Home Technology Holds On
Ralph Corbo builds million-dollar homes in western Connecticut. A member of the NAHB and the Custom Electronics Design & Installation Association, The Corbo Group has long sold new homes with robust technology packages. But the market for its spec homes has virtually dried up, so late last year the company took an unprecedented step. It snapped up a foreclosed nine-lot subdivision in Waterbury, Conn., and made plans to build and sell $200,000 starter homes. The question became what home technology the company could offer, if any, and still hit its price point.
“The family that’s going to buy these homes is a couple of 28-year-olds, just got married, and they have laptops, iPods, and wide-screen TVs,” Corbo says. “Technology is part of who they are. So we decided we couldn’t give up our edge, our belief that technology was an important part of our homes.”
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Is Home Automation a Key to Going Green?
Advocates of green technology see the bright skies of a cleaner, greener future—as well as huge business opportunities as many of us strive to go greener. And one of those opportunities is in home control, also known as home automation.
Green technology advocates like myself see the benefit of using electronics to help save energy in a home by shutting off our gadgets and gizmos automatically, controlling our lighting so we’re not leaving on banks of lights unnecessarily, and regulating HVAC systems in our homes more effectively. And as more and more homeowners invest in solar panels and receive smart meters from their utilities, interest in energy monitoring systems will boom. With energy monitoring systems, we’re able to learn how much energy our homes are using—and then do something to cut those costs.
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A Tale of Two Builders
Dave Febbraio, a Sherman, Conn.-based integrator, has worked with two builders on the same 5,000-squarefoot timber-framed house. First, Febbraio worked with the original builder. Now, he’s working with the builder the homeowner brought in to clean up the mess.
According to Febbraio, who owns Structured Home Solutions, the construction project was about a year behind schedule and about $1 million over budget when Danbury, Conn.-based Jim Blansfield Builders took the reigns. Febbraio says Blansfield seems to have the project back on track.
So what is Blansfield doing that the previous builder was not?
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7 Tips for Saving on Land Development
If you are involved in the entitlement and land development phase of home building, you may be aware that real profits can be increased by implementing common process improvements coupled with technology “tools” that are readily available. If you’re not aware, you should be.
The biggest benefit of improved processes is shorter development cycles. Less time means lower development costs. Improved quality of the product will also likely result, bringing increased revenue and profit. The return on investing in implementing technology tools is huge, especially when you consider that the technology may already be in use within your organization — just not to its full extent.
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6 Common Automation Pitfalls to Avoid
It’s easy to get swept away when planning for a home automation system. The systems are so robust they can do just about anything.
However, it’s important to keep a level head when designing a system for your house. Your custom electronics professional (CE pro) will be there to guide you, of course, but it never hurts to know what to watch out for yourself.
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