Developer plots · New homes · Pre-completion specification
Buying a new build? The cable has to go in before the plaster does.
Automation for new build homes across the East Midlands — what to get your developer to run before plaster, what to do when they say no, and how to specify it without voiding your warranty.
A new build is the easiest house in Britain to automate and the hardest one to get access to. Everything about the construction is in your favour — open walls, a fresh consumer unit, no historic fabric to work around. What is not in your favour is that it belongs to a developer until completion, and their electrical package was priced eighteen months ago by someone who has never met you.
What's included
- Review of the developer's electrical package and plot drawings
- A written schedule of what to request before first fix
- Liaison with the site manager or developer where they allow it
- Post-completion survey where they do not
- Lighting design and scene programming room by room
- Heating zoning across the plot, replacing the builder's controls
- Cat6 structured cabling and access point siting
- Certification and as-built documentation for your warranty file
From £5,500
ex-VAT, supplied, installed & commissioned
01 · Before plaster
What to ask the developer for, and when
The ask is smaller than people expect: Cat6 to a handful of positions, a deeper back box or two, containment to the loft and the garage, and a consumer unit with spare ways. Not a system — just routes.
Timing is everything. Before first-fix electrics it is a conversation. After plastering it is a different price and a different job. If you have reserved off-plan, raise it the week you reserve.
- Cat6 to TV points, the office and the loft
- Containment to garage, loft and any outbuilding
- Deeper back boxes at key switch positions
- Spare ways and space in the consumer unit
02 · When they say no
And they often will
Most volume developers will not vary the electrical package, and some will not let a third party on site before completion at all. That is normal, and it is not the end of the plan.
New builds are still the easiest retrofit going: plasterboard on dot-and-dab, accessible lofts, a modern consumer unit and no lath and plaster. We survey after completion and work with what the construction actually gives us.
- Retrofit after completion, before you decorate
- Dot-and-dab and loft voids do most of the work
- Wireless where a route genuinely is not there
- Phased so the first room proves the rest
03 · Timing after handover
The gap between keys and carpet
The best window on a new build is the few weeks between getting the keys and moving in properly — empty rooms, no furniture, nothing to protect and no one inconvenienced.
Book it before you exchange if you can. Once the flooring is down and the house is full, the same work takes longer and costs more to do carefully.
- Empty rooms, before flooring and furniture
- No making good around finished decoration
- Faster on site, so cheaper in labour
- Commissioned before you move a box in
Your warranty, and getting it in writing
A new build usually carries a ten-year structural warranty and a developer defects period, typically the first two years. Third-party electrical work does not void the structural warranty, but it can give a developer grounds to decline a defects claim on anything they say you touched.
So get the developer's position in writing before anyone starts, keep our certification and as-built documentation with your warranty paperwork, and do not let anybody drill into a wall before you know where the developer's services run.
Why it's worth doing properly
New Build Home Automation, done once and done right.
The construction is on your side
Dot-and-dab walls, accessible lofts and a modern consumer unit make a new build the easiest retrofit there is.
A schedule you can hand over
A written list of what to ask for before first fix, in language a site manager can actually price and action.
Keys-to-carpet window
Empty rooms before flooring and furniture is the fastest and cheapest time this work will ever be done.
Better than the builder's controls
The heating controls fitted as standard are the cheapest that met regulations. Per-room zoning is a different experience.
Warranty handled properly
Certification and as-built documentation for your file, and the developer's position agreed in writing first.
Phased if you want it
Infrastructure now, rooms added later. Nothing about the first phase closes off the second.
Certified installers, never sub-contracted
Same week
Site visit availability across the East Midlands
£0 / mo
No subscription, no cloud fees, ever
12 months
Parts and labour warranty on every install
Works best together
Related services
One Miniserver runs all of it. Most customers combine two or three of these rather than installing them as separate systems.
FAQ
New Build Home Automation — common questions
Will my developer let you on site before completion?
What should I ask the developer to run?
Does this affect my NHBC or structural warranty?
When is the best time to do the work?
The house already has smart heating controls fitted. Is that enough?
Can this be done in stages?
Where we work
New builds across the East Midlands
Next step
Thinking about new builds?
Free site visit, fixed written quote within 5 working days. No obligation, and no pressure — if a full system isn't right for you we'll tell you.
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