Cannon Chapel Drive

How a Pulte New Construction Became a Fully-Integrated Smart Home

The Client

Doug & Katie Horstman at Leesburg, VA

Whole-home automation systems, custom home theatre, multi-zone audio system, video distribution, surround sound, security & cameras, enterprise networking.

Their previous home included a theatre, but the system was clunky, complicated, and so unfriendly to use that Katie had effectively written off the entire room. When the Horstmans decided to build a new home in Leesburg with Pulte, they made a quiet promise to themselves: this time, the technology had to actually work the way they wanted to live with it. It had to be intuitive, reliable, and genuinely enjoyable, not just impressive on paper.

That’s the conversation they came to Sight & Sound Systems to have.

The Challenge

Pulte’s builder process required that all structured wiring be handled through their preferred vendor, Guardian. That meant Sight & Sound couldn’t be the team to put the bone in the walls, but it also meant the bones had to be exactly right for the system we would eventually install.

A wiring decision made wrong at the framing stage could compromise the entire experience years later.

So before the clients closed on the home, Sight & Sound came in as a consulting partner. We helped them understand exactly what to request from Guardian during the structured wiring phase, making sure the foundation was in place to support a full whole-home installation once they closed.

It’s the kind of work you don’t usually notice in a finished home. But without it, the rest of the project wouldn’t have come together the way it did.

The Build

Once the clients closed and Sight & Sound took over installation, the project covered the entire home - inside and out.

A completely custom home theatre.

A dedicated custom home theatre with a riser, full acoustic treatment, eight theatre seats, and a complete equipment package.

A two-story family room with an integrated surround system.

The family room presented one of the project’s most interesting design challenges - a two-story space that needed to perform acoustically as a single environment. We designed a 5-channel surround system with three front-channel speakers and rear surrounds technically located in the adjoining kitchen, but tuned to serve the family room as one continuous audio space.

Surround sound in the basement rec room.

A dedicated surround sound installation extending the home’s audio capability into the lower level.

A multi-room audio system across four distinct living spaces.

Independent audio zones for the patio, deck, kitchen, and clubroom - meaning different content in different parts of the home could be played, all at the same time, all controlled from one system.

Video distribution where it mattered most.

Video distribution across the rec room, family room, and an outdoor TV zone on the patio.

Smart home camera security with Alarm.com.

A smart home security system using Alarm.com covering the exterior of the home, integrated for remote access and monitoring.

An Eero home networking system covering the entire property.

A mesh-based Eero home networking installation designed to support the demands of a fully integrated smart home, because every other system Sight & Sound installed depends on the network underneath it.

Why It Worked?

Three things separated this project from a typical Pulte build paired with a third-party home theatre installation:

Consulting before construction. Sight & Sound Systems was involved at the structured wiring stage, making sure the right low voltage wiring went in before walls closed, even when another vendor was doing the actual installation.

Whole-home thinking from day one. Home audio, video distribution, smart home camera security, networking, and the custom home theatre were designed together as one integrated home automation system, rather than five separate installations added on after the fact.

A smart home setup designed for the user. Katie’s experience with her previous theatre directly shaped how this one was designed, usability and simplicity were guiding principles, not afterthoughts.

The Result

The Horstmans now live in a home where the technology genuinely supports the way they want to live in it.

Music moves with them across four audio zones, from the patio to the clubroom. The two-story family room performs as one continuous acoustic space, with the surround system tuned to fill it seamlessly. The Alarm.com cameras give them confidence in their property without demanding their attention. The Eero network quietly holds it all together.

And the custom home theatre, the room that had become an afterthought in their previous house, is now a dedicated, properly designed space built from the ground up to be enjoyed.

For Sight & Sound, the project is a clear example of what's possible when a new construction smart home installation is approached as one integrated build from the very first conversation, not a series of disconnected installations bolted on after the fact.

Coming in early, coordinating with the builder's structured wiring vendor, and designing every system in concert with the others is what allowed the finished home to perform the way it does.

It's the way every Sight & Sound project starts. And it's the reason clients like the Horstmans end up with a home that finally feels finished.

Have a new construction project of your own in the works? Schedule a consultation with the Sight & Sound home automation experts today and let’s talk about what’s possible.