Get to know your local integrator

When people ask me what I do for a living, I get tongue-tied because this is an industry that’s three industries in a trenchcoat. Very few people outside the industry know what we do, including trades we work alongside.

So … what do you do?

I am unaffiliated with this group, but they did make a great video introducing outsiders to integration.

DREAM WORLD: A Film by The Guild Integrators Alliance

Craftsmen

It may be counterintuitive. Installing audio/video equipment may seem like furniture or an appliance – and there are certainly integrators who treat it as such – but there are the firms who treat it more like a craft; with attention to detail.

Instead of plastic wall plates, there are metal, glass or wood finishes that are selected with the interior designer to match the aethetic of the room. The speakers may be flushed into the ceiling with a trim selected to match the look of the recessed lighting fixtures. There is a lot of care and consideration throughout a home that is more than simply cutting holes in walls.

Bringing it all together

Finally, when all of these differeing technologies are put in place it needs to be easy to operate. If it’s not intuitive to use it will not be used, and will have been an added cost to the project with no benefit. If it is easy to use it will flow right into your daily life and disappear, enhacing the quality of life.

That is where custom control solutions come into play to offer one surface to control multiple systems at once, bringing all of it to bear.

Why not have a “cocktail” button in your kitchen that sets the lights to a certain level and color temperature, the shades just right to see the view without glare from the sun, the hapy hour playlist begins at just the right level, while the TV transforms from a black mirror into a frame for your curated digital art collection?