+24 votes
by (380 points)
Do any of you install SmartThings and compatible devices for other people?  
Do any of you install SmartThings and compatible devices for other people?

16 Answers

+16 votes
by (880 points)
 
Best answer
Nope. The second you do it now you're tech support for life  
+16 votes
by (470 points)
I have, can do again.  
by (380 points)
@riposte928 what’s your primary occupation? Do smart home devices fit into that?  
by (470 points)
@circular5 IT Director, previously network admin & engineer. Really just an adult tech junkie.  
+17 votes
by (830 points)
I run a small locksmith business and have installed about 5 hubs in the last two years. Usually for a office that wants to generate codes and monitor (using rboy apps) . i will help troubleshoot occasionally but most of the time I leave it in the customers hands after giving them a walk thru tutorial.  
by (380 points)
@bicentenary that’s interesting! I was wondering if locksmiths had started offering connected locks more frequently. Do you promote it to existing customers?  
by (830 points)
@circular5 ya I try. its more of a niche right now but its def growing. its the wifi locks that people want. once you start talking hubs, zwave zigbee it makes them dizzy
by (380 points)
@bicentenary but aren’t the Z-wave locks so much less expensive? I recently sold about 300 z-wave locks for a multifamily project and they were under $100 to the contractor. The WiFi locks are usually much more expensive
by (830 points)
@circular5 ya but when you include a hub (more $$)and users not knowing what zwave is they tend to gravitate towards wifi (at least in my experience)
by (380 points)
@bicentenary I guess, but even with the hub it was under $130. Those Kevo locks are way more, even at wholesale
by (640 points)
@circular5 which z-waves did you sell for under $100 a piece?  
by (380 points)
@apprehensible Kwikset 888. But that’s wholesale to a contractor.  
+15 votes
by (420 points)
Yes ‍♂️
by (380 points)
@manchineel hey! I know you!  
by (420 points)
@circular5 and you sir are a fine fellow to know lol
by (170 points)
@manchineel is he though?  
by (420 points)
@baptistery oh yes! Can’t say one bad thing about him.  
by (380 points)
@manchineel just don’t ask @baptistery about me packing up his order  Gosh, Steve. Just let it go  
+11 votes
by (1.9k points)
Omg no! Not that reliable so you can just forget about it. Pretty much the same thing with alarm panels and zwave devices - I’m trying to stick to alarm sensors only
by (380 points)
@camembert you have issues with alarm panels and z-wave?  
by (4k points)
@circular5 man my zwave has been crazy stable. My zigbee is a little weak, but that isn't the hub or devices fault, I just don't have many. Waiting on some plugs to shore some things up.  
by (1.9k points)
@circular5 if you compare powerg with zwave - definitely I have issues with zwave
+18 votes
by (440 points)
God no! I can’t even stand it in my own home. I don’t have the patience to be tech support for someone else
by (550 points)
As someone who has worked tech support, I completely concur.  
+15 votes
by (950 points)
No, never! I already get too many tech support requests for stuff I never touched.  
+2 votes
by (1.1k points)
I've thought about it but IoT devices aren't reliable enough to stand behind as a contractor. It's still a hobby for techies. You'd be on the phone daily with the average Joe every time some API changed or a service has an outage.  
+7 votes
by (550 points)
The homeowner has to be into it for the system to work.  
+9 votes
by (2.7k points)
For home automation to move to next level 3 things are needed. 1. More to needs to be able to run from the hub in an outage scenario. (Internet or vendor outage) . 2. Devices need to auto recover. If a device is powered but offline or unavailable it needs to have the intelligence to reconnect itself not wait for a power cycle to get it back online. 3. Automated rebuilding of mesh to improve connectivity and performance. There are other features that would be great but these 3 are essential for reliability of the system.  
by (1.1k points)
@facing agree
by (4k points)
I agree with #1 completely, that's an attraction of Hubitat. However, my experience has been that often times I can log into the IDE and reboot for a customer remotely and solve 99% of their issues. Annual maintenance such as battery changes cuts down on problems as well. My favorite call is when someone has turned a lamp off with a smart bulb, and no i've never charged them.  
by (700 points)
Also need to be able to back up settings.  
+18 votes
by (2k points)
My company does
+6 votes
by (1.1k points)
No not because I don't want to but that opens up a can of worms for support. I do help with webcore and logic though. Devices can be flaky.  
+9 votes
by (1.2k points)
Did once. Never again. I don't want to do the support.  
+1 vote
by (750 points)
This things are DIY, if you do it and you’re not a professional installing pro equipment, leave alone, don’t help your neighbors. All you will get is text if things stop working.  
+13 votes
by (1.3k points)
No way! If you charge someone to set up their system, and then the hub dies (which they do-frequently), are you going to tell them they need to pay you AGAIN to redo the whole system because ST doesn't have a backup/restore option? ST is still just an unreliable toy.  
+11 votes
by (11k points)
Yup, dozens. Lots of people don't know how to do it, or don't care and just want it to be there. So I do it for them. I have a database, they can make a request for something new or report issues - could the XYZ do blah blah when my wife arrives home? Can usually do it in a few minutes. Tech support is minimal. For people that want to manage it themselves after setup, well. They have a different rate because most of the requests will be to a) figure out what they were trying to do, b) what they did do, and c) fix what they mangled in the process. Sites I manage completely have a lower rate.  
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