Of course, clients can’t buy something if they don’t know about it, so builders must first offer technology before a homeowner will buy it. Thomas believes, “We have a responsibility to show the clients everything they can have: the best. Clients’ eyes open up when we educate them about technology that’s available to them. Then they decide what they must have and what they can live without. If we were to build their home and not offer everything, and afterward they say we never told them about something, we would not have done our jobs.”

Making the Margins

As a full-service design/build firm, Custer Homes handles everything from design through construction, and builds margins into it all, including home technology. “We try to have a certain profit margin built in no matter what the technology is,” Thomas explains.

Technology such as a simple distributed audio system provided the highest margins for Cioe as a build-to-suit builder, he says. Those profits wouldn’t exist, however, if it were not for laying structured wiring, the backbone of any home’s technology systems.

“I didn’t lose money on structured wiring; I provided that as a commodity. You just have to do it, but I didn’t make big money on it. There’s too much competition for that,” Cioe says. “So things like distributed audio, lighting control, HVAC and security, those were the value-added items I made money on. About 70 percent of clients added to the basic technology package I offered, and 100 percent of clients upgraded on electronics.”

Cioe is not only a home builder, he also owns a technology integration business, Custom Home Technology USA, which performs all his technology work. Cioe, along with Thomas and Custer’s full-service approach to home building, are two examples of builders handling technology themselves, and making money on it. However, partnering with a technology integration firm such as those that belong to the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (cedia.net), is the path many builders follow.