Fees:
Complete prewire design including: security, HDTV, house audio, networking, cable/Sat, control.

Cameras: Add 10%
HVAC: Add 10%
BEST Package: Add 10%

Includes:
1 hour phone/web consultation meeting.
1 set of E-Sized color plots (1 per floor).
3 sets of 11×17 color drawings (1 per floor).
1 set of custom-printed Field Label Cards for termination points.
Legend and prewire installation guide.
Estimated installation labor and materials and kit options.

Requires:
Floor plans and elevations in PDF or ACAD R14 (preferred) format.

AS-BUILT drawing updates can be provided at drafting rate ($65/hr) from your markups. Prints provided at cost + $10.

Lighting Control Design
Complete lighting and lighting controls design including fixture placement, fixture sizing, control points, lighting control components.

Contact us for a Quote.

Derek was a guest speaker at the IBA’s Green Building Committee meeting held Tuesday, August 25th. He discussed and answered questions about how smart home systems have a larger impact on total energy consumption of the home by gently affecting the behavior of the occupants and optimally operating the house.

The presentation transcript is available below:

About Derek Cowburn:
20yrs in advanced energy management for Pharmaceutical/Commercial industry. Started DistinctAV five years ago focusing on luxury home automation with services nationwide. Currently writing a book titled “Building from the inside out(TM)”.

Energy Savings:
The biggest energy consumer in the home is the people. A simple consumption meter will tell you that. Watch the energy consumption on an unoccupied house with all the lights, TVs, computers, hairdryers, and music off and the HVAC setback for unoccupied mode versus a vibrant home with kids playing and normal activities going on. A slight change in behavior has a bigger effect on energy use than all the efficiency improvements built-in.

For example, my 4-yr old son constantly leaves the doors open. He was obviously raised in a barn. On a comfortable Spring or Fall morning it’s not a big deal but on a muggy summer afternoon leaving the door open for more than a few seconds will suck the heat and moisture in like a sponge–making the HVAC run for another 30-60 minutes to compensate. This one action far outweighs any insulation and mechanical efficiency gains. Like most kids (and teenaged daughters, I hear) he leaves every light on and most TVs on in the house.

In an integrated smart home, the security system monitors the doors but it also knows the outside temperature and communicates with the thermostats, the audio system, and the data network. If the kids leave the door open when it’s comfortable out, the system tells the thermostats to stay off. This way you don’t pay to cool or heat the outdoors and you can enjoy the fresh air. If the outside conditions are too hot or cold, it makes a polite announcement over the audio system to “close the doors”. Touch a panel to tell it to ignore or simply close the doors and it will re-enable the temperature controls through the stats.

Gas fireplaces often fight with the HVAC systems. People buy the fireplace remotes from the fireplace manufacturer but it is it’s own temperature loop and the HVAC has it’s own control loop with the thermostat so invariably the room has huge, uncomfortable, and costly temperature swings. Tie the fireplace start circuit into the automation and it keeps them coordinated.

2-way status of the TVs in the house when you’re making a selection on the remotes (that control everything in the house) let’s you see which TVs are on–and how long they’ve been on. It’s a gentle reminder that you may not need the other 4 TVs on at the moment so click-click–they’re off without the need to walk into the other rooms.

Lighting controls are a combination of energy savings and luxury. Title 24 is a start by requiring occupancy sensors, dimmers, and high efficiency lighting, but ultimately, a smart and thorough lighting plan and control system will provide energy savings and a better looking environment.

Smart Home Prerequisites:
Prewire-prewire-prewire. I understand that builders are in the business of building new homes, but I feel that people often upgrade because their house is “dull”. There’s a comment that I hear often and it almost makes me sick to think of the waste produced by this kind of thinking: They’ll say “we weren’t planning on living here long but in the next house we build we’ll definitely put in all those smart home things we really want”. If you’re a spec builder or want a reputation for building homes with a plan for the future, prewire appropriately. It’s the only positive return on investment in home electronics other than energy management solutions. Current trends show that buyers in the $500k+ range are looking very closely at amenities, long-term value, and technology capability.

Smart Home Offer:
I’m offering an opportunity to get extra attention, P.R., and as many manufacturer co-ops as possible for a project that is interesting enough and could win a national “green home” award. The house should be holistic from a design/living perspective and interesting with a good story behind it. An owner/builder willing to do some “HGTV-style” interviews/candid video would be ideal but not critical. The actual energy consumption of the house will be remotely monitored and trended using our client monitoring services so you can demonstrate the savings and show real results.

2009-08-16-indianapolis-star-home-section

Check out the answers here or visit the IndyStar.com site.

Well, for all of you who are new to DistinctAV and have a house that is not wired for any of our cool features, today is your lucky day.

DistinctAV now sells SONOS. SONOS was developed by a bunch of really clever people and they figured out how to stream music wirelessly, reliably. The SONOS system also provides intuitive, rich media interfaces in the form of wireless hand-held controllers, iTouch and iPhone apps, and PC and Mac web-based applications.

So if the product was so cool, why didn’t we pick it up until now? It lacked the interfaces to integrate it into other home systems that make it a truly distinctive solution. Before these interfaces, it was simpy a great product that played great music, using really great amplifiers.

But we look at the big picture. If you can’t control your house using one simple remote, then it’s back to the Stone Ages of home operation. If your music system can’t mute when your doorbell rings, then your guests waiting at the door are going to be offended while you’re out playing by the pool.

There’s so many great uses for a whole-house audio system that go way beyond just playing music. Why not get all those features for the same price?

Contact Us today for a demonstration of this incredible system or visit www.Sonos.com for more info.

We calculated that it is a better investment to buy a good Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) with surge protection than it is to buy an Extended Warrantee.  Considering the cost and time to replace a TV or recover lost computer files, you’ll see why Benjamin Franklin said “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.  And this guy practically invented electricity!

DistinctAV power management solutions go beyond single-minded answers.  We choose from hundreds of products to design the best solution for your specific needs anywhere in your home and office.  Our holistic approach means you can solve more than one problem at a time.

For example, our UPS solutions can shut off individual loads that are not being used.  This saves energy and also increases the “on battery” time when you get a really bad outage.

Through September, 2009, we’re offering 10% off all UPS solutions as part of an engineered solution.

All this means you’re not spending money willy-nilly.  Our long-term approach means each project builds on the prior projects to attain a convenient, reliable, feature-rich, and efficient home.

Contact Us today to schedule an in-home assessment and start to build your plan for a bright, reliable future!

5/19/2009, MCCORDSVILLE, INDIANA

When Cambridge resident and local TV and Radio personality Pat Carlini decided to make her home ‘smart’ for her family of 5, she enlisted the help of the electronic systems integrators at DistinctAV.

The theater and pre-wire was the first part of a whole-house upgrade plan to evolve the home to add Smart Home features, a technology where all the built-in electronics can be controlled from simple remotes, laptops, cell phones, any number of in-wall touch screens, and the home “brain” controller. Her husband, John Miller, wanted lots of features for entertaining throughout the house, but was concerned about the reliability of these complex systems.  “I didn’t want part of my house to not work.  We use every room and with my schedule I didn’t want to spend time troubleshooting it” says Miller.

These were the first steps in a long-term plan Derek Cowburn developed to reach the Millers’ goal of consistent convenience, luxury, and efficiency.  “We know some clients don’t want to do all the upgrades at once so we design a plan where each project adds to the overall system capabilities.”  Derek and his family also reside in Cambridge since moving to Indiana in 2002 from New Jersey.

“I knew Pat & John from various get-togethers around the neighborhood”, Cowburn says. “When Pat asked us to look at her basement project my designer came back to the office and said ‘That’s Pat Carlini!’  I said ‘Who’s Pat Carlini?’”  Not being from Indiana, Derek didn’t recognize such a well-known local personality.  He laughs now recalling “I guess I should have known better after seeing all the Bob & Tom and NBC-TV memorabilia–I thought she was a big fan!  Interior Design requires a lot of focus and imagination so it really gets my gears turning sometimes.”

Cowburn also points out that “Total Cost of Ownership is what counts when you’re looking to save money.  A system that is not maintained will go unused, and that’s an enormous waste of resources.” Monitored solutions by DistinctAV keep their clients systems running like new.  “It’s impressive how they [DistinctAV] can connect into our home and diagnose issues within minutes” says Carlini.  “I’ve received an email telling me there was a problem but it was fixed before we even noticed it.  It’s all part of the affordable service plan and I don’t have to worry about it.”

You don’t have to compromise on style when adding smart home features.  Pat, who loves the latest design trends, had her style wishes granted with leopard print fabric in the two rows of custom theater seating and carpeting, a tropical fish tank screensaver that turns into a 106 inch virtual fish tank, and the animated cheetah which appears on the ‘please wait’ pages of the remote control.  The basement project won the prestigious 2009 Electronic House Magazine Home Theater of the Year in the $25,000-$50,000 category.

When asked about the award, Derek said “Although our specialty is whole house systems, winning this category is ideal beause it’s well within the budget of many households and people can easily relate to a home theater.  We had so much fun working on this project with Pat and John.  They both have great opinions and involved the whole family along the way.”

With all the TVs running, the Millers can run up quite an electric bill.  In addition to showing Pat’s favorite weather maps and airport delays, the touch screens show which TVs are on and how long they’ve been running.  Pat says “It’s so convenient to leave the house and press the button from my keychain.  It activates the security and turns off all the electronics.  No more running around the house!  It even closes the garage door after we leave.”

Cowburn points out that “Reducing energy usage is half equipment and half about adjusting occupant behavior.  You can build an Energy Star, LEED-certified, high-scoring USGBC home but operate it wastefully and still use more energy than poorly built homes.  Automation is the key but it has to be done right or people will get frustrated with it and disable or bypass it.  It’s tough to avoid the gimmicks because they sound so good—at first.”

Derek should know.  He’s been designing advanced automation systems for Pharmaceutical facilities for almost 20 years.  “I applied all my commercial and industrial experience to the residential designs.  The monitoring service is even more advanced than my commercial solutions and had to be done at a fraction of the cost to have a positive ROI for residences.”  The displays and interfaces provide gentle feedback to let the homeowners know there are potential savings opportunities and the automation controller and sensors take care of the mundane energy management activities.

When asked what’s next for DistinctAV, Cowburn says “My primary role is to analyze new products and integrate the ones that really work well into the DistinctAV solution set.  I work directly with several product manufacturers to help them improve their products to give our systems some unique abilities.  I also provide most of the project design consulting with our clients–which is the part I love most because people really respond when they know you care so much about their needs and their home.”

More information on this project including ways to Green your home ‘the Smart Home way’, is available at http://www.distinctav.com.  For additional information on Electronic House Magazine visit http://www.electronichouse.com or Winner Article.

ABOUT DistinctAV – DistinctAV is a custom electronics systems integrator that makes homes and offices convenient, efficient, and secure to operate.  Thoughtfully engineered systems are efficiently designed, programmed, tested, delivered, installed, and supported across the U.S.

- END -

Rachel at BAGI asked DistinctAV and we recommended Pat Carlini’s living room. A brand new 65″ Pioneer flat screen and 4 stealth speakers which are completely invisible surround the screen making a really clean TV installation.

This Ad first aired during the Superbowl in the Indianapolis market.

Too bad you can’t see the front of the remote!

The theater in this home is a finalist in the Electronic House Magazine Home of The Year Contest for Best Theater ($25k-$50k).

What’s an Energy Audit?

We install power measuring devices in key areas of the house that use the most power, then provide you with a report detailing how much energy is spent operating each device and system.

Advanced audits include energy saving calculations, recommendations for the best “bang-per-buck” solutions, and operational modifications that can help save money on your energy bills right away.

Remediation

Remediation is all about creating a plan and providing solutions to improve the efficiency of your home. The plan includes a recommended payback schedule based on sound financial principles such as opportunity costs, etc. Sometimes, it’s all about ROI. We also factor-in your “Green Factor”. This number overrides the pure ROI and just helps your consience.

Human-Factors Engineering

A little joke in our Energy Remediation Kit is that the biggest user of energy in the home is…the Occupants!

Without a Smart Home automation system to help operate your home at peak performance levels, your behaviors are the biggest factor affecting energy use. While it seems simple to say “I’ll just remember to turn off my lights and TVs”, in practice, this is often a little more difficult.

Our Smart Solutions make it fun to save energy. We even have a few games that help your family conserve. If you’re going to be using energy to play games, they might as well cause the least negative impact!

Pre-construction Audits

We can also perform a Pre-Construction Energy Audit. This will provide you with the initial calculations of energy costs associated with various design decisions. Adaptive Smart Home systems can significantly improve the efficiency of your home because they gently affect your behaviors by reminding you when you’re doing something that is extremely wasteful.

Fully automatic energy-saving techniques are easier to quantify and can easily pay for themselves within the first few months or years of operation.

Contact Us today to schedule a consultation or to find out more about this valuable and insightful opportunity. You’ll be surprised to see your energy dollars are going out more than just your windows.

A new JVC projector, surround processor, rack, and DVD player were integrated into the solution.

To keep the room acoustics in check, custom sound panels by Auralex were built and installed in key locations. They improved not only the sound but the look of the room too.

The screen appears to float out from the dark acoustic mat wall and ceiling treatment in the front of the theater. A very dramatic effect!

PROJECT PROFILE
JVD DILA-RS2 Projector
B&K Ref 70 procecssor
B&K Amp (OFE)
Color touchscreen remote
Lighting controls
Panamax power conditioner
Rack system
Turn-Key system (Design, Engineering, Installation, Materials): $22,000