Should I bother installing a security system in my new home?
In today’s world of custom home building, it has become common practise to install home security systems.
There are several important reasons for this, let’s start with the obvious;
• This helps protect your family from home invasions, giving you a faster response from the police when called by an alarm company.
• When there is a brake in and you are not home it informs the police that there has been a brake in, allowing them to have a quicker response time. When a house alarm goes off often times it is enough to scare burglars out of your home, usually before they have the time to brake or steal anything of real value.
• With video surveillance becoming more popular in security systems it is allowing police to get a positive ID on intruders, helping them make faster arrests. This prevents the same burglary coming back to your home and making a second attempt.
Here are some of the reasons that you probably didn’t know about the benefits of alarm systems;
• If you have a medical condition or live with someone that does you can have the system set up for a single button response for emergency medical response. New alarm systems can be linked to pendent’s that people wear around their necks when they are at home. The pendent has a button on it that calls for medical assistance if the person feels they are in a medical crisis. The pendent’s can even be set up so that if they drop in height quickly (someone falling over) then they will signal for medical assistance. You can also have panic buttons installed in any room in your house that will bring the police or medical attention depending on how it is set up.
• Some alarm systems can be set up for voice activation; this allows you to speak directly to a live person to help ascertain the nature of the emergency.
• With video surveillance in the home you can easy determine if there is a false alarm or an actual emergency. You can monitor the comings and goings of multiple people like children or housekeepers.
• If your not home and your house catches fire the alarm will signal the fire department to respond. With the information you give to the alarm monitoring company they will be able to direct the fire department on how many people live there, who they are and if there are pets in the house that need to be rescued as well.
• Alarm systems will monitor the temperature in your house. In the middle of the winter if the furnace fails and the house temperature drops below a certain point, then the alarm company can alert you so you can send someone over to fix the problem before your pipes freeze.
• Alarm systems can have a detector installed in the sump pail that will signal you or the alarm company if the water level in the pail reaches a dangerous level. This allows you to have measures taken to fix the problem, which will help keep your basement dry and water free.
• New alarm systems come with battery backups. This allows them to keep operating even when the power is out.
• New alarm systems run on a cellular signal to get the alarm calls out. So even if the phone lines are down or cut the alarm will still work.
• Having an alarm in your home can help lower your insurance rates in a lot of places depending on the crime rate.
• Intergraded alarm systems can be set up to change light levels in the house. This allows you to change what lights are on and what lights are off. They can also change the temperature of the house and even monitor if you have left the garage door open when you left for work that morning.
• The stickers that the alarm company puts on your windows and doors can usually be enough to warn off burglars or intruders.
• If you have pets in your home the alarm system can be set up so that no matter what your dog or cat does inside it wouldn’t set off the alarm.
• Your alarm system can be set up with multiple codes. This allows you to give a different code to different people. One code for the family, one code for the cleaning lady and another code for a repairman. This allows you to cancel the code that you gave to a person or tradesmen that is not part of your family without changing the code for your whole family. It also allows you to check with the alarm company if there is ever a problem with theft or damage and find out who was actually in your house at the time that the incident occurred.
Even if you don’t want to install an alarm system in your new home, it best to have the wiring roughed in before the insulation stage. This will give you the option of having the alarm activated at a later date if you decide that you need it. It also will help the resale value of the home in the future. The cost is only a couple thousand dollars depending on how elaborate you want your system to be. That is a small price to pay when you are building a custom home especially if you compare it to what you would have to pay in the future to retrofit it into the finished home.
Remember that proper planning before you start your custom home is the best way to get what you want and an alarm system should be something you seriously consider.
Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.
