Resideo's JD Wix, director of sales for residential new construction, joins Ron Jones at VISION House Las Vegas to discuss how connected thermostats, leak detection, and smart fire safety products add energy savings, comfort, and security for new-home buyers. He explains how a single app ties Honeywell Home and First Alert devices together with third-party smart home products builders already install.
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Ron Jones: Hi everybody. I'm Ron Jones, president of Green Builder Media, and we are at the vision House Las Vegas, which we're producing in conjunction with Beazer Homes. This is an extraordinary project full of extraordinary products. And it's my pleasure today to introduce Jade Wilkes, who is the director of sales for residential new construction for Rosedale. Now, let's set the level right off the bat here.
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Ron Jones: I don't know that much about the device that we're looking at in terms of differentiating great product from average product. Okay. What is important to know and what makes your product stand out so good.
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JD Wix: Good question. So first of all, Rosedale, we're a house of brand. So most people know us as Honeywell home in first seller. So those brands kind of stand out. We make a lot of different products. I think the most important these days would be the connected products with thermostats and things like that. Right. So why our products are better or why they stand out is primarily because we we built a great product, but it also adds value to the consumer, adding, things like energy, savings and connect ability to those products.
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JD Wix: Right? So we, we allow the consumer to take the product, connect to it goes into a broader ecosystem that allows them to save energy, look at things like, you know, ventilation, control, humidity control to make the house more comfortable, but also to know what their energy is, you know? Right. So they can look at, you know, how they can consume less energy and spend less money and connect to other products through the home as well, right?
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Ron Jones: So there's an old saying that you measure the things that are important. So what you're saying to me is that these consumers are measuring not only their energy use, but also the way that, it's being distributed and applied and it's creating that comfortable environment for them and giving them confidence, even, I guess, remotely, that everything is working as it should.
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Ron Jones: And the systems of the house are, are properly operated.
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JD Wix: Yeah. So so it's, it's a couple of things. Right. So it's number one, you mentioned connectivity, right. So I can connect to that, that thermostat, wherever I'm at, I can see what's going on with my home. I can make sure that the people in the home are comfortable. I can also get that, you know, that energy usage from that as well.
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JD Wix: And, and I can connect that to other things in the home that are connected as well. Right. So we we don't just do thermostats, we do connected smoke detectors, we do video products, video doorbells, things like that. Right. So it allows that whole ecosystem to be connected from that.
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Ron Jones: And so you have the comfort play. You've got the energy savings play. You've got security play there and then correct through the whole thing. And these are things that are more and more relevant, to the home buyer, to the, how do you approach putting a premium package together for a builder like Beazer? If you're if you're, reaching out to that, first time customer, and you want to convince them that this is the direction they should go, what's the most compelling thing to say?
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JD Wix: Well, there's certain things that every buyer wants, right? So we we've gone down different paths with builders. There's, you know, very complicated smart home systems. There's, you know, really simple smart home systems and kind of what we've diagnosed over the years is what the right path is. So when working with the builder, we're really trying to educate them on, hey, this is what we know every consumer wants.
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JD Wix: And that typically, you know, goes back to, hey, you know, houses are expensive today. Energy is expensive, right? So everybody wants a connected thermostat that makes you know, things more affordable, but also makes the house more livable, right? They want to be able to control those important things in the home. Most people want a video doorbell. It's like a you know, it's almost expected today, a smart garage door opener, the smart front door lock.
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JD Wix: So what we do is we we have a very easy to use app that connects all those products together. So we help educate the builder on, hey, these are the things you should probably put in. This gives the buyer a really open ecosystem where they can go in and move in, connect all these products. You put in, but also add other things that they may want as they move into the home.
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Ron Jones: But are there differences regionally in terms of what, customers are asking for, are looking for, or is it a pretty even playing field?
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JD Wix: I mean, it is. I mean, there's, you know, there's several different, you know, as far as climates are concerned, there's there's different climates across the country. I think, you know, so depending on where you live, different things are more important. So in I live in Houston, Texas. Right. So humidity is a problem. Yeah. So we make, you know, some of the best dehumidifiers in the market that work with the thermostat, work with the, you know, indoor air.
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JD Wix: So having the right products in the system that work with the thermostat to make your house more livable is extremely important. And not only does it do that, it makes the house more efficient. It makes it, you know, more comfortable for you and your family to live in. And it mitigates things like, you know, mildew and stuff that you can get in a moist environment.
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JD Wix: Right. So, so having the right product installed in the right controls and the ease of being able to control that from an app is a big deal, right? Especially for livability and just overall comfort.
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Ron Jones: Well, especially if there's the flexibility of going either with a plug and play or having a suite of products that are very complementary to each other, because that takes the guesswork out of it. And you have a smoother, more streamlined, in fact, out of that, are there any, leverage points that you have, like any, rebates or anything like that that can be taken advantage of by the consumer or by the builder?
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JD Wix: Yeah. So builders for sure. Right. So we we do rebate programs with builders to get our products in the home. But more importantly for consumers. Yeah. So the gateway to that is really the thermostat, the thermostat controls the most expensive energy that's used in the home. So we have demand response programs. We're we're tied to utilities across the country.
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JD Wix: So, homeowners can take advantage of discounts and rebates, through the to their utility, depending on where they live. Right. So they go to our app, they can enroll in those programs if they want to take advantage of that. So that gives them discounts based on the utility. And there's also insurance programs, they take advantage of some of the stuff we have.
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JD Wix: So if you're, you know, if you're in, a home and leak detection, that's a big insurance, claim. So there's discounts for products like that that we built as well.
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Ron Jones: Yeah. In fact, we've seen a lot of movement in that direction. I think, a couple of the national insurers, are requiring now to have that detection.
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JD Wix: So yeah, in certain states that's a requirement. You know, and also, you know, water is a big problem, right? So our detectors and our shutoff valves help save millions of gallons of water. Absolutely. We save, you know, tons in insurance premiums and stuff like that. Just if you've ever had a water leak, you know how painful that it's.
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JD Wix: Right. So those those detectors can early notify you. They can also shut the water off. So it's a big deal, right. So that plus, again our life safety products with smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors are key for insurance and for just overall savings.
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Ron Jones: Right. So looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, what excites you the most? That's out in front of you and the opportunities.
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JD Wix: So great question. We have an exciting roadmap for 2025 and beyond. Probably some are too early to talk about, but the big things I really like and I'm excited about personally, is that we we're we're releasing are in the process. It's been out for a little bit. We're releasing a new app, which is the first alert app, right, that that encompasses all of our smart home products.
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JD Wix: So we talked about the thermostat. We've talked about leak detection water shut off, things like that. So it brings all those products into one platform for the consumer. So that home buyer has one place to go. On top of that, we've integrated a lot of the common third party platforms that builders use today. So everybody has a smart garage door opener today like Junior or Chamberlain.
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JD Wix: We have, you know, smart front door locks in our homes, things like that. So this app brings those third party products in, plus all of our products and that will continue to expand as we go through 2025. So the good thing for the builders and good thing for our customers is you move into a home, everything's connected now.
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JD Wix: This gives the homeowner one simple app to operate all those products, right? So they don't have to go to ten different apps to to use them. Right. It gives that one consolidated approach. And and the second thing, this is near and dear to me. If you've ever had a fire in your home or a carbon monoxide alarm or anything like that is, is we we make some of the best fire safety products in the industry.
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JD Wix: We released a new detector this year that makes that fire loop smart. So you take one detector down, you put a new detector up, which is what we what we manufacture. And that makes the whole look smart. So now if you're not at home and your pets at home and there's a fire in the house, you'll get a notification right away and says, hey, something's going on there, right in those detectors.
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JD Wix: Use our latest and greatest technology, which is precision detection. So very, very low false alarms, very quick detection because of all the synthetic materials in new homes today. Right. And it lets you know if there's a problem. So there's carbon monoxide leak. It's not just going to make a loud noise, it's going to notify you through your smartphone that, hey, something's going on in that home to react quickly.
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JD Wix: Call the fire department. Versus in the old days, you don't know until the fire the your neighbor calls the the fire department, right. So say the flames coming out of the out of the roof. So those two I'm extremely excited about. And we have a lot of other new products that we're going to release to share. They're a little bit too early to talk about today, but be glad to do that and.
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Ron Jones: We'll we'll follow up with you. And that is exciting news. So. Well, it's really interesting. And I know that, you know, Beazer has been very, very selective, in the folks that they've chosen to work with, we refer to this project as Crossing the Rubicon, as you may know. And, what we think is that, crossing the Rubicon infers there's no going back.
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Ron Jones: It took a lot of courage for them to take that trip, to cross the Rubicon and say we're going to set a higher standard. And if if you want to compete with us, come on. And if you don't stay where you are. So I'm hoping that they will have a tailwind and that, they can draft other people in the industry.
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Ron Jones: And I hope that that results in success for companies like yours and products that you provide and the services that you have.