A common challenge technology integration firms often face is being introduced to a project only after a budget is finalized and the foundation is laid. I encourage collaboration earlier. When should technology integration firms be brought in? Before a hole is dug and ideally before a permit is pulled.
When technology integration firms are not consulted at the start of a project it can cause added costs for homeowners and more work for architects. Reframing walls is one example of a time-consuming change that allows the technology to be seamlessly integrated into the architect’s design.
“Every luxury home now includes critically important connected technology. To maximize the performance of these needed products it is critical that the architects, designers and builders view the integrator the same as the MEPs and communicate with them early and often in the project cycle,” says David Thomas, partner with PureTech Alliance, a national sales organization that provides custom integrators with health and wellness technology.
We appreciate the more sophisticated design team that understands that technology is part of the modern home and it has to be considered from day one.
CEDIA is a global association that represents professionals in the smart home technology industry. In CEDIA’s 2023 Professional Smart Home Market Analysis, the organization estimated that 20,000 integration companies are sustaining a $29 billion industry in the U.S. This industry has grown by more than $8 billion since CEDIA’s 2022 Market Analysis. Additionally, more than 80 percent of integrators claimed they have a significant influence over customer purchasing decisions.
Technology integration firms are contributing to market growth by prioritizing communication with architects and teaching architects about the systems they install. Electricians and plumbers are typically not comfortable or familiar with the products offered by technology integration firms creating unnecessary time and communication issues.
The customers, the clients, the wealthy luxury home builders just don’t know where to go get this. HVAC and plumbing are all offering some of this at a low level, but the more advanced connected systems are not being offered or sold to the luxury residential homeowner.
Recently, my firm installed a home water filtration device supplied by PureTech Alliance that removes multiple impurities from water such as bacteria, viruses, pesticides, volatile organic compounds and more using complete reverse osmosis technology. The client loves knowing his family is drinking clean water and noticed a difference in his water when he put a completely clear spherical ice cube in his glass of whiskey.
In 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services conducted a study that determined on average, one liter of bottled water included about 240,000 tiny pieces of plastic.
We reach out to architectural firms who are willing to meet with us and do lunch and learns at our showroom to explain all of our solutions, including clean air and water technology. This is a builder-run market or it’s an architect-run market. When it’s a builder-run market the coordination between us and architects is typically very low because the builders desire to control everything.
Although my firm is focused on educating architects in Colorado, PureTech Alliance is focused on educating architects on a national level. Our biggest job these days is trying to get ahead and trying to make the specification community actually understand what is available, when it needs to be specified and give us a seat at the table sooner, instead of later.