When we were visited by the chief designer at InterActive Home, he took the time to interview us about how we interact with technology - asking how we live, what our habits are, what we like and what we don't. He gave us some innovative ideas on how we could enhance some of the technologies we already owned, and did not push us into things we did not need or want. Once he had an idea of our history with electronic systems and some of our wishes too, he and his firm created a Concept Document and Budget Projection for their suggested solution. We were very pleased to have a chance to know approximately what their suggested solution would cost before having to commit to paying for anything. However, after we reviewed and accepted the concept and budget for the systems, they did require a small Design & Engineering Retainer from us to cover the cost of ""going to work"" both in our home and at their facility - researching and engineering a complete specification / proposal so that we would both know exactly what the plan would be: what it would look like (in a blue-print sized functional diagram), how it would operate, exactly what equipment would be utilized for our systems, and exactly what it would cost. We found this approach to be very similar to the relationship we had with our Architect when we retained his services to design our home. Once InterActive delivered the details for our systems, we were then allowed to make slight changes where we wanted - and were given 3 design revisions within the original retainer amount, to be sure we would be happy with the end result. I admit that this process was more lengthy than we first expected it would be, but we have come to appreciate the process and are now experiencing the benefits of such a thorough approach to technology in our family's life. I expect that InterActive Home is probably not for everyone, as this approach may be more than some people think they need, but for our needs, they were right on target. Thanks!
Pros: Personal Touch Service, No Hard Selling, Make Technology Easy To Understand & Use
Cons: Slight Time Investment for Consultations & Site Surveys
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