welcome everyone to our second episode of soul scape living well we're going to talk about the beauty in the home how it functions and the twenty first century and of course connect you with our local resources manufacturers companies and contractors and of course we want to welcome today our three guests from the sam fi home automation randy halprin who is the business development manager thank you barrett welcome marketing manager thank you for being with us and of course mala mastro bertie i like that name because this is just like apple reverdy and you are the exterior manager and you work on the products in manufacturing motors and controls these motors are typically used in residential buildings but also commercial buildings and the products that they motorized are window coverings and exteriors products so we can really power shades blinds draperies we also do a lot of work in on ngs exteriors screens and shutters so motors ation makes it really easy to operate these products so you don't have to necessarily go and you know manually open or close a shade you can use a hand held remote or a timer or wall switch but when it comes to the smart home systems we have a lot of different interfaces that makes that operation happen automatically so we manufacture and create different products like timers so at a certain time of the day the shades will open or close but we also work with a lot of third party systems so shade the blinds awnings and draperies become part of that system in the home that typically has been associated with maybe security systems or lighting systems but these products are kind of the bridge between the inside and the outside of the home and we feel that controlling that natural light can improve the environment whether it's making it more comfortable or maybe energy efficient correct and security is such a big part of that exactly you know so that's wonderful and so what what is how did it evolve tethered motor  ation involved an initially our first residential product was controlled we're infrared infrared is really great technology and it's time slightly outdated these days i a one motor one control point and shoot application just like we still use on our televisions these days correct whenever you change the channel you communicate via radio and in the hands of the user experience greatly gave them the ability to control multiple shades to both people rooms with a single control they also extended the range it's no longer a point insurance you can literally run your shades up and down from a different room and we have what's called channel also provides individual and group control over the whole house all the motor show function to its maximum of course but you know being in business for twenty eight years myself i do remember that first infrared and it was always about putting that little eyes someplace because we needed to be able to control it and what happened was on the very high windows we couldn't get the right angle so there were some problems in the beginning but here we are how many years later is what you say well i think just off the top my head we discontinued in the eight to ten years ten years ago yeah we know how long has some free been in business i mean motors yeah well when did we start making motors well something in france which is where our corporate headquarters and our products that we started with are also exteriors awnings and shutters and some innovated the sensor so the investment of putting an awning on your home or shutter those products are expensive and if they're not motorized or automated they can be damaged so strong winds come in is ation and motorized in their shades they usually say to me oh what do you think i just got gotten so lazy that i can't get up and pull open my shades and i always say it's not about laziness you know so what can you tell me why should we have boulders on our shades i definitely wouldn't call it laziness and the just the better use of your time and we are so busy these days and why not just take a moment unwind and relax and what a better place to do this than your are your own home yeah but it also talks to him and efficiency talks to security as well and also those hard to reach windows i know the first time i started modernization was those you know fourteen feet high window what can i do with that window and of course i would offer modernization but now motor is a should i offer it to any window it doesn't matter how high it is because i do explain to my clients that it's important to keep the shades down during the day when it's ninety nine degrees out because it keeps the air conditioning in the house cool but also i had a client who was handicapped and one of the very first times that i used a motor was really was on a vertical blinds believe it or not we still sell them but this was a number of years back i would say this is about ten years ago it was wonderful because he was handicapped and he lived by the beach and he had i think it was twelve feet blinds and he said well i want to be able to open them but i'm home during the day and i can't function and so we did put a motor on the verticals and i remember getting his thank you card saying how wonderful it was for him because he had the power right in his own  i love that i i think it's for many reasons that we should motorized you know i remember as a child my father used to tell us to get up and change the channel right and we would never hang of you know get up and go change the channel and  not about laziness that it's about function and ease and comfort and our home and that a lot of clients come to me when i talk about something they say and we use automation and all other facets of our life way to free up time so we can do other things why would you not use it in your home if you can automate a living that gives you more time to  important things right surely would do right and i would imagine resale value is in there as well that someone walks through your home and everything is you know automated wow yeah away yeah it is shameful yeah and you had mentioned and the hard to reach and that what we find is the number one reason why people motorized i mean there are shades but more and more child safety has become a major concern to you have not so once you motorized it almost all the products at eliminating the cord scholar and it chains which is you know oftentimes associated with injuries or just danger so that you know eliminated and then the family can have a peace of mind that they can enjoy privacy energy savings and you know comfort and not have to be concerned about course right or put somewhere hair on the shade even even the cordless you know you still have to touch the fabric right and eventually you will have those fingerprints all the time and so you're right keeping it  big freedom to decide what what to use and what product to use right let's say in the kitchen where you wouldn't want to put soft treatment maybe necessarily you can actually go outside and  work with a lot of companies to really integrated perfectly and motors have gotten smaller and quieter have they not yes because i remember my very first motor it was cheap you know and it was like yeah it's working that we can tell but yeah i mean we launched product last year it's called the sun that's all true but it's a motor and it's you know received as the strongest the quietest powerful motor on the market today so that is really nice because your motor is ation and courage usually offices are homes you don't have to be disturbed if you're putting shades in you know baby nursery they're not going to wake up the baby anymore you have you know workspace and oftentimes in commercial setting as the blinds will adjust automatically depending on the position of the sun you know to block the glare and to make sure that the space is in getting too hot that it's not going to interrupt people working or distract on conference calls so it's really the standard right now and people expect it and we're able to to provide that just as great as fabulous again so it's great function and an office space because you don't want a bunch of people pulling on your shades i really don't know how to operate exactly so to put it on a timer to have it said to exactly do what it needs to do is crucial again to the function of the business so that's fabulous i'm sorry here we had a very funny feedback though with the quietness because people have different preferences so we have traditional remotes that similar to like a t v remote they can use on a coffee table we also have wall switches which are really nice because they're stationary you always know where they are we can without losing our remote exactly and if you're walking into a your product is out it can easily get damages types of storms and they have sensors for the inside so if the light level hits a certain you know threshold all the shades will open or close depending on what you want and we also have time or so again some people want the shades to open in the morning or you know close in the evening and it's going to happen automatically based on the event or that kind of condition that's programmed based on action and then we have action and reaction ackley and of course there's the my link is that correct we want to of the family right so everybody can share it and use the up so can i use my app when i'm on vacation to control my stereo and certainly and again that's another reason for function and security because you could really you know it's not like you've gone panel and battery just because the solar is charging the battery exacto i understand that correctly yes so can it be all three can it be hardwired battery and or know that you would do that no you wouldn't do that it really depends the power source on that type of product the size of the product so larger heavier products may be a drapery or an awning typically require more power but smaller window coverings you know they go into a living rooms or families can be battery powered but they're solar power that rand is talking of is only associated with those with up to the solar and the battery you asked i mean the battery it really depends on how often the product is used and the size of the product that like anything else that uses battery it will have to be charged for replacing the place right off and if the shade is too big if the shade is too big or if you're raising a lowering it multiple times of the day you may have to replace it sooner than as many said the maintenance for a hard wired options you also also want to keep in mind where the window is located if it's a north facing window you probably will not  our i have a lot of trees in my home my money many many trees so i never go for those so anything solar as i don't get enough sunlight but i love my trees so i'm ok with that yes you know can can we retrofit existing shades and you know do i have to renovate my entire house if i want to hard wire now you don't have  question i guess you can retrofit that it really depends on the window coverings which is why you know we suggest sometimes you work with a professional so it depends on the condition of the window covering you know the type of window covering but we can retrofit a lot of products that are custom fabric so traditionally them during the motors ation process and they're building the blind in the shade sometimes they're you know putting it in there while they're making the shade and to retrofit it it's just kind of not worth that right now but it really depends on if i know a flat roman shade of course i could retrofit something like that because do i have to like renovate my whole house is that necessary it's not again we're going to say it depends but it's really not so if you're using a battery system that doesn't require anything you know basically it's a battery but i want to hoard washers and i saw ok so hard wire you don't have to renovate i mean you could possibly need an electrician depending on where the outlets are placed so the power needs to you know access the homes power so it depends on the configuration that you have but it does not require a total renovation now i've done it where it's just  my husband joe and my son michael actually have gone through the training so my son michael is twenty three years old and he just gets it you know it's amazing how the newer generation just as you know boy and they want to ask why should i motorized i don't know well know exactly they were grown up with it therefore they're brought up with the technology they see it they get it which brings me to the question how difficult you know i program a remote control for a client and then i leave and how difficult is it for them to reprogram it's very easy out something you we we create our products with the end user in mind so we have many video instructional videos how to do anything with something product yeah but it's easy it's getting it's known here and it's near and very user friendly so you know my generation is like oh i'm so afraid of technology you know excited that somebody has decided to partner with us and get involved from michael lee c e c e o of something usa coming out and spending the entire day and working with us at the hightstown fair and you as well ma and of course the entire sam freemarket ing team helping us to market habitat n b a because we are building four homes right here in hightstown so we're so excited about that and also to the you know warehouse guys that came out and put up a fence and of course the monetary donation and twenty sixteen and twenty seventeen and hopefully going forward we're so excited that some fee has gotten involved and has become very mindful in the community and really building up mercer county and the community so we really do thank you for that i do have two questions i have one question for all of you if you can answer very quickly and the question i'd like to makes you what in your home makes you happy i also love my home there is one thing it's playing in my kitchen actually it's a hanging plant it's in my kitchen and i monica's it's been with me for years i had it my apartment and you know my husband i bought our first to get to know where we are we're at soul skate interiors dot com where you can come and visit with us and we have a free gift for you there so we hope to see you there ladies gentlem