Why lighting control is the first thing we recommend
Of everything in a smart home, lighting is what you touch every day. A Lutron system replaces the row of six switches by the door with one keypad that reads "Evening," "Cook," "Clean up" and "Off," and it dims every layer in the room to the level you chose once and never think about again. It turns the outside lights on at dusk, lowers everything slowly at bedtime, and makes an empty lake house look lived in while you are in Boston.
We have specialized in Lutron RadioRA since the business began. We know which dimmers work with which LED fixtures, how to lay out a keypad so a guest understands it, and how to make a 1920s Cambridge colonial and a new Winnipesaukee build feel equally considered.
RadioRA 3 or RadioRA 2?
RadioRA 3 is Lutron's current residential system: Sunnata dimmers with a soft touch-and-glide feel, Alisse and Palladiom keypads in metal finishes, Ketra and Lumaris tunable white light, and a processor that scales to large houses. It is our default for new construction and for whole-house retrofits.
RadioRA 2 is the previous generation and still excellent. If you already have an RA2 system we can expand it, re-program it, add shades to it and bring it into an RTI interface. We also install RA2 where a client prefers its keypad styles.
Both are wireless between devices, which is why most retrofits need no new wiring: the dimmer goes where the switch was, the keypad goes where the gang box is, and the processor sits in the rack or a closet.
What a typical project includes
- Dimmers and switches for every controlled load, matched to the fixture type (LED, incandescent, low-voltage, fan)
- Engraved keypads at the main entries to each room, in Claro, Alisse or Palladiom finishes chosen with your designer
- Scenes programmed per room and whole-house scenes (Welcome, Goodnight, Away, Entertain)
- Astronomic schedules for exterior and landscape lighting
- Occupancy and vacancy sensors in baths, closets, mudrooms and garages
- Pico remotes where you want control without a wall box: bedside, by the dock, on the boat
- Lutron shades on the same keypads and schedules
- Integration with RTI, Sonos, Apple Home, Alexa or Google if you want voice
Lumaris and Ketra: light that changes with the day
Tunable white LED tape in coves, toe kicks and bars, and Ketra downlights where it matters most, let a room shift from crisp daylight to warm candlelight on a schedule. In a lake house it is the difference between a kitchen that feels like an office at breakfast and one that feels like a lodge at dinner.
Retrofit, remodel or new construction
For an existing home we survey every switch, note the loads behind it, and replace them room by room, usually without opening a wall. For a remodel we coordinate keypad locations with the electrician before the rough inspection. For new construction we deliver a lighting control drawing set and keypad schedule the electrician builds from, then return for trim-out and programming after paint.
Where we install Lutron
Greater Boston, including Somerville, Cambridge, Boston, Brookline, Newton, Wellesley, Weston, Lexington, Winchester, and the Lake Winnipesaukee region, including Alton, Alton Bay, Wolfeboro, Tuftonboro, Moultonborough, Meredith, Center Harbor, Gilford.
