What’s involved in putting together a smart home? Is it just a matter of connecting some smart devices to your home network and downloading a few apps? That might be a way to add some smart conveniences to your Destin, FL home, but it won’t necessarily be the smart home of your dreams.

As a smart home company, we think there’s more to home automation services. Notice the word services, as these are key in achieving the integrated experience you want from an intelligent home that complements and enhances your lifestyle. Here are four key services to look for when crafting your smart Destin home.

If there's one thing constant in this world, it's the relentless advance of technology. From super-computers in our pockets to electric cars, technology keeps moving forward rapidly. Smart home automation, of course, is no exception, and it's one of the most exciting areas in technology, bringing new benefits and capabilities to the home. 

As metro Atlanta’s premier AV and home automation company, GHT Group stays at the forefront of what’s new in smart homes. Here are four trends that we see accelerating into 2022. 

Are you the techy type that all your friends call for advice on the latest devices? Maybe you’re also handy with home projects and enjoy the undeniable satisfaction of doing something yourself. If so, you might be quite tempted to try your hand at doing a DIY home automation project. 

Depending on what you want to accomplish, you might be fine going the DIY route. But if your home is large, you want sophisticated automation sequences, and you want a system that doesn’t need frequent debugging, you may want to read the rest of this blog. Or you can skip it and call GHT Group, Atlanta’s leading Control4 installer, about your smart home wish list. We’ll be happy to help! Now, keep reading below for all the reasons to bolster your decision to call us – just in case you need some. 

Unlike other state monikers that might leave you puzzled, the Sunshine State aptly fits Florida. The Rosemary Beach and Panhandle area average over 220 sunny days a year, and that doesn’t even count those days when it rains in the afternoon. All that sun makes for a wonderful climate and outdoor lifestyle, but it can also be hard on your home’s interior.

Most homes in the area employ some type of custom window treatments for all the usual reasons – privacy, light control, and more. But did you know that adding power to your window treatments can let you easily control the Florida sun inside your home? Discover four reasons how custom motorized shades protect and enhance your Rosemary Beach home.

When designed well, your backyard can feel like a nice escape from home—even though you haven’t technically left. Fresh air, outdoor views, a bubbling hot tub, and good company is often all it takes!

Still, unexpected weather changes can force you right back inside if your outdoor living spaces aren’t equipped with the protection needed from extreme temperatures, sunrays, bugs, and rain.

When you add motorized outdoor shades to your Atlanta, GA backyard, you can keep these elements at bay and enjoy your exterior living spaces all day long and in any season! Below, learn four smart ways to use motorized outdoor shades for extended fun in the sun (or moonlight).

We won't say that fall and winter come without warning in Georgia, but does it go from pretty balmy to quite cool in a hurry come November? Or is it just us? Or maybe it's the effect of daylight savings time? 

If shorter days and less sun have had an effect, we may have a solution for you – home automation. Smart features in your home can help you with the transition to the crisper seasons in our fast-growing Woodstock suburb. And fear not, you know winter in Atlanta isn’t protracted or severe, so it won’t be long till the warm spring and summer are back! In the meantime, GHT Group, your local home automation company, has some smart tech to make the seasonal transition just a little easier. Keep reading for four of our favorites smart features below. 

Have you recently acquired or built your dream vacation home in Miramar Beach? When you’re not there enjoying the Florida sunshine and the Gulf breezes, there’s no need to worry about the state of your abode. Whether you rent it out for income or you want to monitor your property for safety and security, smart home automation technologies can keep you abreast of what’s happening.

Based in Rosemary Beach, GHT Group is your local home automation services company that can help you set up your vacation home for easy management while you’re there or away. Learn about five smart automation ideas below!

If you're considering upgrading your Rosemary Beach, FL home with the latest in smart home technology, you may be wondering if you should go the DIY route or hire a professional home automation contractor. While a DIY approach can be cost-effective, there are better choices for those who want a fully integrated and customized home automation system. Let's explore the benefits of hiring a home automation contractor and six reasons why it's worth the investment. 

With so many devices communicating wirelessly these days, you might think the days of wiring in homes are over. For many years, homes have been routinely prewired with low-voltage cabling for things like doorbells and security alarms. When home networking was taking off in the late 90s and 2000s, wiring new homes with ethernet cabling was standard practice for connecting desktops and laptops to the internet.

Now, high-speed internet and Wi-FI inside homes are commonplace. A wide array of devices use wireless protocols and Wi-Fi to communicate. So is wiring really needed that much anymore? Yes! It turns out smart home prewiring is still required for building the connectivity infrastructure for the burgeoning number of devices and functions in today's homes. Keep reading below to see what key smart home features still need and benefit from prewiring.

Do you see beautiful pictures of home interiors and sometimes wonder why yours doesn’t quite look as good? You may have better decor and furnishings, but somehow it doesn’t come through. It might be the light. Just as the perfect photograph depends on expertly applied lighting, your home can look far better with the right illumination.

To help you see your Marietta, GA, home in the right light, we’ve assembled four top tips from expert lighting designers to get you started. Keep reading below!

If you’re fortunate enough to live in Buckhead, GA, widely thought of as Atlanta’s premier neighborhood, life is better than in most places. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take some routine and monotony out of life with the help of smart home automation. They say work smarter, not harder, right? Smart home technology lets you live smarter! 

There is a long, long list of what you can do with home automation to make your life easier and have time for things that matter. In the interest of brevity, we’ll detail six of our favorites below for better living through automation. 

Motorized shades are extraordinarily useful anywhere, but they are particularly so in Florida. With motorized shading in your Santa Rosa Beach home, you have the power to tame the Florida sun in the palm of your hand – and a few other clever ways too.

For custom motorized shades, our partner Lutron simply offers more. More fabrics, more controls options, more styles; more of everything. Here are six reasons (we could list more, but your time is valuable) why Lutron should be on the top of your list for motorized shading. 

Lighting control is one of the most popular smart home features. People often associate it with energy savings, but the benefits go far beyond that. While lighting control can be an excellent solution for one or a few key rooms of your Freeport, FL, home, it’s even better when you integrate a whole home lighting control system into your property. 

To give you a better sense of what you can do with a lighting control system, let’s explore what a typical day is like with this smart solution. 

To paraphrase a common refrain on airline flights, "we know you have many choices in home automation systems, and we're glad you chose us." True, there are many choices in smart home automation. There is an almost bewildering array of options in consumer automation devices and platforms, tied together by software and devices from Google, Amazon, Apple, and Samsung.

But when it comes to managing larger, more sophisticated homes, the choices narrow down further and quickly. Sure, you can use parts of excellent consumer products like Google's Nest ecosystem to manage some functions of your home. You can run your own email server at home, too. But few people operate their own email servers because they have to be quite technically savvy to keep them running correctly. And while consumer home automation is far more accessible, the more you do with it, the more complicated it gets. And there are some things that these systems won't do without a great deal of advanced hacking.

There is a more straightforward way. You can call GHT Group to design and build a customized home automation solution that works exactly the way you want in your Johns Creek, GA home, with no tech support required from you. And if your property is quite large and there are many things to manage – we would likely recommend a Crestron solution, as there are few limits as to what it can do. Read on to learn more about three ways Crestron systems are a different breed of automation solution.

Everyone has that friend who is the "tech person." They seem comfortable with technology and might be the go-to person for questions about smartphones, computers, or any device with an internet connection. We think that's great. But we have a word of advice—please don't rely on that person to put together your smart home. 

Smart homes are not simple projects. And your friend might know about some popular consumer smart home products, but chances are they don't understand the complexity of a complete, integrated smart home. To do your Vinings, GA, home the right way, you need a local smart home contractor. Let’s explore the reasons below.