When Should Technology Be Part Of My Mortgage?

I started my career as a construction electrician wiring homes, and I suppose being in my 50’s, one could say I’ve seen a lot of change in the way houses are wired. Throughout the years of doing this type work, I watched as, what was considered the minimum acceptable job by code, was in a constant state of change reflecting new trends in the marketplace. For example, I remember when wiring a home for a microwave was an option, ugh, now that’s dating myself, but as more and more people began to purchase them, we now had to make sure every home was wired for a microwave oven and it had to be on its own circuit to boot. If a home was to have a second refrigerator installed, I had to run a dedicated circuit for that too and my job would be inspected to make sure I did. The reason for this is simple, not providing the proper wiring could cause the problem of devices not running properly, blow breakers and/or potentially the risk of a fire in some cases.  

Obviously the cost of wiring a home electrically increased somewhat when provision was made for these additional devices, but not once did I see a customer pay out of pocket for a circuit to be added for a microwave, or for that extra refrigerator plug, or the electric fireplace, it was simply considered part of the construction of the house and part of the homes mortgage. I mean why would they pay out of pocket, after all it was necessary to satisfy the code standards and it was something they would never be taking with them if they moved in five years. Yet for some reason technology is treated differently, there’s an assumption I notice many people making that, if a builder doesn’t automatically include it, then it must not be necessary, right? 

“Structured wiring” is a very general term that can refer to a whole-house network of data, telephone, television, audio, security or even home automation. In this article, I’m primarily referring to the data wiring, and to that end, here’s the most valuable piece of advice I can give you about technology in a new house; “never assume that your new home has the proper wiring installed for connecting technology like Smart TV’s, etc, and always ask your builder if it does because it’s not a requirement for them to do so.” Even though structured wiring for residential applications is found in the Canadian Electrical Code just like any other type of wiring, for some reason it’s not mandatory that it be done, we don’t take out permits and we don’t call for inspections. If we do wire a house with structured wiring, and the electrical inspector incidentally notices something we did violating the Code, we’re required to fix it. Yet ironically, if we don’t run any wire at all, no big deal, there’s no requirement and the inspector is going to move on to the next house, regardless of whether it’s needed or not. It’s left up to a proactive builder to make sure the proper structured wiring is installed or at least to make sure the home buyer is given the opportunity to have it taken care of by a Home Technology Professional. So why are things this way, it’s simply because we haven’t reached the point in our industry where a structured wiring system is viewed as a necessity in the same way as the electrical or plumbing systems are. Structured wiring is viewed more like commodities such as a flat screen TV or a Stereo system, you know an optional item, an item that you can get along without, but if we’re keeping it real, it’s not. As a result, many people build their homes with inadaquate wiring for technology only to run into problems later. 

In 2017, structured wiring should be part of every home as it’s being built, it’s necessary for the best Internet experience, and it’s very difficult to do later. Usually this is the point where someone will chime in and say, “well I have WiFi and that’s just as good, right?”...sorry, but that’s incorrect! Although we’ll always need some type of wireless Internet connectivity, WiFi is responsible for 90% of the service calls we make to customer’s homes due to a lost or sub standard Internet connection and it’s the most unstable form of Internet connectivity we work on at this time. If I had a dollar for every time a customer called me after moving into their new house only to find out their Netflix doesn’t work on their new Smart TV the way it was working at the store...well...you know how the rest of that saying goes. In addition, installing the proper infrastructure after you move in may, not only be cost prohibitive, but next to impossible to do without a causing a lot of damage as houses are being sealed up incredibly air tight because of Energuide ratings or being registered R2000. 

So this brings me back to my original question of when technology should be part of the mortgage and that answer is easy, “every time”. These systems are something that is wired into the walls of your home and forgotten about, but by making sure your home is wired this way, it may mean the difference between a system adapting to your lifestyle rather than you trying to adapt to poor Internet service. 

Think about it, Internet service in most homes is more important today than the telephone landline was 10 years ago because we use it for nearly every form of communication with the outside world, yet all to often it’s overlooked. Don’t make this mistake on your new build, check with your contractor and make sure a proper structured wiring system is going to be installed as part of the house or request someone do it as part of the building project and as part of the mortgage. 

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] or call (902) 453-3388 and I’ll do my best to help you.