How we work · The Client Experience Roadmap
Designed right, priced right.
Six phases from the first conversation to the years after handoff. Budget and scope first, then the design, so there are no surprises.
Before anything is drawn
How the first few weeks go
Everyone who will live or work with it in the room, a written recap, and a scope and budget range in your inbox within a week. Free until the design phase.
A short intro call
Fifteen minutes on who lives there, what is driving the project, the house, and a realistic budget range. We send the HTA budget calculator and a one-page checklist of everything a home like yours can do. If you have an architectural floor plan, it helps; if not, we can scan the house.
Discovery on site
Jack and Courtney walk the home or space with you, sixty to ninety minutes. Jack covers what exists, what is failing and what it takes to do it right. Courtney walks through a day in your life: mornings, bedtime, hosting, coming home after dark, where you never want to see technology. When two people are deciding together, we ask each of you, because the answers are often different.
What we heard, within 24 hours
A short recap in your own words: what matters to each of you, what the house needs to do, and every next date. No prices, no part numbers. If we heard something wrong, reply and it goes into your scope.
The Lutron Experience Center, when it fits
If lighting and shades are a real part of the project, a private visit to the Lutron Experience Center in Scottsdale, about an hour, so you see and feel the light instead of hearing us describe it.
Scope and budget range in seven days
A scope of work by area and a preliminary budget range, emailed to both of you a day or two before we walk through it together: at our office, at your home, or on Teams. You choose.
The Client Experience Roadmap
Six phases, start to finish
Phase 1 · Discovery & budget alignment
Introductory call or site visit; goals, spaces and priorities; a preliminary scope and budget. We move on only when the budget is approved.
Phase 2 · Design & engineering
A design deposit, a percentage of the approved budget, starts the design. Detailed system design and product selection, trade coordination and a site walk, and full project documentation. Exact models, counts and firm pricing come here, never earlier.
Phase 3 · Infrastructure & prewire
Project acceptance and the execution deposit. Low-voltage prewire and infrastructure, device locations finalized, documentation updated. Any change you approve is written up as a change order before the work is done.
Phase 4 · Trim & device installation
Devices and core technology installed, configuration and commissioning begin, and systems are prepared for final integration.
Phase 5 · Final install & training
Installation completed and checked, full commissioning, and hands-on training for everyone who lives there. Final payment, and your warranties begin.
Phase 6 · Service & ongoing support
Your Technology Performance Plan starts at handoff. Design projects above a set budget include one from the start, and every other client can add one. Plans require our minimum design standards, so the system we support is one we know inside out.
Designed right, priced right
Budget and scope first. Then the design. No surprises.
We agree on the budget and the scope with you first, then design to them. Exact models, counts and a firm proposal come out of the design, so the number you approve is the number the house actually needs. Anything priced before a design is a guess, and guesses turn into change orders.
You own the design when it is done. Move forward with us or take it anywhere. And if anything changes once work starts, it is written up as a change order and approved by you before the work is done.
Our guarantee
We don’t leave until you’re confident and comfortable.
Every project ends with hands-on training for everyone who lives there, and we stay until each of you can run the house without us. Then we follow up.
Questions we get
Process FAQ
Why do I pay for design?
Because that is what makes the number real. The design produces the device counts, locations and pricing, and when it is done you own it: move forward with us or take it anywhere. The fee is set by the size of the approved budget, it is part of that budget rather than an add-on, and it does not go up once set.
Can you just send me a proposal?
We do not send blind proposals. Anything priced before a design is a guess, and guesses turn into change orders. What we can do is a scope and budget range within a week, and walk through it with both of you.
Who is not a fit?
If the plan is to buy some of the equipment yourself or do part of the work yourself, we are probably not the right fit. And if the budget will not let us do it right the first time, we will tell you, and suggest waiting until it does. Doing it twice is a headache for everyone.
Why are you sometimes higher than other bids?
Because our number is the whole number. We lose bids to quotes at half the price, and the client finds out at the end, change-ordered up to the same price or more for lower quality. Our crew is our own, licensed and background checked, and the same faces are there from prewire to support.
What happens between the signed proposal and the first day on site?
The part you never see: ordering every product, receiving it, inspecting it for damage and staging it, so install day starts clean. Once we are on site, the crew sends end-of-day notes and photos.
What is the warranty?
Two years on our installation workmanship. Arizona’s Registrar of Contractors holds licensed contractors to their residential work for two years after it is finished, and we put that in writing. The equipment carries the manufacturer’s warranty, many of them five years, ten years or longer when installed by an authorized dealer, and on our VIP plan we handle manufacturer warranty claims for you.
Do you have packages?
No. Everything we do is custom, designed around your home, how you live in it, and your budget.
How long from first call to finished?
A room in an existing home: weeks. A new build: we follow the construction schedule, with our work at prewire, after drywall and at finish.
What happens after handoff?
Your Technology Performance Plan starts the day we hand the system over. Design projects above a set budget include one; any client can add one. Or call us as you need us.
Start with a budget, not a bid.
The HTA budget calculator takes about 10 to 15 minutes and gives you a realistic range for your home before anyone sells you anything. We receive the summary and call you within one business day.