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Whether you’re building a new home or renovating an existing structure, you’re clearly no stranger to the time, resource, and energy investment involved.

You might feel that, in the wireless age, pre-wiring your property is something that isn’t as necessary as it once was – but nothing could be further from the truth. Whether you’re considering being able to automate certain home processes, or having a fully automated smart home, pre-wiring is a great way to build an infrastructure – easily.

While by no means impossible, retrofitting will lead to you being limited in terms of what you can do. By incorporating your pre-wiring plans before the house is complete, you’ll be prepared to do what you want to do now – and you’ll be ready for the next advances in technology later.

Here are some ways you will benefit dramatically if you opt to pre-wire your home.

1. Security

Comfort and peace of mind mean having a security system that you can believe in.

Smart security systems these days allow you to protect your home at all times. Through combining lighting with alarms and motion detectors, it can be virtually impossible for anybody to tell if you’re at home, at work, or on vacation.

This is excellent for minimizing the risk of burglary, and in most cases, a security system can connect to your smartphone or tablet. So even if you’re halfway across the world, you can check in on your safe haven and make sure it’s, well, safe.

2. Think Smart

With the dramatic increase in smart technology and the ability to engage with remote monitoring, pre-wiring your home means you can get your property ready.

Think outside the box. Everything from detecting water leaks in your AC to high-temperature alarms – these can all be sent to you via smart technology. Pre-wiring allows you to have the infrastructure and systems in place to install such fail safes.

This can also help you make sure you’re conserving and being careful with power – not just for the environment, but also to help you save money.

3. 8K is Coming

When it comes to the most tangible day-to-day impact of pre-wiring, you’ll probably notice it most when it comes to setting up your home entertainment system.

Are you a movie buff? Do you like music in every room? Want a space to watch the game without interruption? Setting up a pre-wired system is a great way to make sure that you can benefit from all these options now, as well as in the future.

While you might have the best in cutting edge technology right now, it’s important to remember that this is always changing and evolving. With the advent of 8K and the advancements in televisions, it’s a good idea to make sure your home can keep up with your viewing habits.

And even if you don’t want it, bear in mind that should you ever want to sell or rent your property, the next people to live there absolutely might.

4. Future Focus

While you may feel that right now isn’t the time for you to commit to every pre-wired network possible in your home at the moment, it’s important to consider your needs in the future.

Will you want to expand your security system? Do you want to make sure that you can keep up with the latest in AV tech? These are the kinds of considerations that are necessary to make sure that your property isn’t left behind.

At this stage in construction, you have the maximum amount of freedom – and it will not happen again. So creating a pre-wired system you can access at your leisure in the future is a case of spending a little now, to save much more in the future.

5. Time To Sell

Do you know what rarely appears on people’s lists of must-haves? Visible wiring. In a day and age where minimalism and chic aesthetic is everything, putting some effort into hiding your wires now will pay off in the future.

 Having an easy to navigate system, with well-concealed wires is a great way to make sure that – should you ever try to sell the property – you will always enjoy the best value. Most buyers, regardless of the market, want to move into a property where they have to do minimal work or changes.

*Bonus Pro Tip: Centrally Located Hub

Being able to build a centralized connection is a great way to hide all your wiring and equipment. Whatever it is you want to set up in your home – from AV receivers to security systems, they can all go in one place. Creating a designated place, whether that’s a storage room or closet for all of your media equipment, often goes hand in hand with pre-wiring. Better to carve out that space and not need it, instead of needing it and not knowing where to put equipment that, frankly, isn’t very attractive out in the open.

This centralized location for equipment has other benefits, too. It helps you know where everything is, and how to get to devices when necessary – from dealing with annoying beeps and sounds to ensuring that your systems are safe from tampering. It’s also incredibly handy when your system needs servicing.

6. Saving Costs

By establishing the wiring infrastructure before you put up your final walls, you’ll find pre-wiring your home is much less expensive than retrofitting.

The fact that your house’s infrastructure is still available to the technician means you won’t have to pay extra costs on installing security systems or automation, as you won’t have to pay for spooling or stapling cable.

Bottom Line

Pre-wiring prior to sheetrocking just makes good sense if any of the reasons above appeal to you. Yes, you can absolutely retrofit. We do it all the time for customers who move into existing homes. But when you have the opportunity on a new home construction, my best advice is to go into the project with pre-wiring at the top of the list of priorities for a smooth build that anticipates all your new home’s future needs. Build the infrastructure now and save the headache later.