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For Builders · Architects · Custom Homeowners

New Construction AV & Pre-Wire in Cincinnati

We coordinate with custom builders, architects, and homeowners to pre-wire homes during framing — saving 2-4x vs retrofit and locking in smart home capability from day one. Cincinnati, NKY, and Dayton custom builds since 1988.

Bring Us Into the Project
Call (513) 759-4477
Pre-Wire ROI

Why Pre-Wire Saves 2-4x

Pre-Wire During Framing
$25K - $75K

For a 5,000 sqft home: 2-3 days of wire pulling, easy access, no patching. Includes networking, audio, theater, lighting, security, shades, outdoor. We coordinate with electricians on site.

Retrofit After Drywall
$60K - $200K

Same scope retrofitted: fish wire through walls, cut and patch drywall, paint touch-ups, slower install. Some runs may be impossible without major surgery. 2-4x the cost for the same system.

Builder FAQs

For Builders & Homeowners Building Custom

When should you bring us in?

Ideally during design — before plans are finalized. We can advise on outlet placement, conduit runs, equipment closet sizing, and HVAC for racks. Worst case, we need to be in before drywall goes up.

Do you work with our preferred builder?

Yes — we coordinate with custom builders across Cincinnati, NKY, and Dayton. We provide a wire spec package and show up at framing/pre-drywall meetings.

What if the homeowner doesn't want full smart home now?

Pre-wire anyway. Wire is cheap during framing, impossible after. Even if they only install whole-home audio today, wiring for theater, security, shades, and outdoor lets them add later without breaking walls.

Can you handle the entire low-voltage scope?

Yes. Audio, video, networking, security, lighting control low-voltage, motorized shade low-voltage, central vacuum, irrigation control — all of it. One integrator, one schedule, one warranty.

Pre-Wire, Explained

What Happens Between Framing and Drywall — and Why It Is the Cheapest Money You Will Spend

A new build in Greater Cincinnati gives you one window, roughly two weeks long, when every wall is open and every wire costs a few dollars to run. After drywall the same wire costs many times that, plus paint and patching. Pre-wire is the discipline of using that window well: Category cable to every TV location, office, and access-point spot; speaker wire to the rooms that will ever want music; conduit to the screen wall of the future theater; power and control at every window that might get a shade; and a home run of everything back to one equipment closet with real power and cooling.

We start at the plan stage, not the framing stage. Working from your builder’s drawings we mark TV heights, keypad locations next to the light switches, camera positions on the exterior, and where the rack lives. Then we walk the house with the electrician before rough-in so the low-voltage and line-voltage plans agree — where Lutron panels go, which circuits are dimmed, where the network switch and the alarm panel share a wall. Builders in Mason, Liberty Township, and Deerfield Township have been running this playbook with us for years.

You do not have to buy the whole system on move-in day. Pre-wire is about options: a house wired for whole-home audio, a theater, shades, and cameras can add each of them later without opening a wall. What we install at trim is usually the network, the lighting, and the rooms you use every day; the rest is a phone call when the budget or the kids arrive. Start with the smart home overview or ask your builder to loop us in.

Structured wiring and equipment rack for a new construction home by Phantom Sound in Cincinnati
Pre-Wire Questions

New Construction AV FAQs

When should we bring you in?

At the plan stage, ideally before the electrical walk-through. We can still help after framing starts, but the best results come from marking the plans together.

What should every new build be wired for, even if we do nothing else?

Category cable to every TV and desk location and to ceiling points for Wi-Fi access points; conduit to the main TV wall; speaker wire to the kitchen, great room, primary suite, and patio; and power at window heads for future shades.

Does pre-wire cost a lot?

Pre-wiring during framing is dramatically less expensive than retrofitting a finished home — it is mostly labor and cable. We quote it from the plans so the number is in your build budget early.

Do you work with my builder's electrician?

Yes. We coordinate line-voltage and low-voltage plans, lighting panel locations, and rough-in timing directly with the electrician and the site superintendent.

Can we add the systems in phases after move-in?

That is the point of pre-wire. Network and lighting at trim, then audio, theater, shades, and cameras whenever you are ready — without opening walls.

Related Pages

Smart Home Automation · Lutron Installer · Home Networking · Smart Home Mason · Lighting Control

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