For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

[aukevin]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Are you or someone you know an electrician? I'd be scared to run power and crap like that lol

My father-in-law was a general contractor for 25 years or so and knows all about electrical, plumbing, etc. So he has been a huge helping hand with all my projects. He's taught me how to make the connections and all that, but he is right there with me anytime we're doing big electrical projects.

[Phobia]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

My father-in-law was a general contractor for 25 years or so and knows all about electrical, plumbing, etc. So he has been a huge helping hand with all my projects. He's taught me how to make the connections and all that, but he is right there with me anytime we're doing big electrical projects.

Pretty much where I learned my skills also. My dad owned a construction company as I was a kid and he pretty much taught me anything I needed to know when it comes to home repairs/remodeling.

[mgoblue]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

My father-in-law was a general contractor for 25 years or so and knows all about electrical, plumbing, etc. So he has been a huge helping hand with all my projects. He's taught me how to make the connections and all that, but he is right there with me anytime we're doing big electrical projects.

Pretty much where I learned my skills also. My dad owned a construction company as I was a kid and he pretty much taught me anything I needed to know when it comes to home repairs/remodeling.

Makes perfect sense...my dad's in computers, so not much help there lol

I can replace outlets and whatnot, probably install a fan, but adding new outlets is a bit much.

[Redacted01]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Scheduled to close on the 27th as long as they meet all their deadlines. Looking forward to that and the week long vacation I'll have the week after.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Been looking at home security options lately. What did you guys go with? I'm intrigued by SimpliSafe ($15 a month for monitoring).

[aukevin]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Been looking at home security options lately. What did you guys go with? I'm intrigued by SimpliSafe ($15 a month for monitoring).

$15 a month for monitoring is great. I have Monitronics for about $27 a month.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

$15 a month for monitoring is great. I have Monitronics for about $27 a month.

That's their basic plan.
$20 for text messaging.
$25 for text and web access.

[Redacted01]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

I went with a local place that does installation and monitoring. Something like Simplisafe sounds good, but for now, I'm going to pay a bit more (still not as much as ADT wanted over 3 years) for a company that has been trusted for years in the meantime, (even though I probably won't need it given how safe the suburbs are here) and I'll consider something like that in the future when my contract is up. I hadn't even heard of it until recently.

Reviews seem pretty good, but there is a high initial cost. With my 3 year contract and installation, I'm paying less than $50 a month right now. Their best package only offers a single smoke detector. My house has one wired in every room so I'm short by at least 4 there. You only get one keypad and I have one at the garage entry and upstairs. So for me at least, the extra keypad and smoke detectors would put you at $750 or so going with their top package. Also, I'm not sure if homeowner's insurance treats every security system the same. Mine I get a 10% discount with monitored security system contract because they know I will have it long-term. Something like this they'd have to check every month to see if you are still eligible for that discount, so you might not get the same benefit. It could be a wash.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

I went with a local place that does installation and monitoring. Something like Simplisafe sounds good, but for now, I'm going to pay a bit more (still not as much as ADT wanted over 3 years) for a company that has been trusted for years in the meantime, (even though I probably won't need it given how safe the suburbs are here) and I'll consider something like that in the future when my contract is up. I hadn't even heard of it until recently.

Reviews seem pretty good, but there is a high initial cost. With my 3 year contract and installation, I'm paying less than $50 a month right now. Their best package only offers a single smoke detector. My house has one wired in every room so I'm short by at least 4 there. You only get one keypad and I have one at the garage entry and upstairs. So for me at least, the extra keypad and smoke detectors would put you at $750 or so going with their top package. Also, I'm not sure if homeowner's insurance treats every security system the same. Mine I get a 10% discount with monitored security system contract because they know I will have it long-term. Something like this they'd have to check every month to see if you are still eligible for that discount, so you might not get the same benefit. It could be a wash.

Gotcha. You actually get 2 keypads and 2 remotes (the 2nd one is considered "free" with their ultimate package) It would be another $120 for the smoke detectors though. So it would be $590 up front (10% off). Then either the $15 or $20 or $25 per month.

It definitely depends on your situation though and if you want to do your own self-installation. Assuming the actual services are comparable, I'd rather pay up front and save down the road.

$600 up front + $20 x 36 months = $1320 / $1800 over 5 years vs.

$45 x 36 = $1620 / $2700 over 5 years

[Redacted01]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Ah, I see that on the ultimate now. I only saw the one keypad, not the one free keypad farther down the list. That makes it a bit better then. I did notice it only came with 4 entry sensors so might have to look at more of those. I have 3 doors alone, plus several first/lower floor windows.

One thing I don't like about it is that door sensors are actually mounted on your door. I've never seen that before; it's always been part of the frame, not external. So that would be something you'd have to think about. For windows it's pretty normal. The price is hard to beat if the equipment is pretty good. If you get it, let us know how it goes because in a few years, I may consider it. I'd like to know what the insurance company thinks of it. That's one of their main points, but I know when I was getting my HO insurance, it stated you get the 10% discount if you have a monitored security system and they wanted a copy of my contract to show that it was monitored.

[Stu]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

I ended up buying a 2gig system from http://suretydiy.com/. The monitoring is $27.95/mo which was significantly less than ADT and other options in my area. They also have a a $22.95/mo option that includes central station monitoring but not the advanced alarm.com features like thermostat control, zwave, etc. There was no contract which was a huge plus in my opinion.

The initial investment into sensors was higher than ADT but when you factor in a 3 year contract it ends up being less costly over the long term. I also like the flexibility of choosing and configuring my own equipment.

[jeremym480]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

I went with a local company for our home security. I didn't want to deal with installing myself and preferred a professional to do it. Maybe it cost a little more ($50/ mo.) but I didn't have to pay anything down so it wasn't too bad overall.

We're a year and a half into our two year contract and I haven't had a single problem, no false alarms or anything like that; and the two or three times that we've triggered the alarm ourselves they have called within 30 seconds. I think it's money well spent, especially when you go away on vacation and can have the peace of mind of knowing that your stuff won't get messed with.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Another question, how many of you guys have a sliding glass door entry? If so, what are you doing for security? Are you using motion detectors or glass break detectors....


Got a call that the building permit is in hand, going to be breaking ground on March 11th.

[jeremym480]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Another question, how many of you guys have a sliding glass door entry? If so, what are you doing for security? Are you using motion detectors or glass break detectors....


Got a call that the building permit is in hand, going to be breaking ground on March 11th.

I don't have a sliding glass door, but I would probably install both. We have one motion detector that cost extra, but really only use it when we're away on vacation since we have so many dogs roaming around.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Another question, how many of you guys have a sliding glass door entry? If so, what are you doing for security? Are you using motion detectors or glass break detectors....


Got a call that the building permit is in hand, going to be breaking ground on March 11th.

I have a sliding glass back door. I don't have any home security system what so ever. I have a dog and that is it.