Interior Products Review: Home AutomationUser Friendly: The latest products provide customer satisfaction and bigger profits for builders and remodelers.

Like a stove and a dishwasher, a home automation system comes standard with every house Ken D. Eckhaus & Associates builds.

“There's no reason why everybody shouldn't have one in their house,” says Eckhaus, a semi-retired builder who has built single-family and condominium homes in California and Nevada. “You can't buy a home from me that doesn't have one in it.”

During the 1990s when BUILDING PRODUCTS was first published, high-tech manufacturers began offering an array of sophisticated products they said would transform the average dwelling into a futuristic Jetsons' house. Dinners would cook themselves, robots would dust and shine everything, and grocery lists magically would be sent directly to supermarkets via the Internet. Although that was not realistic, home automation and the products that define it have come a long way.

Nevertheless, Eckhaus is a rare find among home builders, 61 percent of whom are prewiring new homes so residents can later network their home computers, add whole-house stereo, and link their light switches to their security systems and door locks. Eckhaus not only supplies the wiring, but also installs a system that allows a dwelling's components to turn on and off at preprogrammed times.

“We don't want to just keep talking about the home of the future,” says Mark Morgan, vice president of marketing at Control4, which makes home automation products. “The future is really now.”

Indeed, manufacturers are pressing home builders to offer their buyers more than Category 5 wiring behind the drywall. Some builders have responded by adding home automation systems to their selection of upgrades, but Eckhaus says that doesn't get the attention of buyers who might enjoy living in a house that automatically turns on the lights when the front door opens or flashes the lights when the security system senses a prowler.

“By the time people have upgraded the carpeting and tile and everything else, they don't have enough money left for the home automation system,” he says.

Besides, notes Eckhaus, “I've had the system sell the house. Sometimes [the potential buyer] doesn't understand it, but they know they're going to love it because it will simplify their life.”

And consumers can incorporate the cost of builder-installed systems into their mortgages, so they pay just a few dollars a month for home automation over the life of the loan.

The 15-year-old technology, says Rick Gratz, product marketing manager for Elan Home Systems, is “not all that high-tech and futuristic.”

“People tend to think of home automation as the lifestyle of the rich and famous,” he says. “In fact, it's not. It all boils down to providing entertainment and providing convenience.”

Indeed, Gratz says, homeowners who automate their houses most often choose to install stereo speakers and television sets in many rooms throughout the house, and use a control panel to play music or watch videos that are stored in another room. Second choice is a system that links the home's lighting, temperature, security, and pool through a panel that allows the user to program those items to operate in tandem under various scenarios.

For example, a working couple might push a button labeled “workday” to turn off all the lights, turn the air conditioning down, and arm the security system at 8 a.m. Later in the day, the system will “remember” to turn on the porch and foyer lights, cool the house off, and crank up the hot tub just in time for the couple's return. That evening, touching a “good-night” button might turn off all the interior lights and set the security system.