PETE HARRIS OF Harris Homes may be a lone wolf in Nashville, Tenn., an area not known for technology innovators, but more home builders may be on the same sheet of music as the year moves on.
Harris started offering home theater as standard in his homes last summer, a strategy that puts him way ahead of the pack in Nashville—and most of the country as well. According to a Parks Associates survey, about 20 percent of home builders surveyed offer both security and multi-room audio as standard.
Less than 10 percent of builders surveyed installed home theater components as standard, but that might change as they see that 18 percent margins can be had for home theater.
