Hi All - first time poster. Nice to meet everyone.

I am at the early stages of building a new home (7,250 square feet incl basement). I plan to put in a full smart home system with all the bells and whistles (panelized lighting, full home audio, HVAC controls, A/V, security cameras, etc).

I'm thinking through the 2 options below. I've included my pre-conceived opinions on each option and welcome this group's feedback if you disagree.

Key question I have for this group is - do you recommend a Platform Approach (Option #1) or Non-Platform Approach (Option #2) for project of this scope.

THANK YOU!

My preliminary perspectives:

1. Platform approach - Use Control4 or Savant (maybe paired with Lutron for lights or shades) as the core infrastructure. And build around that system.

PROS:

• Single unified app experience
• Standardized APIs / integration capabilities
• Lot of systems integrators in my area who are familiar with the technology

CONS:

• Locked into one platform and the downsides that come with that
• Have to buy a lot of their hardware - which may be lower quality (Control4) or overly expensive (Savant)
• Unified app has downsides as the mobile apps developed by Control4/Savant will never be as good, slick, clean as the native apps (e.g. Nest, Lutron, Sonos, Security etc)
• My perception is that these systems don't age well as technology advances - making it expensive or harder to upgrade over time

2. Non-Platform approach - Use 4-5 subsystems (e.g. Nest, Lutron, Sonos, Security etc) as the core infrastructure and use a system integrator to have them talk to each other using their existing API capabilities. Use multiple apps in lieu of unified app.

PROS:

• Multiple apps - but they are best in class and benefit from very frequent upgrades
• Easier to upgrade technology over time and swap in new gear
• Not forced to buy platform specific hardware - can choose best of breed potentially at lower costs

CONS:

• Don't have unified app - have to click a lot to do multiple things
• More reliant on systems integrator and need to be confident they will stay around given their is no central platform architecture