Remote Programming FAQ for RTI Dealers

Absolutely. With experience using all of the newest RTI gear (and I have seen it deployed), I know the capabilities of each component, what the most common “gotchas” are and where some controllers shine, while others might not be suited for your client. First call is always free while we come up with a plan.

Use this proposal tool to get real numbers on your actual project immediately. This resource is always available to you when a new opportunity comes up.

For a straight hour count, this proposal tool is built specifically to answer that question. It will produce a time budget calculated using the historical data from dozens of completed RTI projects. Once we have that time budget, we can get an idea of how many business days this will take.

For your timeline considerations, I am usually able to get the programming to a “site testing / commissioning” state (70-80%) before the project equipment has even arrived on site. Once the equipment is installed, we move immediately into testing. Generally, 20 - 30% of the time budget is spent in testing and commissioning after the equipment is installed.

For almost 10 years, I ran an Electrical Contracting company in Vancouver, BC Canada primarily working in custom homes, eventually specializing in providing lighting control, motorized shading and audio/video integration on top of our electrical services. As part of this journey, I learned to coordinate with all of the technology in the house and almost always took over the network so I could ensure it all worked together.

In 2017, recognizing a gap in the home control industry for someone with my level of understanding of how modern houses operate, I decided to close down the contracting side and concentrate my energy on home technology control and building user centric interfaces. During COVID, this business model responded well to off-site work and the rest is history!

The initial call is to determine scope, timeline and make sure that we are a good fit for success. I will ask a series of questions to determine the current criteria (rooms, sources, equipment, client wants) and to determine the level of UI that is best for your project. Some systems are what I call Overview only (the ability to control all rooms from a single page), some systems are Room-based only (navigate to a room, pick your activity) and some systems are both for the most flexibility for multiple user types. For larger systems, we can also create a floor plan-based system using the architectural drawing from the build.

From that I will use my proposal tool to produce a time budget that reflects our current understanding of the scope, usually within 5 minutes of getting all the answers.

If given the go-ahead, initial programming will begin immediately with the goal of being ready for testing on the date that the equipment arrives. That way, I am good to go well ahead of whenever your team is onsite for commissioning.

On commissioning and testing days, using either a site computer or an on-site tech’s computer, we will go through and document the operation of the entire system. Once we have proof that the programming is doing what is expected, we can sign off on the completion.

Either enter your project here or book an intro call and I will walk you through it.