We ask industry experts one question: In what ways is your custom integration company using technology to create a healthier home for clients?
There’s obviously a lot of attention being given to wellness in this space right now. At RSI, we are taking a “fast follower” approach. We’ve been very active with human-centric lighting and have a full demonstration at our office in Littleton. Beyond that, there are still a lot of things to play out in this area, and we aren’t ready to make big investments in the space yet. One of the worst things a company like ours can do is invest heavily in an early company, only to have them falter or go out of business. That being said, this is clearly an interesting area and one that we will undoubtedly enter at some point in the near future.
– Travis Leo, Residential Systems Inc. & Valhalla Integration, Littleton, CO
Based on great presentations at the recent Azione Unlimited Conference, we are specifically excited about the Pure Wellness 365 platform, circadian lighting, and even the Bryte Bed. Our goal internally is to put together a comprehensive set of offerings and upgrade our showroom to demonstrate the real health benefits of this technology to our current and future clients!
– JW Anderson, The Integrated Home, Charlotte, NC
We built a home in a building behind our showroom, which makes it easier to integrate “wellness” features like a fan or skylight for improving indoor air quality. When we combine our control system with the skylight or fan, if air sensors register poor indoor air quality, they then trigger the skylight to open or exhaust fan to turn on to clear the air. That’s just one example of how we’re adding a wellness component to our services.
– Gordon van Zuiden, cybermanor, Los Gatos, CA
As a company, we are trying to get educated on wellness. As an integrator, we are trying to spread the word to everyone we encounter. Every client that comes through the showroom gets a human-centric lighting demo. It usually comes at the end of the typical demonstration and leaves the client pondering the possibilities. Come in curious, leave inspired.
– Ryan McDaniel, One-Touch Automation, Carmel, IN
At Innerspace Electronics, we have been on for forefront of learning about and promoting the concept of the “healthy home” in the form of the wellness ecosystems that are soon to be released in our market. We were an early adopter of Ketra lighting and have had the opportunity to be trained and certified at Ketra early on (prior to Lutron’s Purchase of Ketra). We have also invested our time in being trained on the Delos product. We believe that these technologies will become very popular in the near future.
– Barry Reiner, InnerSpace Electronics, Mount Kisco, NY
We work with our vendors to find out what is a healthy product or sustainable product. For instance, with shades, we look for a product that is sustainable, Earth-friendly, with no off-gassing. Then we look at how lighting affects someone’s mood. One of the biggest questions we ask a client is, “How do you want to feel when you walk into your home?” Often, we look to lighting control and shades, thermostats, and air purifiers to enhance their lifestyle at home.
– Luis Rodriguez, WOW Media, Fall River, MA
The opportunities around wellness are really interesting to us as a business and in terms of providing the best living experience for our clients. User-centric lighting is one of the larger opportunities in both residential and commercial settings. We are the first Ketra showroom on the east coast and our employees are able to come in to an office that helps promote their wellness.
– Chris Smith, Cloud9 Smart, New York City
We educate our clients about the basic facts related to wellness technology, including the quality of air inside their home, understanding how lighting can affect your brain, your hormonal system, and your ability to sleep. Delos is the only company with a complete solution of all of the pillars that are necessary in a residential space to make it a well space. A smart home isn’t smart unless it’s healthy.
– Jan Vitrofsky, HEDsouth, Hollywood, FL
Multi-dwelling unit (MDU) developers in our area are looking for creative ways to apply technology to achieve WELL Building certification. We can advise them on the best ways to integrate motorized shades and Ketra lighting, for example, which establishes our value earlier in the project and helps the developer accumulate “innovation” points to achieve certification.
