When a social media influencer shares online that they’re planning a home renovation, what’s the best way to attract their attention? For Adam Wolfe, Managing Director at home technology firm, Art of Integration, it was clear. “I dropped them a video via Instagram to say ‘we’re here, we’re down the road, let me know if you need us’.”
The influencer in question was Louise Boyce, content creator supreme and founder of lifestyle blog Mama’s Still Got it. Her response to Adam’s video was rapid.
“We had a meeting within two or three days of that video and sat down with the plans. Then, we drew out exactly what they wanted. This grew into a design, with a cable schedule and wiring of the house. It all moved very quickly. Within about 10 days we’d gone from design to cabled and the house being boarded and plastered,” recalls Adam.
The extensive project, known as House of Boyce, included a complete renovation and extension to create a four-bedroom family home complete with an expansive master suite, kitchen/dining area, TV room and office spaces.
While the speed of the project was impressive, it wasn’t without its challenges. Adam explains: “Normally, we’re involved at a much earlier stage on a project, but this time, we were late to the table. We obviously reacted as quickly as we could, but the short timeframe was probably the hardest thing to overcome.”
Thankfully, Louise and husband Jesse were willing to put their trust in Art of Integration, who worked hard to understand the functionality the family wanted.
“They were open to our ideas. We also brought them to our demonstration facility and showed them how the tech could work on the Control4 app which made it a lot easier for them to choose what they wanted,” adds Adam. “They’re very much into listening to music, so audio was a priority. They also wanted simple TV control that they, their parents and their kids could use, which led us down the Control4 route. When we first met, they were talking about having a little bit of Sonos, so introducing them to a seamless integrated solution with Control4 as the platform, the response was ‘wow, I didn’t know that all this was possible’.”
The Control4 Halo remote is proving particularly popular with the family as it also responds to their request for a simple-to-use, hand-held control solution.
“They love the Halo remote. Ease of use was a big indicator because they didn’t want anything that was too complicated,” says Adam. “They’ve got three young kids and the two older ones picked up the Halo remote quite easily. That was some of the primary thinking because, if Jesse or Louise are travelling, the kids can understand how to use it, whether they want to open or close the blinds, turn the music on, be able to sit and watch TV, without any trouble at all.”
There are six zones of audio managed by the Control4 system. High-performance architectural IC62 ceiling speakers from Snap One brand Triad have been installed throughout the property, including in the master suite, kitchen and TV room.
The TV room also features a Triad On wall Mini 3.0 Soundbar, custom painted by Art of Integration to match the joinery, along with an In-Room Omnisub 8. Elsewhere, Art of Integration has utilised other Snap One brands within the system, including Episode in-ceiling speakers in the Master En-Suite and Dressing Room, a Pakedge RK-1 7 port gigabit router for the Wi-Fi network and two 21U AV racks from Strong.
While the technology in the house is ultra-modern, aesthetics were also important to the homeowners and the design beautifully blends the traditional with the contemporary. One example of this is the front entrance. The family was concerned that a video doorbell system would look out of place, so a traditional doorbell was chosen which was then integrated with the CCTV.
When it’s pressed a snapshot appears on a discreet CCTV camera and the sound of the bell is heard through the speakers. The client was very much in the driving seat with this project, but Art of Integration was able to ensure that these types of solutions could be tailored specifically for them, using Control4.
Impressively, the whole project only took a few months and while the work itself didn’t throw up too many surprises, working with an influencer who chronicled every step of progress on social media certainly led to a few firsts for Adam, who ended up starring in some of Louise’s Instagram videos.
“Louise captured every single aspect of the project, making and sharing videos at different stages,” Adam adds. “She’d do a Q&A every two weeks, it would be ‘Adam’s coming, do you want to ask any questions?’ So, we’d sit together, and she’d ask questions from her audience. It’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like this, and it generated plenty of new followers on our account. It’s nice that people are still reaching out to me for technical assistance and this project has certainly helped me create and build a new community where I can demonstrate more about home automation.”
The pair also planned a giveaway at the end of the project, which saw Adam offer a £6,000 media room to one of Louise’s followers. While there are plenty of tales of companies not having the best experience when working with influencers, this couldn’t be further from the truth for Art of Integration.
“It was my first-time working with a proper influencer in Louise and she had us in the forefront of what she was doing. She was always taking videos, creating reels for us, and I just thought that was a fantastic thing for our company. I’ve found it a positive experience. It’s important that the influencer is on board with what our company could deliver, the benefits we could bring and also meet our marketing requirements. Ultimately, it’s a business relationship as well as a client-integrator relationship and setting out the expectations on both sides before work starts is critical, along with clear communications throughout, so that it’s a win-win for us both.”
Control4, Triad, Pakedge, Strong and Episode are Snap One brands.