Smart home options are nothing new for Quadrant Homes. The Bellevue, Wash.–based unit of the TRI Pointe Group has offered home automation features in its design centers for a few years, but only recently became one of the first home builders in the U.S. to provide this type of technology at no added cost to buyers. As of June, Quadrant’s Home Technology Package is included in every one of its new homes, with optional upgrades if desired.
“Like most things that drive us over here, we are trying to remain on the bleeding edge of design and features,” says Chris Pallemaerts, Quadrant Home’s vice president of operations and purchasing. “We use research to guide us in our decisions and try to focus on the customer, not only on what they want but what they’ll be looking for in the future.”
Once a high-volume production builder, Quadrant Homes reinvented itself as a smaller-scale luxury firm in the years that followed the recession. The builder based this new focus on the evolution of demand in the Seattle market—especially as high-paid tech workers moved in. “There was a demand for premium product that was innovative and Northwest modern [from] what was going to ultimately be a burgeoning tech market, which fortunately has come true in many ways. And we’ve been the recipient of that,” says Ken Krivanec, president of Quadrant Homes. “Our existing model was prolific, but it was not going to be what was required for us to win in the future.”
Many of Quadrant’s communities are located east of downtown Seattle in Redmond and Bellevue, in close proximity to offices for Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and other major tech employers. Tech-savvy customers are a fixture at Quadrant’s model homes, and the builder is determined to wow them beyond their high expectations.
“We pride ourselves on designing homes and products that arrive in the future just ahead of where our buyers expect it,” Krivanec adds. “They’ll know what Nest is, but that’s one device. What they don’t see generally is this kind of level all packaged together.”
Standard Package Features
The builder relies on tech-focused products from a variety of manufacturers to outfit its smart homes. For instance, front doors are equipped with the Ring Video Doorbell, which offers advanced motion detection, night vision capability, and HD camera quality and allows homeowners to see and speak with visitors from their phone, tablet, or PC. The door also includes Schlage’s Connect hardware, which provides a built-in alarm system and smart lock/unlock control. The garage door can be controlled remotely via a LiftMaster Wi-Fi garage door opener.
Inside the home, the well-known Nest 3 thermostat not only allows quick manual home temperature adjustments, but it can also learn temperature preference patterns and program itself according to its pattern observations. A Caseta lighting control system allows occupants to program pre-set light levels for certain days or times.
All new Quadrant homes will be Wi-Fi ready, with built-in support for additional smart tech devices. Two Cat-6 network jacks are built into each home, along with a 36-inch Smart Panel data hub, and pre-wiring for Wi-Fi routers on every floor.
All of the home’s smart features can be controlled through a smartphone app or with a compatible smart home assistant. Home buyers can also opt into features beyond the standard package, including an expanded Caseta lighting control package, smart window shades, a Stevon smart home network hub, and Sonos smart sound systems.
Living Smart
The Home Technology Package is the most recent component of the LivingSmart package, a long-standing Quadrant program that outlines sustainable products and technology for its new homes. Quadrant plans to roll out the home tech package in all of its current and upcoming communities over the next few months. The builder’s prices range from the mid-$400,000s up to the low millions.
The new package, which will vary among floor plans, carries extra costs for the builder, some of which will be passed on to buyers. However, given that smart home features are a rarity in the current resale home market, their inclusion in Quadrant’s homes will increase their appeal to buyers, according to Krivanec.
“Certainly there is a cost to offering this tech package,” says Bryan Jones, vice president of sales and marketing for Quadrant Homes. “It’s a moderate expense to the consumer, but, if anything, I think it increases the value of our homes.”
Despite this technological leap, Quadrant executives anticipate a future in which they’ll have to adapt to even more advanced technology. The technology wall, which is only six months old, in the firm’s design center is already behind on Quadrant’s current technological offerings. There’s no telling whether other changes might come in another half-year’s time.
“We have a commitment to [staying] on the edge of the technology curve,” says Jones. “We’re focused on knowing it’s going to change and staying with this change so we can continue to update this package and move our customers along. It’s probably going to be more than every six months that we’re going to need to update this package.”
