The Smart Home Handoff

On this episode of “SoundVision Tech Talks,” Zach, Marshall, Eric, and Andrew sit down to discuss The Smart Home Handoff.

A smart home should feel simple, not leave you wondering which button to press once the installation team leaves. In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of the final stage of our projects: the smart home handoff. We discuss how we prepare homeowners to confidently use their technology, from Wi-Fi and streaming TVs to lighting, shades, security, door locks, and whole-home audio.

We share how gathering information early, preparing streaming services, creating intuitive lighting scenes, and programming every television to operate consistently helps make the final walkthrough easier and less overwhelming. We also explain why processes matter when designing a system that is not only impressive, but practical to live with every day.

Most importantly, the handoff is not the end of our relationship. We discuss our customer training process, how-to resources, remote troubleshooting, scheduled follow-ups, and 30-day callback booklet, all designed to address the questions and adjustments that come up after homeowners have had time to live with their system.

Be sure to listen to hear how a thoughtful handoff and continued support can make all the difference in creating technology that truly simplifies life.

To learn more about SoundVision:

https://www.svavnc.com/

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Contact Us Today:  (704) 696-2792 Ext. 1 | Info@svavnc.com | soundvisionlkn.com

Transcript

Welcome And The Smart Home Handoff

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to Sound Vision's Tech Talks, where we dive into trending topics and expert advice to help you make informed decisions about your home entertainment, automation, and more. Whether you're planning a new project or just curious about the possibilities, Tech Talks is your go-to source for staying updated on all things technology. So joining me in the podcast studio today, we have our lead designer, Marshall Shaper. Hello, Marshall.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

What's up, Drew?

SPEAKER_01 0:32

And our design engineer, Eric Bassingway.

SPEAKER_04 0:36

What's up?

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Welcome, guys.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Eric the Viking.

SPEAKER_04 0:44

That's ridiculous, and it doesn't make any sense.

SPEAKER_03 0:47

No, it does. What is Eric the Viking from? Uh it was a vampire show. It was True Blood. True Blood. Eric Northman. Yeah, and that's uh, was it Skarsgard or whatever? Yeah. Alexander Skarsgard. That was, I mean, dumb show, but great character. Yeah. Yeah. Don't take offense.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

That's fine. So today we're going to be talking about what we are calling the smart home handoff. What happens at the end of our projects and installations that we do with customers to leave them prepared to use their systems? So why don't we go over kind of how that works, what that entails, we do trainings. Let's get into it. Okay, so a project, at the end of every project, we go through a thorough training with our customers, walking them through their systems.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Yeah, I th I think that there's probably always a little bit of nervousness on the client side.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

When they get to that final point, right? You also have to recognize that our average project is new construction, right? So by the point of them moving into the house and getting things organized, they got movers, they got, you know, the builders there doing punch. There might be painters even touching things up because the movers put a dent in the wall.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

And so then they're looking at us like, oh great, now I gotta sit down with this guy and remember passwords. But the cool thing is at Soundvision, we hedge a lot of that up front, um, you know, with password documents prior and the lighting programming. And so to some degree, the system is already mapped to their kind of guardrails, right? So they they've had some input up until the final install.

SPEAKER_04 2:35

Well, and to piggyback on that, they're not only nervous because, again, they've got to make all these decisions before this, but they're the majority of them are looking at this massive tower thinking there's no way I'm gonna be able to control this system. Like it's a closet full of gear, and to be honest, generally uh it's the wife who's like, I just want to watch TV. Yeah. And so they're like, There's no way I'm gonna be able to learn how to do this, it's too complicated. And yeah, that's why we do what we do to make sure you you know know what you're doing.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

Absolutely. That's how all this kind of came into play. I mean, back before the wheel was invented when I started working with this company, you know, I was a lead tech once upon a time.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Yeah, back in your day, we had to walk seven miles in the snow.

SPEAKER_03 3:23

Yeah. Um, there was the wrong way of doing it, right? Me and Zach say that all the time. Like, the reason we got to be as good as we are is by doing it wrong first, right? That's how every good athlete, everybody learns how to be the best, right? And so doing it the wrong way and just, you know, like brain melting people at the end of the install with like,

Training Without Overwhelm

SPEAKER_03 3:45

all right, we've been here for three weeks, here's what we did, and this is why, and this is how it works, and you got to use this remote for that, and this one for the other thing, and that's the wrong way to do it.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Yeah, it's intimidating.

SPEAKER_03 3:52

No, yeah. Hedge it off at the beginning, get all the information you need so that you can sit down with the client at the install and they're already signed into their streaming apps.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Yeah, that's a good point.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

They already have the lighting scenes organized and know where to control them and how to change them. But there is always, you know, sometimes, especially in new construction, that conversation and stuff happens, you know, months ago from when they're moving in. So they might not even remember it half the time. And and so it's it's important to sit down at the end of it with, you know, hopefully the whole family and go through generically how you do this, how you do that, and then dive into making sure that they know the alarm codes, the door codes, how to disarm, what happens in the event of an alarm. Like there is still a lot to go through.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:40

And it's not always like a it's not a a one-hour thing sometimes. We in in some cases do a multiple-day install, right? We're gonna be there for you know three, four, five days of the week getting your system polished, right? For you guys to move in, and then we will complete you know the network on this day, right? So usually folks top of their priority list, give me some Wi-Fi, the kids will shut up, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

The house can function.

SPEAKER_03 5:08

Or I got a Zoom call in an hour, like help me out. Um, so we we try and sort of take the um handoff, if you will, in bite-sized chunks. So again, even with having like all this organized up front, we we still don't want to have it be a two or three-hour conversation showing you how to use this stuff. So you know, once any one part of it is done at the end of the day, like today we finished uh the network and we got your lighting control system, you know, whatever the case is, done. And everybody's favorite is always like the media room or theater. That's when everybody wants to all right, get the kids, get them in here. Yep, yeah. How do we get to the PlayStation?

SPEAKER_04 5:48

And along those lines, um, one of the things we do in design is the fact that I mean, what's the thing you have in your house the most besides Wi-Fi is televisions. And so let's say you have six TVs in the house, all six TVs are installed basically and programmed the exact same way. Yeah, we try to be anyway. Yeah, I mean, if you have a theater, that's a different scenario because it's a whole system. But if it's like the bedrooms in your main TV watching areas, they are all the same, they're controlled the same, they're laid out the same, so it's not like the bedroom has different buttons than the family room or whatever the case may be. So it's like if you navigate around the house, you know how to work every TV because they have been designed on purpose to be the same.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

Even a big one for me, and it used to really get under my skin when the apps on an Apple TV or a Roku are located in different places, like it used to make my brain melt.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

You want it

Making Every TV Feel Familiar

SPEAKER_01 6:40

to look nice.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:41

Well, and the fact that, yeah, you want it to be the same. So if anybody, even if you have family that comes over to the house, it's like it's not different in this room than it is in this room. So it's like you don't need to learn to use it again because you switched rooms.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yeah, and a lot of the times there's systems we have a singular remote that you can just bring into each of the rooms and use it the same way as you were in the other room.

SPEAKER_04 7:01

And let's be honest, I mean, there's 47 streaming, you know, apps and stuff like that. So there are some people who are like, I just use Netflix, and they just need to know where Netflix is. So it's like, okay, yeah, Netflix is your top left. That's the first one. So as long as it's the first one on every single TV, then it's like you know exactly where to go. You don't care what else is on that screen.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Right.

SPEAKER_03 7:25

We used to print out these big binders and leave them behind that had like wire maps of the house and labels of you know the what's plugged into where on the switch and user manuals. And I mean, most stuff now doesn't even come with user manuals anymore. It's all digital. Yep. But we found those things sitting exactly where we left them years later and going back to service, this and that. And so now we still obviously have all of that documentation. We still have all the wire maps, and a lot of people see this stuff up front. Eric is a big part of designing all this stuff. But we we don't really leave it behind anymore. It's always accessible if you need something, or hey, I'm having an electrician come and trench this wire or try and move this outlet. Like, can you send me whatever I need to know for this area of the house? And we can obviously help with that, but we don't really leave the binder behind anymore. We want it to be very a very personable experience, right? You want uh to have a direct line of contact to us, to the service department if you need something, help with something. But I think overall people are pretty surprised at how simple it is to navigate and use these sometimes very complex automation systems.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

You know, we're boiling it down right now in this conversation. Like, how do I watch TV? But it's TV and audio and thermostats and door locks and security and surveillance and it's all these different shades and yeah, just everything under this umbrella, and it can feel overwhelming on the surface, but then I would say 98% of the time there's always an outlier, right? Yeah, 98% of the time people are like, Oh, that's it. Yeah, how do I change this? You know, I want the shades to go down at this time of day. How do I change that? And it's it's only getting easier every day, too, as these systems evolve.

SPEAKER_04 9:09

But well, and that's the other thing with training or the handoff, is we want to hand you a system you're confident in, not just the fact that you know how to use it, that one of the things we always talk about at Sound Vision is that we are a service company. And so the point is like, yes, we did those binders for a while, and then kind of like what Marshall said, it's not that it was the wrong way, but ways evolve. Yeah, and we realize that after a little while, it's like nobody looks at that stuff, and you know, they don't want to go look at that stuff. That's like they don't want to flip through a binder, like they're not there to fix the system. So we design, build, and program the systems so that they can be easily serviced. Again, what's our metric? Like 73% of all calls to us are fixed over the phone. And again, that's all by design. So we're not within one hour, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

Yes, within one hour. It's an important ego.

SPEAKER_04 10:03

So that's part of the handoff. It's not just here, I'm gonna teach you in an hour, I'm gonna flood you with information, I'm gonna walk out the door and you're never gonna hear from us again. I'm gonna flood you with information because I have to, you know, and we're gonna

Documentation Support And Service

SPEAKER_04 10:15

leave. But if you called me tomorrow and said, dude, I didn't get that, I'm sorry. I'll be like, okay, here you go. And here it is. And they they know we're a phone call away and they know we're gonna answer and they know it'll get fixed. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

They're seeing a lot more now where you know, we'll give basic instruction on how to do this or that with your system. And then, oh, by the way, here's how you access the how-to guide. Like control four is really good at it now of having a how, like a what do they call it on there? Like a how-to or a you, it's like a user guide for the entire system. And with all the AI advantages now, you can basically speak to it and ask it a question and it's gonna show you how and where to find it. It's it's pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yeah, now we actually have our own in-house app that you can we have common issues, we actually have our own AI bottom there that can walk you through it. And again, if you can't figure it out, you can always call our service line. And that's also why we have service memberships in place. Because if you know that, you know, I'm not someone who's good with this, I don't not that they don't want to learn, but they want someone to take care of it. We have those memberships in order for that.

SPEAKER_04 11:23

Yeah, there are straight up some people who do not want to learn and are very adamant about I am not touching this, I am not doing anything. That's what I pay you for.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

Yeah, fair enough. That's why we're in business. And that's the way we design the systems. Whether you're like the extreme DIY or like hands-on, want to do everything, yep, or you're the I don't know, call my assistant and they'll schedule you to fix it type person. We design the system the same regardless. Even if you don't opt for a service membership, your system is going to be capable of everything it needs to take advantage of one. Yeah. And that's by design, that's on purpose.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:58

No matter what, you're going to need service. It just is the nature of the beast nowadays. And so, yeah, whether you pay for a membership or not, we're still going to service you.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

Yeah, yeah. And back to the sort of handoff scenario, that's always in my experience, the last part of the handoff is like, look, I know that was a lot, but if you have a question, this is how you get it answered. Like, buy one of us. You're not getting a call center, you're not calling the manufacturer of your automation system, you're calling us, like the dudes who were here petting your dog, right? That's very different experience. It really is. Like, could you imagine like the Verizon guy who just sold you a new iPhone, be like, Yeah, you need help? Call Apple. Let me know how that works out. Yeah. It doesn't.

unknown 12:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:43

There's probably not even a phone number for Apple. I don't know. I don't think there is. No. Well, I mean, I'm sure there is somewhere. They do make phones. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

They would have to 1-800 Apple.

SPEAKER_04 12:54

But no, everything, and that we're joking about it, but that does play into also what we're talking about with the handoff. Is that a lot of places now, if you go online and get to service, it's like you have to email them and wait for them to get in contact with you.

SPEAKER_03 13:08

Here's our AI chatbot that nobody asked for. Like, we'll give you that option too. But that is not by any means like the best way.

SPEAKER_04 13:16

You call us, okay? It is a uh like a programmed number. You will get, you know.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

You're gonna get a phone tree from from when you might when you call us. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:26

So you're you're not gonna get a person when you call, so but you will get an automated number that will say, here, dial this number, and then within an hour, and generally it's never towards the latter side of an hour. It's like you're gonna get called back. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yeah, and another thing that we've done recently implemented

The 30-Day Callback Book

SPEAKER_01 13:45

that is helping with this confusion of the handoffs are these 30-day callback booklets that you know, these clients they can now live with their systems and they have this booklet so that oh, I'm using the TV, I noticed this is wrong, or I want to switch that. Note that in there, put it all together so that when we come back for that 30-day checkup, we can address all that.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

Yeah, that was an idea that came from one of our previous project managers, Phil Harrington. I'll shout him out. Shout out Phil. Love that fool. Uh, but that idea came from him. I mean, he brought it to our attention that, like, hey guys, you know, we do these big systems, and inevitably speaking, like within 30 days, they're asking for some change in programming or something feels a little bit weird on the lighting side, or just I mean, it could have been anything, right? They forgot how to use something because we turned their handed off their system, they went out of town for three weeks, right? Which happens.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

We're human. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

Uh but he was like, Yeah, let's, you know, what if we cut that off and making them reach out to us, and when we hand it off, we put that date on the schedule and give it to them. We write it at the top of their book. We're coming back on this day. Here's a book that outlines all of the most common questions, changes, because these systems are catered to the end user. I mean, that's sort of the beauty of it, right? You get to make it your own. And all these little changes, or you know, I forgot to add a door code for the cleaners, and I want it to be active between this day and this day, and this time to that time, and all that can happen, but we don't expect you to know how to do that on the first day.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yeah, and again, it's that I know myself, I'll just be doing something, and it just comes to my mind if I don't write it down, I'm gonna forget about it. Yeah, and then it's like that cycle of then you're gonna use it again, and oh and these booklets are broken down by each of our services, like your network, your shading, your lighting. And we've again, like Marshall said, taken the time to put like the top five most frequently asked questions about them. But we do also have additional pages if there's anything you would just want to write down.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

Yeah, yeah. And why would it be 30 days, Andrew? Why would that call back be in within 30 days?

SPEAKER_01 15:56

What a good question, Marshall.

SPEAKER_03 16:00

No, we make it 30 days because obviously if you have a question, comment, concern, whatever, write it in the book. But what if it's like the access point in my master bedroom is not working right now, and I don't want to wait for your 30-day appointment to figure it out? Like, definitely call us to fix something like that. But the reason that this 30-day window exists is because we give you our elite membership, our service membership, which is you know, guaranteed call back within one hour, and hopefully we fix it right away. If we don't, we'll be there same or next day, depending on when that call came in. But we give you that for 30 days because if there's a gremlin in the system, it's gonna show its face usually with 24 hours, right? And we would catch that. But if within 30 days for sure, right? Even if you were out of town for two weeks, you're gonna come back and use it. So we put it out 30 days and make sure that you have the ability to get stellar service as fast as possible with the same time period.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

And it gives our clients a taste of what a service membership would look like.

SPEAKER_03 17:02

So that's after 30 days, oh, I'm deleting your number. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Oh, stop it. No, after 30 days, then they can reevaluate if they like this, if they want to create a custom plan, or if they're good with their system. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:16

And let's say the the 30 days also uh as Andrew alluded to earlier, is like somebody tells you something, and yeah, like if you have that style of brain, you're not gonna remember it. Like two minutes later, you're gonna forget it. And that's the way I am as well. Because we also understand that we live in a society now that you are just bombarded on all sides with your phone and your tablets and your children and your work and your this and your that. And by the time we're done the job at the end of the day and teaching you how to use it, you've probably just gotten home from work. Your kids just got home from school, and so everyone's trying to talk about how their day was and forgetting that the A V guy is standing there wanting to go home to their family. But so it's like we understand that it's it's not that easy to pay attention, and we're just flung you with information that again, some of them just do not care about, they just want to know how to turn on the TV. Yeah, yeah. And so it's like that's what the 30-day book is. We know you're not gonna get it all.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

But we want the client to definitely be part of that. I mean, the handoff is for them. Yes, selfishly, like it's a good way. Now, when we get to this point, we should have tested things multiple times, but it's a good final kind of walkthrough of the system and make sure everything that we were responsible for doing has been done.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Right.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

It gives them a unique opportunity to ask any questions, or you know, maybe there's even some quick changes on the fly that they want to address right away, and we can do that too.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

And I think um how you said we you specifically, Marshall, are designing these systems with these customers along the way. So I guess that I can see why then it's not so hard to take in because you are working with this stuff throughout this whole process of

Designing Through The Experience Center

SPEAKER_01 18:55

what you're gonna expect.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

So yeah, they I mean, from the very beginning, when we first meet a client, they come in and and walk through our experience center, and that's why we call it that. I mean, you've probably heard this on other podcasts, like that is what it is. This is a full experience. This is not the Best Buy Showroom with the speakers and TVs vomited everywhere. Like, this is a whole thing. This is four homes worth of technology in here in all different aspects good, better, best, whatever you want. Yeah, and they get to experience what it's like to own the system in kind of their own way, right? Everybody can walk through this, this studio, if you will, in in any aspect that they want and any discipline, I guess, that they want. Like, if you're not interested in lighting control, then we can skip that entirely. Like, if you have no interest in controlling your lights, whether you're home or away, we don't even have to go there. I don't, you know, we can use the audio and video and shading and whatever else you want to whatever degree. And so they get to kind of tailor this system along the way.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yeah. I mean, example, I was just at a customer's home today uh discussing their new projector, and what they had said, what sold them was that they want a better quality and they were used to a TV. So we showed her originally the TV setup, and then we turned on the projector with the screen, and she was like, This is what I want. Yeah. And that's just what this place is it's a possibility generator. Show you the options.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

So, what are some common concerns or questions you do hear from clients at these last training days before you send them off? Is there something that typically people are like, hey, we need to address this? Or is it more situational?

SPEAKER_03 20:39

I th I would go, I mean, again, it's been a while since I've personally done these handoff trainings because it's handled by obviously the lead tech who has the most knowledge of the system when they're done. I'm my most common one was like, All right, I got it, but what if I don't? Like, how do I how do I um you know reach out to somebody and when I have a question? Exactly. Are you coming in? Come, hey, jump in, dude.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

We've got Zach in the building.

SPEAKER_04 21:09

Surprise guest, step on in. I agree with what Marshall said in the fact that, yeah, they just want to make sure that this isn't their one and only training, that they're not just gonna be thrown to the wolves after we've told it to them one time and we're out the door and be like, I was almost changing my number about yeah, deleting the number.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Yeah, yes, we gotta make that clear. That was a joke, Marshall jokes.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

What are uh the I'm just excited that you guys are in here without me. It actually makes me feel really good that I'm not in here. Why? This is cool, that I don't need to be in here.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

Nobody uh why what are you even doing here? Get out. I need to leave. I need to leave. Zach Simpson, everybody, the originator. The OG. The OG.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

I have a new

Surprise Guest And Nanny-Proof Controls

SPEAKER_00 21:55

name here now. It's called the Diplomat. I was informed of that.

SPEAKER_03 21:58

I saw that written somewhere and I don't. I'm not even sure I know what a diplomat is, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Whatever it is, it was better than the last name.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Is that the one I gave you? No, the one I gave him. Oh, what was the last name? Let's move on. What are we talking about?

SPEAKER_01 22:12

So we've been talking about um what we're calling the smart home handoff, the end of project trainings that we go over with customers, leaving them with callback booklets, all that good stuff, how to get in contact with us.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Yeah, that's a tricky one.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

I mean, I don't know what you guys have already talked about, but kind of all of it, but I mean, high level, what's give me like a two-minute what you expect from a client handoff. Like if you're the client, what do you think? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Well, I expect a system that's easy to work and needs minimal amount of training. Although all this stuff, specifically if someone's never had one of these systems, does require some instruction. Yeah. Um, I'm a fan, I you know, I used to do these myself, and I realized after years of doing it that you know, we're there at the end of a project, the lead text programmers are are still on site, and you know, there are occasionally a little gremlin or two running around in the system. And finding those, I'm probably restating something you've already talked about before I came in, but finding those and being able to address them right there, I think is key. Yeah. Um, we do uh QC these, but there's a lot of button presses and there's a lot of commands. Uh systems can be as you know uh intricate as they need to be on the back end. We just want the front end for the client to be really clean and easy to use. But you know, I always say nanny proof, right? The ability to kind of read English and you should be able to control one of these systems. There's so much logic built into them now. I mean, you you open up uh control for app, for example, and then you select a room and then you get these icons pop up, and one of them says listen. Well, if I want to listen to music, I'm probably gonna press that.

SPEAKER_03 23:52

Yeah, anybody 18 and under, no instruction. Oh, oh, oh.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

I can tell you right now, no matter who's training the client, the first question you ask is, Do you have any kids in the house, you know, over nine? Uh, because they probably already know how to use it. I don't know, man.

SPEAKER_03 24:07

A six-year-old's pretty good with an iPad.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

Well, I don't have one under nine, so you might be right. Uh, I did a a training that reminds me a few years, years ago now. It's probably been five or six, and I am training the client how to use this app. I can't even remember which systems system or systems were in it. And apps when you started, they turned around and looked at their child, and the kid was probably 12 uh on the couch. And you would think that kid was, you know, they had a phone in front of his or her face, and you would think they were texting a friend or whatever, and they were like, Hey, do you know how to do this? And the kid literally turned his phone around and was like, I'm already using my mom. Yeah, I've I've run into that as well. Um, so you know, I'm 51, and if for me, I'm the guy that if I wasn't in this business, somebody, and even some of the things we're doing now, people have to train me how to use. But I mean, they're just they're just easy. I mean, they don't really require we do train.

SPEAKER_03 25:03

And they're only getting better.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

We do train. I I think what we're really talking about here as you mentioned a moment ago, is the idea of this uh callback booklet, right? At my house we call it uh closing the loop, right? You know, if you dirty a dish instead of leaving it on the counter, just expecting somebody else to clean it up, close the loop and finish it yourself. Here, the the callback book closes the loop. You know, we let we leave, we show them how to use it, we leave, and we let them live with it for a while because they're going to want some changes. Maybe the equalization levels that we set the speakers for in the kitchen were great to us, but over time and them listening to some of their favorite genres, they realize they want more trouble or less bass or whatever, specifically with lighting control. You know, we set these scenes up and they have input in those. They've kind of signed off and agreed, but you know, uh in the relaxed scene, the kitchen recess lights are supposed to go to 35. But in reality, they begin to live there and they recognize, oh, maybe I want it 30 or 40, right? Right. Um, and just being able to come back and and um tie all those, you know, close all those loops, I think is is that's what people really want. I think they want to know that they don't have to have every answer and have it perfect the day we walk out of the install. They know that there's a process, not a when are they gonna call back? Do I have to call them? Are they gonna come back? You know, no, there's a process that we here's the book, here's what we want you to do and live with the system for a little while, and then we are gonna come back and we're gonna adjust all these little minor things. The interesting part is a lot of times there's not a lot. Yeah. And our callback books are you know, information is pretty short. Yeah. Um, and I think that's great, good as well.

SPEAKER_04 26:50

So long explanation, but one of the things about that, and and it it proves a good point uh that you weren't in here to begin with, so you have no idea what we spoke about, but a lot of the stuff you talked about was stuff that we brought up. So it just shows you that we are the three design team members, yeah. And that right there shows you that we're all on the same page. Yeah, and so that's why our designs go so well, and that's why we have very little go back or very little struggles at the end of a job because it's it was designed that way on purpose, and we're all in agreement with each other to not even be in the room and have the same answers.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

Well, the system the systems themselves are in no way wash, rinse, repeat, right? Right? Every single one is a tiny bit different in some way or another, but the process and the implementation and the handoff and all of that is very much wash, rinse,

Lighting Temperature Debates And Wrap

SPEAKER_03 27:40

repeat. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

Yeah, yep. Processes are repeatable, clients aren't.

SPEAKER_04 27:45

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Exactly. And they shouldn't be. I wouldn't. No. No. I want something different from my home than what you have in yours, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:53

I mean me and my wife want something different if you're 100%.

SPEAKER_04 27:57

Yes, I don't want to sell packages like Best Buy. That's why I don't work at Best Buy.

SPEAKER_03 28:01

I tell people my light temperature story every time we talk about light fixtures. Because my wife, psychopath, wants 5,000 Kelvin. This is being recorded. Oh, yeah, she might listen to this. No, it's okay. Is she one of our seven listeners? No, we only have four now. Okay. She wants 5,000 Kelvin, which anybody who knows color temperature is like daylight, like hospital light. Not like fluorescent because they're still quality fixtures, but the color is super bright daylight.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:30

And you cannot, your brain will not let you watch TV with the accent lighting on at 10% if that is the color you're getting. I'm like, yeah, you can dim 5,000 Kelvin, but it's still daylight colored, and your brain is freaking itself out trying to relax.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

Well, we'll do it. We'll get really weird and confuse the listeners because five to six thousand Kelvin at about ten percent intensity is moonlight. So it's really nice in a bathroom. Yeah, yeah. Right? Then six thousand Kelvin at a really low intensity level is it feels like moonlight. It's kind of nice.

SPEAKER_03 29:10

All this argument back and forth for years, now we have tunable fixtures in the house where I can make any color anytime. And so the newest sort of thing in uh controllable lighting and high-end fixtures is natural show. And that means that the color of the light inside matches the color of the light outside based on your location every day of the year. So now that she's able to experience it, she was like, All right, she sees how great I guess. One time in my life I got a victory from that woman.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

I was waiting to say, yeah, we had to uh settle on Marshall scene and her seat.

SPEAKER_03 29:44

Sometimes, yeah. I still there's still a few of those lying in the programming, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:49

Well, how do you fix mine? Because my wife wants all lights on at all time at night, and I want none of the lights on at any time.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

I feel like moving out is your only option, but what are those what are those things that you put on your face to sleep on an airplane to cover your like a blinder sleeping mask? Eric, we're buying you one of those.

SPEAKER_03 30:06

That's the only way to win.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

Yeah, you'll go in your room and just shut off the lights.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

He lives in a cave anyway. I do.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

They don't call him the Grumpel Troll for no reason.

SPEAKER_04 30:19

I don't like light.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

All right. Well, I think we should go ahead and wrap up here. Yeah, thank you guys for all of your input. And before we go, I want to give a special shout out to Piper for getting Marshall in the podcast studio. She does.

SPEAKER_03 30:35

She loves hearing me on the radio.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Oh, we love having you.

SPEAKER_03 30:37

Because I am one of the four active users on our podcast. I wasn't all.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Well, we pulled back in. I had to pick my son up and bring him in here. And I said, I've got to get back to work. We've got to do a podcast. And he's like, What are you podcasting about? I was like, I have no idea.

SPEAKER_03 30:53

I don't know. Let me go find out. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Pretty good for coming in and just winging it like that. Yeah, there you go. All right. Well, and again, if you want to learn any more information about this, give us a call, visit our website, and we'll be happy to help. All right.

SPEAKER_00 31:07

Take it easy.