What should you prewire for a smart home?

Start with systems, not cable counts

A strong prewire plan begins with what the home needs to do: reliable Wi-Fi, camera coverage, television locations, whole-home audio, lighting control, shades, access, climate integration, and room for future expansion.

Cable is then selected and routed to support those outcomes. Pulling random wire without a system plan often creates cost without creating useful capability. A wall full of unused jacks is common in new homes; a ceiling access point where the Wi-Fi is actually needed is not.

Wi-Fi: wire the ceilings

Good Wi-Fi in a large or multi-story home comes from several access points mounted on ceilings, each with its own Cat6 cable back to the equipment location. Plan one for roughly every major area of the house, plus coverage for the lanai, pool, and garage.

Wired access points outperform mesh systems that relay wireless signals between units, especially in Florida homes with block walls, tile, and impact glass that weaken Wi-Fi.

Cameras: decide locations before the soffits close

Exterior cameras mounted under soffits need a Cat6 cable to each location. Think about every entry, the driveway, side yards, the pool, and any dock or detached building. It is easy to add a spare cable to a soffit now and very hard to fish one later.

Mark mounting heights and aim on the plans so the electrician and framers know to leave blocking where needed.

Televisions and audio

Every likely TV location should get power and network behind the screen and a conduit to a nearby cabinet or the equipment closet, so source equipment can be hidden and cables replaced in the future. Include the lanai if an outdoor TV is likely.

For whole-home audio, run speaker wire from each ceiling or wall speaker location back to the amplifier location, including the lanai and pool area. Speaker locations should avoid joists, HVAC returns, and recessed lights; mark them on the reflected ceiling plan.

Lighting control needs early decisions

Lighting control affects the electrical rough-in more than any other system. Decide where keypads go, which switch locations are consolidated, and which loads are dimmed. Ask for a neutral wire at every switch box and deep boxes where devices will gang together.

For a Lutron RadioRA 3 system, the design sets keypad locations and engraving, zone assignments, and any shade controls before the electrician wires the house. Changes after drywall are possible but slower and costlier.

Shades: power at the window

Motorized shades are easiest when each window that might get one has low-voltage wire or power at the head, plus blocking in the framing for the brackets. Even if shades are a future project, wiring them now costs little and keeps the option open.

The equipment location

Every system eventually comes back to one place: a closet or cabinet with the internet service, network switch, camera recorder, audio amplifiers, and lighting processor. Give it a dedicated electrical circuit, ventilation (equipment adds heat, and Florida closets are already warm), and room for a small rack. A conduit from this location to the attic makes future cable runs far easier.

Keep it off the garage floor in flood-prone areas, and plan surge protection and battery backup for the network and cameras. Make sure the internet provider's line is routed to this location too; it is surprisingly common for the service to land in a different closet from everything it needs to connect to.

Outdoors and outbuildings

Gates, docks, detached garages, guest houses, and pool equipment all benefit from a conduit run during site work. One empty conduit to each outbuilding means network, cameras, and controls can reach it later without trenching through finished landscaping.

Electrical items people forget

While the walls are open, a few electrical additions are inexpensive and save trouble later. Run a 240-volt circuit to the garage for an EV charger, even if you do not own an electric vehicle yet. Ask for outlets in the soffits for holiday and accent lighting on a switched circuit, and outlets at TV height rather than at the baseboard.

If solar or a battery like Tesla Powerwall is likely in the future, leave space next to the main panel and talk to your electrician about panel capacity now. Whole-house surge protection at the panel protects every electronic system in the home, and it is one of the least expensive upgrades you can make during construction.

Leave a path for what changes

Technology changes faster than the structure of a home. Conduit, accessible pathways, spare capacity, a properly sized equipment location, and accurate documentation create flexibility that a specific cable alone cannot.

Before insulation and drywall, photograph every wall and label every cable at both ends. Those photos are invaluable years later when someone needs to find a stud or a wire. The objective is not to predict every future product. It is to make the home adaptable without opening finished walls.

Timing with your builder

Low-voltage prewire happens after framing and electrical rough-in and before insulation. Builders run tight schedules, so get the plan to the builder early and schedule a walk-through at rough-in to confirm locations. Lakewood Ranch and other new-construction communities move fast; a week of planning up front saves months of compromise later.