Technology in the new construction homes.

[BraeBrae]

I have been wondering, to an increasing extent, why the new construction housing market has a difficult time accepting new infrastructures in the home. Sure, the trade-up from plywood sheathing to OSB, tar shingles to pre-cast concrete tiles, conventional lumber to engineered lumber, but seldom do we see modern technologies enter the construction trade in terms of systems technology.

Last year I bought my first home. My first home was new construction, because I wanted to have modern technology in my paid-for living abode. Unfortunately, I'm having a difficult time see technology with the exception of the floot joists, which are wooden I-joists from Boise-Cascade. What I am missing are the common-place technologies for networking, treed entertainment infrastructures, and modularized mechanicals.

So, I got a home that was brand spanking new, but I'll have to run my own CAT5e, audio, video, etc., etc. systems. Doing this myself is not difficult nor expensive, but builders think that a) its very expensive, and b) no one wants it (or worse, no one needs it). I wonder how builders that have been around for +50 every got their construction trade out of the dark ages.

Thus, is there a way we techie societies can get these bumbling idiots to get with the times? Anyone care to offer advice of what kind of relatively inexpensive technologies they would like to see in a new home that builder's just refuse to offer? My next home, which should begin construction in +2 years, will be built by myself and include a host of convenient modern technologies. Maybe I should resell that home to a buyer with tech orientation?

 

[m00dy]

hi brae

i am a self employed electrician, and i install into domestic properties amongst other things.

excellent point
I think youre mainly talking about hard wiring the cables correct me if im wrong.
i totally agree with you, there actually is a minimal electrical installation requirement but it dosent say anything about comms this is obviously the area that people need to rethink, so that every instalation will be included.
companys over here in uk are making the change now , it isnt common place but its getting there

there are various reasons why it isnt how you and me would like it. i have listed 2

1)Human Nature:
people have a hard time adjusting to change, can you imagine your mom trying to turn the kettle on with a computer ? my mom would get very frustrated.
how about a hard working person that gets home late most nights, and struggles with technology, what if something failed.
a lot of people have trouble operating vcr's central heating controls. Ultimately the majority of people dont need the hassel cos there home does everything it wants them to do.

2)Cost:
whos gonna pay. unless the client specifies, i would never install anything that they didnt request, despite how much id like too, id loose too much money simple as that.
the client dosent want to pay for it cos he wants as big a profit he can get from whoever buys the property.
and by the time the buyer says oh yeah i want cat 5 in every room the property is finished, and to wire it properly would be ugly(surface mounted) and expensive, ie some ones got too pay me to do it.
in the building trade *price* is the key in most cases

**ideas for basic instalations**

Cat 5 daisy chained too a few rooms
speaker cable at least to another room
satelite grade coax to every room
alarm cable
multicore telephone wire with more than 4 cores

this is about 5 miles from me
internet home