What Is a Savant Smart Home?
What Is a Savant Smart Home and what sets it apart from other intelligent living systems?
Savant Home Automation: A Better Way to Control a Hamptons Home
If you've owned a home with an older control system, there's a reasonable chance you don't want another one.
We hear versions of that fairly often. The system was difficult to use. Guests couldn't figure out the controls. A simple function stopped working because something unrelated went offline. Small changes required a service call. Eventually, the homeowner learned which parts of the system to avoid.
That's not a particularly compelling argument for putting more technology into a house.
Modern control should work differently.
Lighting, motorized shades, climate, distributed audio, security and the other systems in a home can all be designed to perform their individual jobs independently. A control platform such as Savant adds a layer above those systems, allowing them to work together when there is a reason for them to do so.
This is where scenes become useful.
A scene is a single command that asks multiple systems to respond in a particular way. An Arrival scene, for example, might bring the house to a comfortable temperature, adjust selected shades and turn on the lighting you normally use when you arrive.
But the response doesn't have to be identical every time.
If you finally arrive in the Hamptons late on a Friday night, exterior and pathway lighting might be part of that arrival. If you arrive at two in the afternoon, there is little reason for the same landscape lights to turn on. Savant scenes and automations can use schedules, time of day and other conditions so that the systems involved respond appropriately rather than simply repeating the same sequence every time. Savant currently supports scheduled scenes, celestial timing based on events such as sunrise and sunset, and custom automations using monitored conditions.
Savant smart home mechanical room
How Savant Fits Into the Home
A Savant system doesn't need to replace the individual systems that are already good at their jobs.
Lighting and motorized shades might be handled by Lutron. Heating and cooling equipment still has its own controls. Distributed audio has amplifiers, speakers and streaming services selected for the house. Cameras, security, door access, irrigation, pools and other property systems each have their own roles.
Savant provides a common control layer between compatible systems.
That allows the homeowner to interact with multiple parts of the house through Savant's app, remotes, touchscreens, keypads and automations without requiring every piece of equipment to come from the same manufacturer.
At Home Technology Experts (HTE), that's generally how we prefer to approach control.
The lighting system should still be a good lighting system. The network should be reliable on its own. The HVAC system shouldn't depend on Savant to maintain the house. Music should still be available through the underlying audio platform.
Savant gives those systems another way to communicate and work together.
What a Scene Actually Does
Without a scene, using several systems together means controlling them individually.
Imagine arriving at the house after dark. You might turn on exterior lighting, bring up lights in the kitchen and main living areas, adjust the thermostats and make sure the shades are where you want them.
An Arrival scene can combine those actions into one command.
A Goodnight scene might shut down lighting in the common areas while leaving the appropriate halls and pathways illuminated. An Away scene might change climate settings, turn off unnecessary lighting and put compatible systems into their normal unoccupied state.
For entertaining, the scene can extend across the house and property. Indoor and outdoor lighting can change together, shades can be positioned appropriately, and audio can extend from the kitchen and living room out to the terrace and pool.
Savant allows scenes to be created, scheduled and edited in the Savant app, including user-created scenes for supported services.
Why Control Becomes More Useful in a Second Home
A Hamptons house is often used very differently from a primary residence.
The homeowner may not have been there since the previous weekend. Family and friends may arrive before them. Guests may use the property while the owner isn't there at all. House managers, property-management companies and service providers may need access throughout the week.
That puts more value on controls that don't require everyone using the house to remember how it was designed.
If someone hasn't been at the property for several weeks, a wall full of unlabeled switches isn't particularly helpful. Guests shouldn't need a technology orientation before they can turn on the lights, adjust the temperature or put music on outside.
Physical controls still matter for exactly that reason. Savant can add sophisticated control without requiring every interaction with the house to begin by finding a phone..
Managing the House When You're Somewhere Else
Remote access is also more useful when the house isn't occupied every day.
Most of our clients aren't driving from Manhattan to the East End because they want to check whether the HVAC is running properly or see if someone showed up for a service appointment.
They have house managers, property managers and other people who handle those things.
The friction is in everything around that process.
You notice something, contact the person watching the house, wait for someone to get there, explain what you need checked and then wait for an answer.
With the appropriate systems integrated, Savant can give the homeowner direct visibility into parts of that process. That may include checking temperatures, viewing cameras, controlling compatible access systems or checking the status of connected equipment without having to ask someone else to verify every small detail.
It can also be useful when someone does need to go to the property. A contractor or service provider may need access while the homeowner is away, and compatible access and surveillance systems can provide a clearer picture of when they arrived and what happened at the house.
Exactly how much of that is available depends on the equipment being integrated, which is why those requirements need to be considered when the system is designed.
Arriving When the Traffic Has Other Plans
Anyone who regularly travels east knows that when you leave the city and when you actually arrive at the house can be two very different things.
That makes fixed schedules less useful for certain parts of a second home.
Rather than maintaining the house at its fully occupied temperature all week, climate can be adjusted remotely before arrival. Exterior lighting can respond differently depending on whether you arrive during the afternoon or well after dark.
Location can also be part of the equation. Savant supports Siri Shortcuts that can use geofencing to trigger Savant scenes, providing another way to automate actions as someone approaches or leaves the property.
We would still use that type of automation selectively. Location is useful information, but it doesn't always tell the entire story of how the house is being used.
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Entertaining Across the House and Property
One of the places Savant becomes particularly interesting in a Hamptons home is when indoor and outdoor spaces are being used together.
The kitchen, living room, terrace, pool and outdoor dining areas may function as one large entertaining space even though they contain completely different technology.
Lighting and audio can extend across those areas, but video is where Savant has a particularly strong story.
Savant's IP video platform allows video sources to be distributed over the network to displays throughout the property. A game playing in the living room can also be sent to the television outside so nobody has to choose between watching the NBA playoffs and moving the party to the terrace.
The same applies in the summer. Baseball can be on by the pool while another group is watching inside, and the source doesn't necessarily have to physically live near either television.
For larger homes, centralized video distribution also means sources such as cable boxes, streaming devices or other AV equipment can be located with the rest of the home's equipment rather than duplicated at every television. Savant's IP video system is designed to distribute video sources across a network to multiple displays.
Video Tiling Is a Real Savant Differentiator
Savant goes considerably further than simply sending the same video source to multiple televisions.
Its video platform supports video tiling, allowing multiple sources to appear simultaneously on one display. Savant currently advertises layouts with as many as nine sources on a single screen.
That can turn a large television or projection system into something closer to a customizable sports wall without physically installing a wall full of separate displays.
During a busy sports weekend, you might have the primary game taking up most of the screen while keeping several other games visible around it. The layout can then return to a conventional full-screen television when the event is over.
For clients who watch a lot of sports, financial news or other simultaneous live content, Savant's combination of IP video distribution, matrixing and video tiling is one of the platform's strongest differentiators.
It also scales particularly well in larger homes because the same underlying video-over-IP architecture can be used to route sources among many displays rather than relying on a traditional fixed-input, fixed-output HDMI matrix. Savant's current IP video hardware uses a 10Gb network architecture and supports multi-source video processing and compositing.
Building a New Home? Think About the Wiring Differently
If you're building or substantially renovating a home, the infrastructure needed to support a future Savant system is much less exotic than many people assume.
A large portion of it is simply very good network infrastructure.
That means planning appropriate wired network connections throughout the house, providing infrastructure for wireless access points, televisions, equipment locations, cameras and other connected devices, and extending that planning into outdoor areas where appropriate.
Those are things we would generally recommend in a new Hamptons home whether or not the owner ultimately chooses Savant.
The reason to think about it during construction is simple: cable is inexpensive and easy to install when the walls are open. It becomes substantially more difficult once the interiors are finished.
For the type of home where Savant is being considered, adding sensible low-voltage infrastructure during construction is generally a very small part of the overall construction budget.
And if the homeowner ultimately decides not to install Savant—or chooses a different control platform—the infrastructure is still useful.
Those same network connections can support televisions, wireless access points, surveillance cameras, audio equipment, access-control devices and technologies that may be added years after the house is completed.
The network is going to be used for the lifetime of the home regardless of which control system sits on top of it.
That's why we would rather preserve the options while construction makes it easy than have a homeowner decide five years later that they want a capability the finished house wasn't wired to support.
What Makes Savant Different?
Most established professionally installed control platforms can turn on lights, lower shades, adjust thermostats and create automated scenes.
Those capabilities alone aren't a good reason to choose Savant.
Where Savant becomes more interesting is in the way the homeowner interacts with the system, the amount of personalization it exposes to the user, and several areas where Savant has built particularly deep capabilities of its own.
A Homeowner-Focused Interface
Savant has always placed considerable emphasis on its user experience.
Rather than approaching the home like engineering software, the app and remotes organize controls around rooms, services, favorites and scenes.
That matters in a second home where different people may use the system throughout the year.
The homeowner may want access to detailed controls. Someone staying for the weekend may only need the most obvious functions. The person using the guest room shouldn't need to understand the architecture of the control system to use it.
Homeowners Can Create Their Own Scenes
Savant also gives homeowners meaningful access to scene creation.
Users can capture the current state of supported services as a scene, create tap-to-run scenes, schedule scenes and edit existing scenes from within the Savant app.
Professional programming still establishes the underlying system and integrations, but every change to the way the homeowner uses the property doesn't necessarily need to become a programming request.
For a homeowner who likes to make those kinds of adjustments themselves, that flexibility can be a significant reason to choose Savant.
Strong Audio and Video Integration
Savant's history in high-end residential entertainment shows in the way it handles audio and video.
Distributed audio can be controlled alongside the rest of the home rather than functioning as a completely separate experience, while Savant's IP video platform provides sophisticated source distribution, switching and video tiling.
That combination becomes much more valuable as the number of televisions, indoor and outdoor audio zones and entertaining spaces increases.
A small apartment and a Hamptons property with televisions in the living room, primary bedroom, gym, pool house and outdoor spaces don't have the same AV requirements.
Savant scales particularly well for the latter.
Apple Integration and Geofencing
Savant also has unusually close ties to the Apple ecosystem.
Siri Shortcuts can be used with Savant scenes, including automations involving geofencing and NFC-based triggers. Savant supports interaction through devices including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, HomePod and CarPlay.
For a household already heavily invested in Apple devices, those integrations provide additional ways to interact with the home without replacing the physical controls that remain useful throughout the property.
Pools, Irrigation and Other Property Systems
Whole-home control doesn't have to end at the back door.
Depending on the equipment selected and the integrations available, Savant can interact with systems associated with the larger property, including pools and spas, gates, irrigation, access control and other connected equipment.
Those integrations have to be evaluated individually. We wouldn't assume that every function of every third-party product can be brought into Savant simply because it is connected to the network.
But where good integrations exist, bringing those systems into the same interface can make a large property considerably easier to oversee.
Power and Energy Management
Power is another area where Savant has gone much further than traditional home automation.
With Savant Power equipment, the same Savant environment can provide information about electrical consumption, individual loads, batteries and grid conditions. It can also create automations based on events such as a grid outage or battery level.
That's not necessary for every Savant project.
For larger homes with generators, battery storage or more complex energy requirements, however, it gives homeowners another level of visibility into a property they may spend much of the week away from.
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Is Savant Right for Your Home?
Savant isn't the right control platform for every project, and not every house needs a control system in the first place.
The decision starts with how the property will actually be used.
How often is the homeowner there? Who else needs to use the house? Which systems need to communicate? What needs to be accessible remotely? How important are distributed audio and video? How much control does the homeowner want over their own scenes and automations?
For a larger second home with lighting control, motorized shades, climate, distributed audio and video, security and outdoor systems, Savant can provide a particularly polished way to bring those pieces together.
The underlying systems still do their own jobs. Savant is what allows the homeowner to interact with them as one home.
The Savant Experience, Designed by HTE
At Home Technology Experts, we design Savant systems around the residence rather than forcing the home into a standard package.
Our work may include:
Reviewing architectural and electrical plans
Coordinating with architects, designers, builders, and electricians
Designing the network and technology infrastructure
Planning lighting, shading, entertainment, security, and control
Engineering equipment locations and service access
Programming personalized scenes
Training homeowners and property staff
Providing ongoing service and system support
Our objective is straightforward: make sophisticated technology feel natural to use.
When a system is designed correctly, homeowners should not have to think about the processors, drivers, network components, or programming working behind the scenes.
They should simply be able to enjoy the home.
Plan Your Savant Smart Home with HTE
Home Technology Experts design integrated residential technology systems throughout the Hamptons, Long Island, New York City, and surrounding markets.
Whether you are planning a new residence, renovating an existing property, or replacing disconnected technology, our team can help determine how Savant should fit into the larger design.
Schedule a smart home consultation with Home Technology Experts.
Frequently Asked Questions About Savant Smart Homes
What is a Savant Smart Home?
A Savant smart home uses a professionally designed control platform to bring compatible systems such as lighting, motorized shades, climate, music, video, security, and energy management into a more consistent interface.
What can Savant control?
Depending on the system design, Savant can control architectural lighting, motorized shades, thermostats, music, televisions, home theaters, security systems, entry devices, pools, and selected electrical loads.
Can Savant control the entire home from one app?
Savant can provide centralized control of multiple compatible home systems through its app. The functions available depend on the equipment connected to the platform and how the system has been designed and programmed.
What is a Savant scene?
A Savant scene is a personalized command that adjusts several systems at once. For example, a Goodnight scene might turn off selected lights, lower shades, adjust the temperature, and prepare other systems for the night.
Can different family members have different settings?
Yes. The system can be personalized around different users, rooms, preferences, and access requirements. Separate experiences may also be created for guests, caregivers, household staff, or property managers.
Does Savant work in large luxury homes?
Savant can be designed for large and complex residences, including properties with multiple entertainment spaces, outdoor areas, theaters, pools, guest structures, and other amenities. The system must be engineered around the property’s size, infrastructure, and operational requirements.
Can Savant be installed in an existing home?
Yes, although the available options depend on the existing wiring, electrical system, network, connected equipment, and accessibility of the property. A professional assessment should be completed before the system is designed.
Is Savant the same as using individual smart devices?
No. Individual smart devices often operate through separate applications or ecosystems. Savant serves as a professionally configured platform that can coordinate compatible systems into a more unified experience.
Does Savant require professional installation?
Savant systems are professionally designed, programmed, and installed. Professional planning is particularly important when the project includes lighting control, networking, distributed audio and video, security, climate, shades, or energy management.
How important is the network in a Savant home?
The network is essential. Savant and the systems connected to it depend on reliable communication. Proper network design, wireless coverage, structured wiring, equipment selection, and ongoing support all contribute to the performance of the home.