Control4 for offices, restaurants and showrooms.

Why a small business ends up with five remotes

Most commercial spaces collect their technology one contractor at a time. The music came with the build-out, the screens were added later, the lighting is on a wall of switches the electrician labeled once, and the shades are on their own remote in a drawer. Every piece works. Nobody on the staff knows how all of them work, so the place opens a little differently every morning depending on who unlocked it.

Control4 is the layer that ties those pieces together. It does not replace the speakers, the displays or the light fixtures you already own; it gives them one set of buttons and one schedule. That is the same job it does in a house, and it is why a system designed for homeowners suits a business whose staff are not technicians.

What it runs in a commercial space

• Opening and closing. One press, or a schedule, sets the lights, starts the music in the right zones at the right level, turns the screens on and lowers the shades on the sunny side. Closing reverses it, so nothing is left running overnight because the last person out forgot a switch.
• Music by zone. The dining room, the bar, the patio or the showroom floor each at its own level, with the volume range set so a busy afternoon cannot turn the lobby into a club.
• Screens. Displays that come on with the right input or content and stay that way, rather than a search for the right remote every morning.
• Lights and shades. Scenes for the time of day and the kind of day: a bright working room, a softer evening, a presentation setting in a showroom. Lutron lighting and shades sit under it when the space calls for them.
• Climate and access, where wanted. Thermostats and door locks can join the same control, so the manager can check the building from a phone after hours.

Offices, restaurants and showrooms

Offices. Reception music, the lobby screen, the lights and the shades on one schedule, and the owner’s office set up the way a good home office would be. Meeting rooms that join video calls every day are a different job; we build them on Crestron and certified meeting platforms, described on commercial AV and Zoom Rooms and Teams Rooms.

Restaurants and bars. The front-of-house routine at open and close, screens over the bar, and the lights stepping down for dinner. Where the sound itself has to be engineered for a loud room, that is the work on restaurant audio, and we decide in the design which system the staff touch for what.

Showrooms and retail. A space that has to look right the moment a customer walks in: lighting scenes for the product, music at a level that lets people talk, and a demonstration a salesperson can start from a tablet. Our own Control4 Certified Showroom in Overland Park is the easiest way to see what that feels like before deciding.

When Control4 is the wrong tool

We would rather say this before the bid than after. Control4 is not our choice for a conference room that has to join a meeting every hour, for a building-wide lighting system that has to meet energy code (that is commercial lighting control on Lutron’s commercial lines), or for large venues and production audio, which we do not bid. Many businesses end up with Control4 in the public rooms and something else in one or two rooms with a heavier job. That is a normal outcome, and the design says which is which.

Already have a Control4 system that stopped working?

A business sometimes inherits a Control4 system with the building, or lose touch with the dealer who put it in. If one piece has failed, start with Control4 repair. If the whole system needs a new owner, the steps are on system takeover.

How the project runs

It starts with a walk through the space with whoever opens and closes it, because their routine is the specification. We list what is already installed and what can stay, then design the control around the few things the staff do every day. Wiring and installation are scheduled around your hours, programming happens in house, and the system is tested in the space as it is actually used before we hand it over.

What you are left with

The same handover our commercial AV work ends with: the rack and cable documentation, network addressing, admin credentials in your name rather than ours, and a short run book for the staff, followed by training in the space with the people who will press the buttons. Every install carries a five-year workmanship warranty, the equipment carries its manufacturer warranty, and you have our support for as long as you own the system. The details of ongoing support are on service plans, and the brand itself on our Control4 dealer page.

Related services

Most projects combine two or three of these. Worth a read.

• Commercial AVBoardrooms and training rooms that start with one button.→
• Restaurant and Hospitality AudioZoned dining-room audio with presets from soundcheck to close.→
• Control4 Repair and ServiceOrphaned-system repair, firmware, and programming recovery — Platinum Dealer escalation to Snap One.→

Start with a walk through the space.

Send a few photos or the floor plan, or book a time to walk it with us. The bid comes after we have seen it.

Call (913) 804-7575 Text a photo of the space Plan a site walk