Smart Home & Residential AV
High-end smart home integration for NY/NJ residences — Lutron lighting, multi-room audio and video, motorized shades, distributed control. Commercial-grade design and reliability for residential properties.
Written quote in 48 hours on every project — and managed clients get our published SLA: 14-min average response, 30-day out clause.
What's included
- Lutron lighting control — RadioRA 3, HomeWorks QSX, Caséta Pro
- Multi-room distributed audio — Sonos, HEOS, architectural in-ceiling, and fully invisible in-wall (Sonance Invisible Series, plastered and painted over)
- Distributed video and matrix switching across rooms and zones
- Motorized shades — Lutron Sivoia, Hunter Douglas PowerView
- Integrated control systems (Control4, Crestron, ELAN where appropriate)
- High-end home theater — projector or large-format display, surround / Atmos
- Outdoor audio and lighting integration with landscape design
- Residential-grade structured cabling, Wi-Fi mesh, and surveillance
- Owner-friendly handoff with documentation, training, and remote support
Built for the homes that demand commercial-grade reliability
When the dinner party starts, the lighting, the music, the shades, and the temperature all have to behave at once — every time. Most “smart home” installs were assembled out of consumer kit and held together by goodwill. They work great until they don’t, and when they don’t, no one is sure who to call.
We treat residential AV the same way we treat a commercial network buildout: a documented design, structured cabling, professional-grade hardware, and a service relationship after the install. The difference is the aesthetic — hidden equipment, no visible wires, racks that disappear into a closet rather than dominate the room, and speakers buried in the wall so there is nothing to see at all. Tech without showing it.
Common projects
Lutron lighting control — Caséta Pro for smaller projects (typically up to a dozen keypads), RadioRA 3 for whole-home retrofits and mid-size new builds, and HomeWorks QSX for the most demanding integrations with architect-coordinated keypad engraving and design. We design the scenes, program the keypads, and tune the system on commissioning day.
Multi-room audio and video — Distributed audio across living spaces, kitchen, primary suite, outdoor zones, gym, theater. Sonos and HEOS for streaming-only homes; architectural in-ceiling Sonance, Origin Acoustics, or B&W where the audio quality matters more than the platform name. For homes where the design can’t tolerate a visible grille, we install Sonance Invisible Series speakers — they mount inside the wall or ceiling, get skim-coated with plaster, and paint over to disappear completely. Audio in every room, and not a speaker in sight. Distributed video over HDBaseT or AVoIP for matrix-switched setups across multiple displays.
Motorized shades — Lutron Sivoia QS Triathlon, Hunter Douglas PowerView, or Mecho where the load demands it. Coordinated with the lighting scenes so morning, evening, and “movie mode” all behave correctly without anyone touching a panel.
Integrated control — Control4, Crestron, or ELAN where the project warrants it. Often the better answer is a Lutron app and Sonos app and they each do their job, with a single keypad or two for the most-used scenes. We will recommend the simplest answer that meets the brief.
Home theater — Projection or large-format display, immersive Atmos surround, dedicated rack room, isolated power, treated acoustics where space allows.
Outdoor integration — Audio across patio, pool, and landscape zones. Path lighting, accent lighting, and façade lighting integrated with the indoor scenes. Coordinated with landscape designers and pool contractors during construction.
Residential network and security — Wi-Fi mesh tuned for whole-home coverage, hidden access points, VLANs to keep the kid devices off the home-office network, surveillance cameras, smart locks, and remote monitoring.
How a project typically goes
Discovery (1 week). We walk the home with you, listen to how you actually live in it, and map the spaces against what you want the system to do. We meet with your architect, designer, or builder if there is one. You receive a written scope and a preliminary budget range — no commitment.
Design (2–4 weeks). Lighting plan, audio coverage plan, network plan, rack plan, control plan. Keypad engraving choices. As-built rough-in coordination if it is a renovation or new construction.
Rough-in. Cabling and back-boxes go in before the walls close up — coordinated with the GC and electrician.
Trim and program. Devices installed, system commissioned, scenes tuned to the homeowner’s preference.
Handoff and training. A short walkthrough with the household — typically 60-90 minutes for the homeowner and house manager — and a one-page reference card. Documented as-built drawings filed with the project.
Service. Ongoing remote monitoring of the network and system health, quarterly site visits if you want them, fast on-site response when something needs attention.
From the field
Why us, not a typical custom-installer
We are an MSP first. Most residential CI shops can install hardware but cannot really design, secure, or maintain a network. We do both, which means your home automation network is engineered the same way an enterprise branch office is engineered — VLANs, QoS, monitoring, documentation. When the lights misbehave, we do not blame the network and walk away.
From our installs
Smart Home & Residential AV — questions we get
Why hire an MSP for a residential smart home? Don't you usually only do businesses?
Most homes that want true integrated control have the same complexity as a small office — a network closet, a dozen access points, lighting, audio, video, security, all expected to work together for years. We bring the same documentation discipline, structured cabling standards, and post-install support that we deliver for our commercial clients. The difference is residential aesthetics: hidden equipment, no visible wires, no rack hum in the living room.
Are you Lutron certified?
We are not a Lutron-certified dealer in-house — we design and install Lutron systems daily, from Caséta Pro for smaller projects to HomeWorks QSX for the most demanding integrations, and we partner with Lutron-certified installers when a project calls for factory certification. We coordinate the lighting design with your architect or interior designer and provide as-built drawings on completion.
Will the system still work if my Wi-Fi goes down?
Lutron lighting and motorized shades operate on their own RF or wired backbone — they do not depend on your home network. Audio and video distribution does run over the network, which is why we design residential networks the same way we design commercial ones: with proper cabling, redundant access points, VLANs, and a UPS in the rack.
Do you do new construction or only retrofits?
Both. New construction is preferred — we coordinate the rough-in cabling with the framing schedule and pull every wire we will need at the open-stud phase. Retrofits are common in NYC apartments and brownstones and we have a playbook for getting cabling and control where it needs to go without tearing up finished walls.
Do you handle ongoing service?
Yes — residential support contracts are available for clients who want the same monitoring, monthly check-ins, and remote support we provide for our commercial clients. Most homes need a quarterly tune-up; some prefer monthly.
Other services we deliver
Lutron Lighting & Motorized Shade Design
Lutron lighting and motorized shade design — we design and award, a certified partner handles factory certification.
Read more about Lutron Lighting & Motorized Shade DesignCommercial AV & Audio
Conference rooms, restaurant and retail audio, signage, and whole-building sound.
Read more about Commercial AV & AudioConference Room Design & Build
Zoom Rooms, Teams Rooms, Google Meet — designed, installed, integrated.
Read more about Conference Room Design & Build
Ready for IT that does not surprise you?
A 30-minute call. No slide deck. We will tell you what looks healthy, what looks risky, and what we would do first.