Q: How much does a smart home cost?

How long is a piece of string? Unfortunately there are too many variables. A smart home can encompass so may sub systems. For example you could spend £10,000 on a 5 bedroom property  for a basic AV system or you could spend £100,000 plus on an ‘all singing all dancing’ system with a media room.

Whatever your budget is though, our team are very good at ‘value engineering’ certain elements and can design a system to fit your requirements and your budget that can be added to over time – the most important part, is to get those wires in!

Q: What’s your typical availability?

Our projects are typically booked 8-12 weeks solid in advance.  That being said – where there is a will there is a way.  We can typically get  a proposal back to you in 48 hours and then, have a 7 day turn around on our design services.  We can usually get one of our partners or work with your own electrician on site within 2-4 weeks.

If you’ve stumbled across us at last minute – don’t be put off, we will make it happen one way or another! Contact Us sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment.

Q: I already have an electrician lined up on my project, can you work with them?

For sure! We have a national network of partners but if you have your own electrician and are happy to use them for the project then by all means we can work with them. We will even put them through our training academy free of charge to ensure everything on your project runs as smoothly as possible (usual cost £2000).

Tell your electrician to reach out to us, and let’s get the ball rolling!

Q: What is your best advice to anyone planning a smart home? 

Prewire, prewire, prewire! What we mean by this is have a proper design done by our team and cable installation plan for your DREAM HOME, for all the tech you and your family could ever need and it grows and develops.

It sounds really cliche but… ‘The most expensive cable in a smart home is the one you didn’t install’ – Wire is cheap and at construction phase it’s easy to get them where they need to be. The kids might be young now – but in 5 or 10 years time if this is your forever home you might want the flexibility to add speakers of a TV into their bedroom. By having the cables in place with a detailed CAD drawing it is easy – and no mess, floor boards up, plastering or redecorating!

Q: How early should we get you involved?

The earlier the better. We can work with your architect, interior designer and all associated trades to ensure great planning and design. That being said…! We quite often get brought in at the very last minute just before the walls get boarded up. If this is you and you are reading this – don’t be shy…my team love a challenge. Contact Us

Q: Why should I be choosing to use Art of Smart?

If you want a team that cares, like really really cares plus have the technical knowledge and know how to execute your project professionally and hassle free no mater where you are located in the UK then look no further. To back this up further you just need to take a look at some of our client Testimonials or Social Media and YouTube platforms – plus the awards we have won from Control4. There is no better team for the job.

Q: Can you retrofit your systems into our home?

Absolutely! Although usually a little more work and mess. We work with great electrical contractors that are whizzes at using discrete techniques to install the specialist cabling in to your home. Anything is possible.

Q: Why Control4?

To be honest – in the professional smart home space Control4 offers the best ‘bang for your buck’! What I mean by this is it offers good value for anything we need to achieve. It can be included and integrated with pretty much anything one way or another.

Q: Do you work with other systems?

In terms of ‘other systems’ we work with no other control platforms. This was a very very conscious decision. Rather then being a ‘jack of all, master of none’ – we decided to become a master of one. Our team know Control4 inside out which means we can bring exceptional value to you due to less errors and a guaranteed outcome. What we promise – we know we can deliver.

We do however work with lots of other sub systems, including Lutron lighting, heating systems, security systems etc.

Q: What if something stops working?

From time to time this will happen. Its usually something outside of our control. However not to fear, all systems can be covered by one of our maintenance contracts and if we notice anything wrong or get an alert we can proactively fix this. We include this after care as standard for 12 months with every system.

Q: Should you maintain your smart home?

Would you go a year without servicing your car or your boiler? Your smart home is no different. It can perform up to thousands of tasks per day and to ensure you get the most out of the performance and manufacture upgrades and security performance enhancements we recommend a service once per year for systems under £100k and 6 monthly for systems £100k+.

We have very good after care plans which include your annual service plus any upgrades or changes you would like undertaking remotely.

If you are not an Art of Smart client please refer to our System Rescue page.

Q: Do you have social media I can take a look at?

Yesssss! We spend a lot of time and money developing our social media platforms! Make sure you check out our Instagram,  YouTube or see our Social Media page.

Q: How much does a home cinema cost?

Similar to the smart home question – How long is a piece of string? There are a lot of variables in a home cinema. You could spend £15,000 which would get you a good sound system with a projector and a screen. But you could also spend £30,000-£50,000+ with a room that was fully acoustically treated with proper cinema seating. We can offer a full turn key service regardless. You give us a room – one to four weeks later we give you your own dedicated cinema room.

Q: I already have some smart home products, can you work with these?

Contact Us and find out, however- Texecom alarms, Heatmiser and Google Nest heating, HikVision CCTV, Denon AVRs, Rako lighting, Lutron lighting,  are amongst some of the common smart brands that work seamlessly with Control4.

Q: I already have Ubiquiti unifi WiFi – is this ok with Control4?

No. Unifi is on the Control4 DO NOT USE list due to known issues. However if you’re adamant you want to keep the WiFi and are happy to sign a disclaimer we are still happy to proceed with your systems as long as you are aware and accept the limitations.

Q: What TVs do you recommend?

Sony, Panasonic and LG are our recommended brands – they have the best integration and work seamlessly with Control4. So even if you aren’t ready for our shrives but planning your home, pick one of these brands and when you call us in a couple of years we can still work our magic without replacing them!

Q: My architect/ interior designer is designing my home, can you work with them?

For sure! We can raise with these professionals to get you an expertly designed smart home that has minimal visual impact. If your interior designer doesn’t want to see speakers for example we can use ones that are plastered in and invisible to the eye!

Q: I am an architect/ interior designer and would like to start specifying your company into my projects. How do we start this process?

Contact Us and let’s arrange a meeting or a zoom meeting. We can arrange a CPD for your team should you wish or we can arrange for you to see one of our show homes for you to see first hand the quality we deliver.

Q: I am an electrician and would like to become a partner.

Please see the Training Page section of this website or Contact Us – see our YouTube for lots of videos to make you feel inspired!