Why Every Architect Should Spec Lutron from Day One
Retrofitting lighting control into a finished space costs 3× more and looks half as good. Here’s how to get it right from the blueprint stage.
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
Here’s a number that stops most architects cold: retrofitting Lutron lighting control into a completed home costs, on average, three times more than installing it during rough-in. The conduit isn’t there. The wire runs have to be fished through finished walls. Keypads require patching and repainting. The disruption to a completed interior is significant — and the result rarely looks as clean.
Why It Has to Be Lutron from the Blueprint Stage
Lutron Homeworks QSX and RadioRA 3 — the two platforms we most commonly specify — require low voltage wiring to every switch location, dedicated power circuits for the Homeworks processor, and conduit pathways that simply don’t exist in a standard electrical rough-in. None of this is complex when it’s designed from the start. All of it is expensive and disruptive when it’s added later.
More importantly, lighting design — the placement of fixtures, the zones, the scene programming — works best when the lighting control designer and the electrical designer are working together from the beginning. Great lighting isn’t just a function of the fixtures. It’s a function of how those fixtures are controlled.
What to Put in the Spec
When we work with architects and interior designers on new residential construction in South Florida, we recommend including the following in the specification from day one: dedicated Lutron panel location in the electrical room, low voltage wiring schedule for all switch locations, conduit from panel to each zone, and a stub-out location for keypads in every occupied room.
We provide a low voltage floor plan at no charge for projects we’re specified on. It takes our team about two hours to produce a complete pre-wire schedule from architectural drawings. Those two hours save the owner thousands in retrofit costs later.
A Note for Interior Designers
Keypad placement is a design element, not an afterthought. Lutron’s Alisse and Sunnata keypads can be specified in finishes that match your hardware selections. Engraving, orientation, and positioning should all be decisions made at the millwork stage — not the punch list. We work directly with design teams to make sure the hardware is as considered as everything else in the room.
The Conversation to Have
If you’re starting a new residential project in South Florida above $500K and Lutron isn’t in the specification yet, the conversation to have is with your low voltage contractor before the electrical permit is pulled. At Martec, that conversation costs nothing and typically saves the owner multiples of our fee on the back end.
The Martec Technologies team has been designing and installing smart home and low voltage systems in South Florida since 2013. Learn more about us →
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