DIY vs. Professional Smart Home Installations

With smart home technology becoming more and more popular, many people are wondering about the best way to start implementing it into their own homes. The big question is should you try to do it yourself or opt for professional installation?

This post will give you the pros and cons of each option so you can decide for yourself which one better fits your needs. Let’s start with the Do-It Yourself (DIY) option.

Do-It-Yourself Installation

Pros:

• Saves you money

• Helps you learn how the technology works as you gain experience putting it together

• Satisfaction of being able to install a work smart system yourself

Cons:

• High potential for technical problems

• All repairs become your responsibility

• Limited understanding of your chosen technology make keep you from realizing its full potential

• Lack of access to professional grade technology (must use lower quality consumer grade products instead)

• May void product warranties in some cases

If you’re the kind of guy who’s great at installing and fixing things around the house, this route may be much easier for you. You’ll save money up front, learn a lot about how your new smart system works, and have that feeling of accomplishment of knowing you did it all yourself. However, if you’re not that type of person, you may be setting yourself up for trouble. Technical issues are a reality when installing smart technology and any “hiccups” or troubleshooting that needs to be done may require several trips to the hardware store (and Tylenol for headaches). Now let’s take a closer look at having your smart technology installed professionally.

Professional Installation

Pros:

• Peace of mind of a quality installation

• Customization options

• Better quality integrations

• Higher quality materials and equipment

• Less future maintenance required

Cons:

• More expensive

• Any necessary maintenance will require scheduling a service appointment

Working with professionals is always going to be more expensive then doing it yourself, but the professionals have access to higher end, better quality equipment and they do this service everyday so they are much more in tune with market trends and future developments.

Professional installers also have the access to professional-grade systems like Control4 smart solutions. Control4 is a completely integrated hardware and software platform that provides custom-designed audio and visual solutions. Imagine you want to listen to the baseball game in the kitchen while the TV is on in the family room. Streaming the same audio from the Family room source into the Kitchen needs special equipment and a bit of coding too.  A professional not only knows how to do it, but already knows what you will want and need. Smart home professionals can give you specific ideas and options based on your vision and then design the perfect Control4 setup to meet your needs.

So where did we end up? The DIY option is always going to be a cheaper, but it does come with a big cost. You may not end up getting a complete long-term solution and it probably won’t get you all the features that are out there.

To learn more about our professional Control4 smart home installation options, fill out the contact form below and let us know about your project.