that everything matches and looks as good as it can.
We can identify when faceplates will be hidden, so the best value white plastic can be used, saving your budget for the places where it is needed.
A mis-match of sockets, switches, data points, TV aerial and speaker connections really does detract from the style of your room.
SUPPORT – BOTH PROACTIVE & REACTIVE
We have experienced very few hardware failures. We only use established and well proven mainstream brands, which contributes to this. The care taken on, and the neatness of our installations also prevent problems. Prevention is much better than cure.
If you do have issues, we can investigate quite a lot of things remotely, and make changes without coming to you.
We can build systems that we can monitor proactively and identify any issues probably before you do.
Should you need a visit, rest assured, we will come to you. Most of the time, the remote access options get you up and running fastest