CBUS Residential Installation - Return on Inverstment

Discussion in 'C-Bus Wired Hardware' started by Paulk, Aug 6, 2004.

  1. Paulk

    Paulk

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    Hi
    Here's a question that has bothered me for some years. When I come to sell my house (CBUS, Minder, IR Network, structured cabling Cat5 and MATV), will I see a return on my investment?

    I was disturbed to see that the two couples on "The Block" TV show saw little or no return for their home automation investment.

    Has anyone got any experiances they would like to share about selling/buying a house with home automation?

    Do buyers/agents see the value?

    Regards
    Paul
     
    Paulk, Aug 6, 2004
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  2. Paulk

    MichaelCarey

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    I think a lot of it revolves around how easy it is to use, and alter to suit the new owner. Clipsal have a good network of system integrators that can customise C-Bus, Minder and StarServe.
    I have a fairly extensive Minder setup but all of my tech-phobic friends can turn on sprinkers, change lighting, turn on my home theatre with no problem. The whole thing is quite transparent. Things just happen with no real user input, but if you want to dive into deeper menus with HomeGate or C-Touch you can have a lot more fun.
    I'm not going to sell my house but I could make this house but quite normal if anyone else was to move it...as long as a new owner isn't scared of the technology, it should be an asset.
    Regards,
    Michael.
     
    MichaelCarey, Aug 6, 2004
    #2
  3. Paulk

    Richo

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    Depends on the house and market. However, I certain that even if C-Bus doesn't increase the value, it certainly will help sell your house quicker as it makes it different and adds an edge of the competing houses. It a boom this may not mean much, bu the boom is over and it will be awhile for the next one.

    However, in the right senerio home automation will make a big difference on the market. mainly with tech savvy buyers, and with the huge success of home theatre that market is growing bigtime.

    Home Automation is growing rapidly worldwide, so the market at the moment is no indication of where we will be in 3-5 years time. Just look how quickly DVD has taken over, change doesn't take as long as it used to.

    Does not reflect the real world at all. The block was a chance for the purchases to get there fe wminutes of fame and people did not evaluate those properties like normal buyers. In regards to the gay couples flat the styling was such that it would appeal to a small audience regardless of the home automation. They could have gold plated the light bulbs, but with the red bathroom ... no thanks.
     
    Richo, Aug 6, 2004
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  4. Paulk

    rhamer

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    I have sold a house that had C-Bus installed.

    In my case I retro fitted the C-Bus and Minder because it interested me and I wanted it. This is not the case with everybody.

    With all the visitors to my house in the 7 years I had C-Bus and even longer for Minder (or should I say Jeeves) only one decided to put it in his house.

    Almost without exception everybody thought it was a great idea and made all the right "wow" sounds when seeing it work but when it came to shelling out the hard earned, the new shiny fridge and oven got it every time.

    The problem is, until you have lived in an automated home you don't know how good it actually is. So there are the Geeks like me who do it, there are the people who have enough money for it not to be a big decision and then there is everybody else. And I believe the greater majority of people in the "everybody else" category just dont know enough to realise the benefits.

    I believe Clipsal should stop promoting the big flash jobs that they do and start giving examples of Mr and Mrs ordinary in their 3 Br BV and what a modest setup can do for them. After all there is far more ordinary people than there are Geeks and Rich Folk combined. Start marketing it as a consumer level system straight at the average income bracket, then you will see HA better understood by the general population.

    So in answer to the original question, in my case NO.

    After getting strange looks from potential buyers and worried questions about what happens if it breaks, I removed a large part of the setup and just left the basic C-Bus and a PC interface. The new owners just think they have fancy light switches.
     
    rhamer, Aug 8, 2004
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  5. Paulk

    Rex Withers

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    My thoughts are?
    It depends how long till you sell. If you fit C-Bus and then try to sell now I would be inclined to agree with rhamer in the earlier post (and it concerns me). If you sell in say 5 years and Clipsal still support the product or have something that is still backwards compatible then fine because people will be more use to it and hopefully there will be more installers who can fix it if it breaks and it should be a good selling point. What really concerns me is in 15 or 20 years? will I still be able to get replacement parts or will I have to replace the whole system and if the latter will I be told?

    "Cat5!!!! No the new system won't run on anything less than Cat27?"

    That?s what really worries me the cabling infrastructure for the switches it?s the only part that can't be replaced and I'm sure that intelligent and tec savvy buyers (the ones who would be interested in HA as a "feature") will have thought of that too.

    The only cabling infrastructure that can easily be replaced is wireless and that?s not readily available.
     
    Rex Withers, Aug 8, 2004
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  6. Paulk

    Ross

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    You forgot to add "yet". Wireless is coming soon.
     
    Ross, Aug 8, 2004
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  7. Paulk

    Rex Withers

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    Can I get a trade in on my old system do you think? :confused:
     
    Rex Withers, Aug 8, 2004
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  8. Paulk

    BeoLinker

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    Hi all,

    Another point to bring to the discussion;

    Regardless of brand and future compatibility you can only make good ROI if there is a hungry market willing to pay for it!

    Here in the UK home automation is still not wideley available and considered to be an extravegant luxury owned by celebs and football players. (maybe a little more in the North! - we are not slower on the uptake we just have more skilled football players :p )

    Once there are more suppliers and installers to increase competition prices will begin to fall, making it available to the average 2.4 kid household, which will then fuel the media engine.

    Once there is demand for HA homes then resalebility increases although whether a ROI can be achieved is another matter!

    Technology evolves faster than any other industry; depreciation therefore is something you must account for when you buy the latest gizmos!

    My prediction for HA in the UK, for what they are worth!, is that HA will increase in popularity over the next 12-18 months, then once everybody has jumped on the band wagon prices will fall rapidly.

    The trick is to sell on the cusp!

    Cheers
    Greg...
     
    BeoLinker, Aug 8, 2004
    #8
  9. Paulk

    Tonyo

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    Roi

    I have sold a couple of houses with a lot of added features (not c-bus 'cause I'm still living in this one :cool: ), but I have never found people will pay much for these features. That doesn't mean they are not a good investment because you get the use of them.

    Personally, I was surprised how little extra c-bus cost because I always put quality dimmers and lots of 2-way switches.

    As for replacement parts - as soon as it is not the base model of anything you will not be able to get the part in 5 years time. I found this even with a toilet :p
     
    Tonyo, Aug 9, 2004
    #9
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