Keeping life simple
Ease of use the number one goal in residential contractor’s own home
How simple is simple? If it passes the “three-year-old test,” Todd Anthony Puma figures it’s simple enough.
Puma is the owner and president of The Source Home Theater, Powered by Fregosa Design, a residential integration firm based in New York City. He says he has found that his clients are happiest if their systems are extremely easy to use. So whenever he and programmer Rich Fregosa develop a new customer interface, he gives it to his three-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son to try. If they have trouble using it, he gives it back to Fregosa to update.
His children were very busy last year as Puma and his wife undertook the building of a new house for their family, a house which would also be used as a product testing facility and a showroom where he could demonstrate home automation systems to clients.
“We don’t like to sell products that we haven’t used in our own homes,” he explains. “Every electronic system in my house has stood up to the use and abuse of my family, and it’s something we would recommend. And because clients see us using it here, they can believe in it.”
Puma’s two-story, 3,500 square foot New Jersey residence includes two home theaters, a total of five additional TVs and a 19-zone audio system, plus automated control of its lighting, climate, and security systems. Everything is controlled with Crestron technology, including the DigitalMedia™ network and Crestron lighting control products.