Designing and installing a state-of-the-art integrated system in a custom home is a complex and often misunderstood journey, for the home owner, builder, architect, subcontractors, other trades and even the custom installer. Bridging this gap of understanding is the first step along the path towards the new era of integration.

We are inviting you to join on a long journey as it chronicles a modern home project in a series of articles entitled ‘Behind the scenes: Building a Miami Beach dream home’. The project will include the ultimate in blending of lifestyle-enhancing electronics with the cutting edge in energy efficiency, entertainment and security systems.

This two-year odyssey will profile a 510m² Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified home, its owners, and a building team as they research, evaluate and tie together various residential technologies and bring the client’s vision to a successful reality.

LEED is an internationally-recognised building certification program.

This project is not bound by budget alone but by the value the installed technology will provide the home owner and his family. The decisions to include technology and at what level will be made based on fulfilling the home owner’s vision and meeting the goal of a high-tech LEED-certified home. The house itself is in the design phase, with construction set to begin in January, kicked off by tearing down an existing home on the project site.

The three principals on this project are:

• Firefly Design Group president, CEDIA business college content action team vice chair, certified instructor and a registered outreach instructor, Ron Callis, Jr.

• Lite House Technologies founder, CEDIA industry outreach chair, and vice chair of the Home Technology Alliance, a joint venture between CEDIA and the National Association of Home Builders, Matt Carter

• Advanced Home Theater co-owner Robin Bogle. The project itself is Robin’s home.

Throughout the journey, interviews, photos and videos will be posted with the home owner, architect, LEED consultant, custom installer, system designer and many others. The series of articles will examine every phase of the project, including the home-owner motivation, technology analysis, final product selection, installation and coordination process. The challenges faced by the team and conflicts overcome will be transparently presented for our readers.

Article originally published by CE Pro. Reproduced with permission.