My professional life, first as a paramedic and later as a State Trooper investigating traffic homicides, was defined by worlds where details were critical and methodical problem-solving was paramount. I built a career on navigating complex, high-stakes situations, and was accustomed to solving difficult problems. Then, I tried to build a smart home and discovered a challenge where I was completely unprepared.

My journey began with a simple, common goal: to automate the lights in our Florida home. With three young children, the lights in our Florida home were constantly being left on. I believed a few smart bulbs and an Amazon Echo was the solution. After installing motion sensors and creating a few routines, I felt I had succeeded.

Reality, however, quickly intervened. I learned the cardinal rule of smart bulbs—the light switch must always remain on—a concept my family instinctively ignored. My carefully crafted automations were constantly defeated by the flip of a physical switch. My attempts to tape over the switches were met with humorous defiance. I conceded defeat, removed the bulbs, and my smart home ambitions were shelved.

The turning point came when my wife and I purchased an RV, presenting a perfect opportunity for a complete do-over. This time, I shifted my focus from collecting disparate devices to engineering a unified, cohesive system. The RV environment presented unique challenges, but each obstacle became a valuable lesson. Through trial and error, I identified the most reliable sensors, the most integrable devices, and the foundational principles for building a truly resilient smart home. My first taste of real success—the moment the obsession truly took hold—was when I automated the RV’s motorized TV lift. It wasn’t just on/off; I used a cascade of relays, sensors, and conditional logic that would raise the TV on a voice command and retract it automatically when the TV was switched off. It was a complex Rube Goldberg machine of my own design, and it worked flawlessly. That was the moment I knew what was possible. This hard-won knowledge was the bedrock of the system I later built when we moved to Ecuador.

That hard-won knowledge now serves as the foundation for our home here in Loja, Ecuador—a place we affectionately call The Panorama. It is my personal laboratory and the ultimate proof-of-concept for the principles I advocate. The Panorama is not just a collection of devices; it is a single, cohesive system that actively works to make our lives safer and more comfortable in ways we often no longer consciously notice.

From this experience, I developed a core philosophy I call Intelligent Sovereignty. This principle is about empowering you, with full authority, over your home’s technology. It is achieved through a strategic commitment of Local Control, ensuring that your mission-critical systems remain private, secure, and independent of the internet. This builds the core of my philosophy when constructing a private and reliable smart home.

My passion for this approach led me to start a Facebook group, ‘DIY Smart Home Mastery,’ simply to share what I was learning. To help others, I created planning worksheets, which grew so detailed members began demanding instructions. Those instructions evolved into chapters, and I soon found myself writing the book I wish existed when I started out. 

This website is the culmination of that entire journey. The insights I share are not theoretical; they are forged from practical experience, from blown circuits to the thrill of seeing a complex automation come to life. I am here to give you the map I had to draw myself—a clear, proven path to creating a truly intelligent Thinking Home that works for you.