Mukilteo house obeys a universal remote

Published 10:52 pm Saturday, November 10, 2007

MUKILTEO — Imagine a home that’s wired for the best audio and visual entertainment and features a variety of electronic gadgets for the sake of convenience or security. And, to top it off, everything can be controlled by one universal remote.

It really exists, for a price, in a new Mukilteo home. With 8 to 10 miles — that’s right, miles — of wiring hidden behind the walls, it’s near the limit of what can be done in home automation.

“This house is just about fingertip convenience and immediate information,” said Craig Morrison, president of Snohomish’s CMI Homebuilders.

Morrison said he’s built more expensive, customized houses with similar systems installed. But those usually have been built to a buyer’s specifications and they cost several million dollars.

The new house CMI has built differs in two ways. First, the 4,000-square-foot, four-bedroom view home is on the market for $1.75 million. Second, the extensive electronic systems were installed without a ready buyer in mind.

“In this level of home, I don’t know of any other builder in Snohomish County who’s gone to this extreme,” Morrison said.

But he expects that he and other builders will be doing more of this as the technology involved gets cheaper and high-end home buyers come to expect more electronic amenities.

“The technology for this home is light years ahead of what you’ll find in other homes in this range,” said Bryan Morrison, Craig’s son. The younger Morrison heads Morrison Home Innovation in Lynnwood, which installs home theaters and automation systems.

What does all that technology and the snakes of wiring mean for the homeowner?

Tired of turning off light switches around the house? Want to answer the door while remaining sprawled on the couch? You can do both with the push of a couple buttons on the main remote control.

Hosting a party? A few more button pushes, and the music that wafts out of ceiling speakers in nearly every room can be preset to a certain level, along with the lights around the house.

The rooms also have multiple outlets connected to both coaxial cable and category 5 wire networks, meaning it’s possible to hook up digital phones or high-speed Internet connections and the like nearly anywhere in the house.

With all the wiring, it’s also possible to place surveillance cameras and sophisticated security devices throughout.

Processing all this requires a big brain, and this house has a corner closet in the basement level where a computer server rack will hold all the computing and central electronics for the system. Bryan Morrison, who lives nearby, points to his server rack as an example of what’s needed for a finished system. The rack is full of equipment rising up to the ceiling.

That central location can hold countless CDs and DVDs for entertaining, so that they don’t have to be changed every time you want to watch a movie or listen to music. With that processing power, a homeowner can control the house from any room, or even halfway around the world, Bryan Morrison said.

Some of what this house has hard-wired in could be done with wireless systems alone, but that wouldn’t be as reliable, Bryan Morrison explained. And by installing it during the initial construction, it’s much cheaper than trying to run wires through walls later.

In order to customize the system to the needs of whoever ends up buying the house, Craig Morrison is offering a $10,000 buyer’s allowance.

Janet and Greg Buehler of Windermere Real Estate have been showing CMI’s Mukilteo house to prospective buyers. Whether they’re baby boomers who are looking for convenience and simplicity or more tech-savvy younger buyers, they’ve been impressed with the home automation system, Janet Buehler said.

“This is what the buyers are looking for. This is what they need,” she said.

The three-story house has many other features to impress, such as Brazilian wood floors, an elevator, a cement wine cellar and the remote-controlled toilet and bidet and seven-head shower in the master bathroom. And there’s the view of Old Town Mukilteo, the ferries on Possession Sound and Whidbey Island.

But many luxury homes have killer views and luxurious amenities, Craig Morrison said. He hopes that “what’s behind the paint” in the way of electronics sets this house apart. And he expects to do more like it.

“I’m completely sold on the fact that the buyers want to have convenience like this,” he said.

Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com