Guardian Information

What is Guardian?
Guardian is a technologies company Ryan Homes uses for your standard cable and phone outlets that come with the house. They also offer a lot of additional options you can choose to add to your home like a security system, home theater/surround sound, pre-wiring for speakers, whole house audio, network packing, etc.

How much does Guardian charge? And what do I get?
**These were prices we were quoted around December 2011 for the Southwest Ohio area. I'm sure rates and quotes will vary depending on the cost of living for your area, but at least this gives you an idea to budget for.

Home Security System: The base installation package is valued at $1,420 but usually they waive this fee with a 3 year subscription. The basic subscription starts at $39.95/mo and goes up to $49.95/mo for their Plus. The monitoring system provided includes: control panel, keypad with 3 emergency buttons, all perimeter doors + garage door, motion detector, power supply with standby battery, two-tone speaker siren, telephone connection device, yard sign and window decals. Any additional security devices are at an additional cost (key fobs, extra key pad, motion detectors, etc.)

Service Jacks: These are your phone, internet, and cable jacks. A single jack is $100 or you can get a 6 pack for $495.

Prewiring: If you're looking to hide the wires from your tv and cable, pre-wiring is a great option. This is called their Flat Panel pre-wire. It includes HDMI, RGB, RG-6, CAT5E cables. The cost depends on how far the cables are running. Less than 16 ft = $330, More than 16 ft = $440.

Pre-wire for speakers: 5.1 Home Theater System (you provide your own speakers) = $495; Rear speakers only = $215 

Whole house audio pre-wires are similar in pricing.

Home Theater Systems: The basic package starts at $2450 and goes up. This includes Klipsche speakers, receiver, sub, all in one remote, and a couple of other items (I think). The higher end the package, the higher the line of Klipsche speakers However, they do have options if you don't need all the features. For example, if you want just the speakers and wiring = $965; add the sub = $250 additional.

Also, you get to choose whether you want the speakers/pre-wire mounted in the ceiling or in the wall.

Whole House Audio
If I remember correctly, 2 rooms with in-ceiling speakers were just around $2000 and 4 rooms was around $3400. You can substitute a room for outdoor speakers. Pre-wires were substantially less: 2 rooms = around $700; and 4 rooms = around $1400. I don't remember how much outdoor speakers alone were. I want to say around $150 each?

Central Vac
Sorry I can't help on this, but it wasn't something we were interested in remotely, so I didn't get quotes. From what I've seen on other blogs it can cost upwards of $3500 at least. 

Tips for going in to your Guardian meeting:
1. Review your floor plans and decide where you want your standard cable/phone jacks. From there, it's easier to see how many more you're going to need or want. Your sales rep will be able to tell you how many come standard, or you should be able to find it on the master upgrade selection sheet.
2. Cable, phone jacks, and CAT 5 interfaces are interchangeable, so if you don't need or want the phone jacks you can replace it with a cable or CAT 5 and vice versa. It's a nice option to have if you know you'll get more use out of one type over the other.

**Also, if you already know which cable carrier you'll use after moving in, and their phone service is digital, you can use a CAT 5 or phone jack to plug in a standard phone. The CAT 5 will just give you flexibility later on.
3. Look at the products they offer on their website and set a budget! This helps going in to really focus on what's important to you.
4. Remember, you don't have to have them do everything! They can work with you to customize to fit your needs, like just doing the pre-wiring if you already have some great stereo equipment.You just have to ask!