There is no basement; it is being built in the south. I will put in a conduit from the control room to the attic (good idea).
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I would love some feedback on which security system people would recommend. I am thinking of the DSC with Envisalink or the ELK system?
Donât have much of an opinion as to currently available systems,. However, the DSC/Envisalink combo is what I have been using for the last two years integrated with HE. The Envisalink/HE integration is quite âchattyâ so some may recommend having a HE hub dedicated to running any automations which make use of your sensors associated with the DSC. I have not had to do this and only run one hub without any noticeable problems or delays. I run an old DSC (Power864, about 20 years old!) with all 64 zones utilized which has been updated with Envisalink about two years ago so I could integrate it with my Hubitat. It has been rock solid (as I stated, used for about 20 years now). However, there may be some ânew fangledâ stuff (for you youngâuns, LOL). I am just used to DSC (I have self installed DSC systems for my homes and businesses for 40 years with great reliability so it might just be the momentum effect in my case). There may be updated systems such as the Vista system but again, I do not know of any advantages of more current systems as mine has been in use now for almost 20 years and still going strong! Hope this helps and I envy you being able to start and plan from scratch with all the new stuff available (I had to retrofit everything when installing in my latest residences). Good luck with everything and have fun!
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Few suggestions I have not seen mentioned (or missed):
- If they are doing any shelving or large molding towards the top of rooms I would recommend some outlets towards the ceiling (above the shelves). Put some in when we rebuilt a couple rooms and they have come in handy (plug in repeaters, smart speakers, lighting strips)
- More outdoor outlets and circuits than you might think needed. If they are at all the decorating type (Halloween or Christmas for example) then it never hurts to be able to split up where the power comes from. A few outlets in less-conspicuous areas under eaves can also be useful.
- See if they are thinking about putting any permanent under-eave lighting. A lot of new houses in my area are adding BR30 style can lights into their eaves directly (at least one has RGBW bulbs) but they mostly look awful because they only put a few in so they make these weird lit areas on the house instead of a whole wall wash. If they had put LED strip lighting in diffuser channels it would be much more even.
- Corner eaves or corners of porch ceilings, 2 ethernet drops. One can act as a potential site for an AP, but more importantly they can be a good place to mount a security camera.
- 2 SEPARATE circuits for the network area. It gives a touch of redundancy so they can have 2 different UPS(es) with power fed from the different circuits.
- They may have their own preference for networking already, but I would recommend Ubiquiti. Might be overkill, might not be. Especially with so many drops that will happen. I would certainly recommend a PoE switch.
- Use more than one color of CAT6a (or higher) cable and still label both ends while pulling. It is so much easier to know which port ended up where, especially if combined with different color keystone jacks if possible.
- Keystone jacks are your friend... Not only for the Ethernet ports but also for audio ports they might want. That fancy sound system is going to seem pretty lame if you see the cables running around. For example: if you need to run to either side of a fireplace or such I recommend matching panels on either side so equipment can be swapped (by them or next owner) preferably with a conduit between them
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THIS! I run Envisalink and a Vista panel on a completely separate HE.
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I have a Vista panel and use Konnected for integration with HE. Works great.
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I second the push for speakers. I put a whole home audio system in my new house 9 years ago, and I wish that I had doubled the number of locations and speakers. Now, getting all of that under smart control with my Russound has been a challenge.
I also use Konnected, and it has been nearly flawless for a few years now.
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People are telling you to run Cat6, but I'd say run some fiber also, as most providers are switching over(Fios, Comcast, Optimum) and if you follow the giants you'll be on the right path. We could have never predicted needing so much bandwidth and storage 35 years ago, but here we are and supposedly VR is the next thing, and the more bandwidth the better.
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I think the budget for this gear is going to be more than for my entire primary bedroom addition remodel last year... 
And yes, I am WAY jealous...my home was built in the early 70's and we've been able to add in some built-in stuff over the years via a couple remodels (surround speakers, cable runs, in-wall networking panel, etc.) it just never will be a complete integrated system like new construction can be.
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Believe it or not you can still buy the DSC Power864 :). It must be a solid device. I am going to do everything on one hub even if it is chatty. If I had zigbee motions they would also be sending similar information anyway.
I leaning strongly in favor of a DSC Envisalink setup.
Snell; these are great recommendations. Some they are doing but I will suggest the ones that they are not.
You are second person to recommend a second hub? The hub should be able to handle both Lutron(local network) and Envisalink(Local network). There will only be marginal Zigbee and no z-wave (if I can help it). Z-wave devices seem to be what kills hubs?
I will suggest that. The homeowner thinks he is going to use Amazon Echos everywhere so does not want speakers. I will try to talk to him about putting in speakers.
We are running 10Gig for most of the network and 1G POE for the rest. I will maybe run a couple of dormant fibers just to be sure for the future. I am also documenting everything so that a person 65 years from now can read it. I even leave an extra copy in the walls; I have done that in the past.
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Zigbee be and Wifi mesh networks make older houses much easier to automate.
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Yup - that's been a saving grace. I do have ethernet cable runs to the areas where I needed it most (done during first and second remodels), and of course using HE for Zigbee/Z-Wave automation. My house isn't very large (~2500 sqft ranch) so I've only needed one Unifi AP (U6-LR) centrally mounted on the living room ceiling and I'm covered in the entire house and out 30-40' into the back and front yards.
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Great. Sounds like my personal place 
built in 1966!
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Twins! 
We feel our pain...
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Thought I was the only one. Tiny ptouch labels inside each box(hate brother for PURPOSEFULLY wasting tons of tape with massive feed before & after each label print)
@silverton38 , I have very few zigbee and Z-wave plus devices since just about all my sensors are hardwired and connected to my DSC and so personally have not had a problem running my system on one Hubitat in a 3600 sqft home but YMMV. In addition to Envisalink, I also run the Ecobee Suite integration for my thermostats which is also supposed to be chatty but I have not experienced any slow downs with any automations. Those are the two most hungry apps in my system with Envisalink at 49.7% of busy and Ecobee Suite at 33.4% of busy according to my current logs. I suppose I am somewhat âpushingâ the system since I also have Camect integrated as well as utilizing Echo Speaks as well as Lutron etc., but again, I have not experienced any problems with my single Hub. I do have an additional hub in reserve as a back up (kept up to date with updates but with nothing else on it in the event that my primary hub bites the dust and I need to download a backup to keep my system humming, but have not had the need in the last two years. . . Knock on wood, LOL). I should mention that both hubs are C-7s. Anyway, this thread is full of great suggestions from the community. I too am very jealous that I did not get to start with the walls all open! What a great opportunity to get things right from the get-go.
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