By Sherwin Loudermilk

Twenty years ago when I was a consultant at IBM, I worked on a “Home of the Future” project at Disney’s Epcot Center in Orlando that envisioned refrigerators that could analyze their contents to keep food fresher and lights that could control themselves.

Some critics thought we had let our imaginations run too wild.

Fast forward a couple decades, and sophisticated smart home technology is making all that a reality – and more. Nowadays, many top-of-the-line refrigerators can automatically boost cooling if someone puts a warm container of leftovers near the milk, or slow cooling cycles if nobody opens the door for a few hours. That keeps food fresher longer and cuts down energy use.

As a standard, all the luxury homes that my firm builds have a central computer processor that runs core systems like HVAC, lighting, and irrigation. In addition to touchscreen controls, we do full integration with voice recognition systems such as Amazon’s Alexa.

Each family member can create custom profiles so that when a mother comes home at night carrying a purse, briefcase and groceries, a simple voice command can light up the house, turn on her favorite jazz music, preheat the oven and lock the door behind her. A teenager’s command might power up the TV, load his or her favorite online game and turn the air conditioning cooler.

The system also controls electronic window shades, which can automatically lower or turn opaque when the sun is at certain angles. Sprinkler systems know to pause for five minutes when someone rings the doorbell or opens a door to the back yard.

We’re also getting more sophisticated about supporting the other technology in our modern lifestyles. That means simple things like installing more USB charging ports in bathrooms, vanity areas, and near beds because nowadays we check our texts and e-mail or catch up on social media feeds first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

Tech Preferences

To find out about our client’s technological preferences, we start with an online questionnaire that helps us understand a client’s lifestyle (Do they entertain often? Do they wear shoes in the house?), design aesthetic, and favorite color palette.

We created a nine-step Process to Perfection (see chart below) that gives them a chance to review selections and make changes along the way. After drywall goes in, we trim out a window and put paint and floor samples down to make sure they still love their choices.

We also have an app called Loudermilk Connect with custom profiles for each client, and it gives a live video feed of the home as it is built, daily work logs and photos, a budget and schedule that are updated in real time, and the ability to approve change orders from any touchscreen device. That technology brings ultimate transparency to our process, which builds trust and is winning us more business and referrals from happy clients.

The app played a crucial role in a recent $4 million custom 15,000-square-foot home we built recently in the Atlanta area, picture at top. The family lived in California at the time, and the client only visited the site twice during the main buildout. In fact, his wife never saw the home until the final three weeks of finishing work.

That would have been unthinkable a few years ago, especially because this home has a lot of custom features like a pool with a swim-up bar, a two-level master closet, a custom wine cellar and a racquetball court with a hidden basketball hoop that comes out with the push of a button – not exactly standard off-the-shelf products.

In addition to all the pictures, reports, and budgets via Loudermilk Connect, we met via FaceTime and did virtual walk-throughs to answer the customer’s questions and get his feedback. He made change orders from his phone, and knew exactly how the schedule and budget were evolving.

The client told us the app made him feel like he was right there, so he wasn’t nervous about things. Alleviating customer worries is one of the most important uses for technology today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sherwin Loudermilk, a former IBM executive who worked in telecommunications and web development, is CEO and president of Atlanta-based Loudermilk Homes.