One team for a second home: Susan S. and a project a long way from Scottsdale

A second home can carry the same lighting, shading and network as the primary residence when one team designs, wires and looks after every layer. For Susan S., whose Scottsdale home Watt Integration wired when she built it, that meant the same people traveling to her second home, a long way from the desert, and finishing it the way the first one was finished.

Can one integrator handle lighting, shades and the network for a second home?

Yes. Watt Integration designs lighting control, motorized shades and the home network as one system from one set of drawings, so the second home arrives with the same experience as the primary residence and one team responsible for all of it.

Susan asked for four things: shades and lighting that behave as one, controls that are simple on arrival, a network strong enough to carry everything in the home, and wiring in place for whatever she might add later. At Watt Integration those four are one drawing set, produced before construction and coordinated with the builder, the electrician and the designer, and that is what the team took with them.

Why rewire a second home before programming anything?

Because documented wiring is the maintenance plan. When the runs behind the drywall are labeled and drawn as built, a fault years later is traced from the drawing, and a later addition lands on a cable that was pulled for it on the first day.

Bryan Watt, President, met Susan when the team wired her Scottsdale home, and when the second home came up he rewired it before programming a single scene, so that he would know exactly what sat behind the drywall and could look after it for years to come. Structured wiring at Watt Integration means combed, labeled runs from rough-in to the finished panel, documented as built, with pre-wire for the rooms and systems that are not on the list yet.

“I phoned Bryan and he said, it’s okay Susan, I’ll just come and do it for you.”

The client, in her own words

How is a home far from Scottsdale looked after?

Support begins remotely, with software and firmware updates applied to the installed system, and the in-person system optimization visit is arranged when one is needed. WattAssure sets the terms for both.

Distance changes little once the network is right. Software and firmware updates reach the home the way they reach one across town, and a remote session is the first response to a question. When a visit is needed, the system optimization visit covers every update, every connection and a re-check of picture and sound against the day of installation. WattAssure is offered in three tiers, Basic, Enhanced and Premium; Basic is $0 a month.

Projects beyond Arizona

Watt Integration is a residential technology engineering and integration firm, founded in Scottsdale in 2004. Arizona and the Southwest are its core region, and the team works wherever the project calls for it: typically the United States, with Canada and other locations when the project pays for it. If your second home is a long way from Scottsdale, say so when you write, and the conversation starts the same way it did for Susan.