Here at Hive, a premiere home automation company in Tampa Bay, we charge based on the labor time and cost of the materials. As with any construction project, sometimes unexpected smart home's price problems that require more man hours and materials pop up during installation.
To combat unexpected costs and delays, we have a “no surprises” promise. While we can’t anticipate everything, we’ll make you aware of any events that could create additional costs or add extra time to your project beforehand.
Installing a smart home often requires construction to your home. Here are the two most common construction situations that could add to your project costs:
Say you’d like to place the projector in your home theater in a specific spot, but there isn’t an easily accessed electrical outlet. In this instance, you would need an outside electrician who’s licensed to work with high voltage to install additional outlets. Hive can refer you to a licensed and insured electrician to have this work done.
Installing wiring may require cutting into the drywall. Along with that comes replacing, retexturing, and repainting the space that was worked on. Hive doesn’t offer this as a part of our installation, leading to an extra cost. However, we’re happy to refer you to a licensed and insured repair company to do these repairs.
Sometimes areas that we need to run wiring through are inaccessible or impenetrable. Crawl spaces, attics, and closets, as well as rooms with concrete or plaster walls, are common examples. We can spot these areas as early as our initial walkthrough, but sometimes they can appear later in the installation process.
Wi-Fi enhancement and equipment integration can quickly lead to extra costs. While buying everything for the lowest price from several sellers might seem like the best choice, it often leads to more problems than it solves. Here are some things to be aware of.
Being able to use your smart home devices throughout your home requires strong wifi everywhere. You don’t want to find out that you can’t turn on the automated lights around your pool while you’re standing next to it. If we find that your wifi signal is weak in your home office, we’d need you to install a device to strengthen your wi-fi. Two devices we suggest are wireless access points (WAPs) or mesh wifi.
Making sure the equipment you supply integrates seamlessly into your smart home hub could add to your project costs. For example, if you want one of your older devices to connect to the system, we may need to use different wires than the ones we have on hand to make the older equipment fit.
Zigbee is a proprietary, two-way radio frequency protocol that connects devices, similar to wifi. And also like wifi, if the signal Zigbee creates is too weak, we may need to add additional antennae – an added cost.
Knowing the possible ways your project could be delayed is a huge step in preparing for your smart home. During your Swarm Meeting, we’ll work together to identify potential problems ahead of time so we can keep your project as close to the initial price as possible.
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