A FREE GUIDE & WORKBOOK
Your new-build
technology &
energy brief.
What to decide now, prepare for now and choose later.
You do not need to choose every device before you build. You do need to understand which future choices depend on the drawings, routes and spaces being agreed today.
Download the workbookPDF · 6 A4 pages · 35 KB · printable and fillable · no email required
BEFORE YOU START
A clearer brief.
A useful conversation.
For homeowners developing a new-build design, ideally before electrical and infrastructure layouts are fixed. If your build is already underway, use the questions to establish what is still open with your team.
Work through this with the people who will live in the home. Mark anything you cannot answer as a question for your team. Use the workbook to record your answers, then bring it and your available drawings to your next project meeting.
The guide explains the questions; the workbook gives you space to answer them. Fill the PDF in a compatible reader and save your copy, or print it. Your answers are not sent to us.
01 / YOUR BUILD BRIEF
Start with how you want to live.
Describe the moments you want the home to support before listing products. Think about ordinary weekdays, evenings, visitors and how your household might change.
Questions to work through
- Who will use the home, and what should be easy for everyone?
- Where will you work, study, relax or spend time outdoors?
- Which three things matter most? Where would simple, familiar controls be preferable?
Record in your workbook
- Our household and everyday routines
- Work, study, visitors, accessibility preferences and outdoor use.
- Our three priorities
- What would make the biggest difference to living here?
- What might change later?
- Different room uses, an EV, or additional controls, for example.
02 / YOUR BUILD BRIEF
Walk through your home.
Use your plans to work room by room, including outdoor areas. Record the activities and controls you want, then mark each idea essential, useful or unsure. Use an extra sheet for more spaces.
Questions to work through
- Where do people and devices need dependable Wi-Fi or wired connections?
- How should lighting, blinds and heating be controlled? What manual controls should remain available?
- Are there likely locations for a doorbell, cameras or sensors? Discuss power, data, placement and privacy with the relevant specialists.
Record in your workbook
- Living spaces / kitchen
- Activity or need; priority; question for the team.
- Work / study spaces
- Activity or need; priority; question for the team.
- Bedrooms / other rooms
- Activity or need; priority; question for the team.
- Entrance / garden / garage
- Activity or need; priority; question for the team.
03 / YOUR BUILD BRIEF
Think about energy together.
Bring heating, generation, storage and vehicle charging into the same conversation. Start with your household's expected needs and the systems already being proposed.
Questions to work through
- What heating and hot-water systems are planned, and who is designing them?
- Are solar, a battery or EV charging planned now or possible later? What space and routes might they need?
- Who will check electrical supply and demand, and confirm which systems can share information or respond to controls?
- What monitoring do you want? If backup power matters, ask exactly which loads it would support and what equipment is required.
Record in your workbook
- Planned systems and appointed specialists
- Include heating, hot water, solar, storage and charging where relevant.
- Possible additions and provision to discuss
- Record the need; ask the specialists to confirm the requirements.
- Monitoring, compatibility or backup questions
- Record unanswered questions rather than assumed capabilities or savings.
04 / YOUR BUILD BRIEF
Decide now. Prepare now. Choose later.
Sort your ideas by their dependencies, not just by when you want to buy them. Agree the actual decision dates with your team against the build programme.
Questions to work through
- Decide now: what affects the current drawings, equipment spaces, routes, wiring or responsibilities?
- Prepare now: which plausible future additions deserve provision, and what does that provision cost?
- Choose later: which decisions can wait once their infrastructure and compatibility requirements have been confirmed?
Record in your workbook
- Decide now
- Decision; dependency; who confirms it; date needed.
- Prepare now
- Possible addition; proposed provision; cost or feasibility question.
- Choose later
- Choice that can wait; provision or compatibility to confirm first.
05 / YOUR BUILD BRIEF
Bring the questions to your team.
A requirement only helps if it reaches the right person in time. Use the next meeting to agree who will resolve each question, where the answer will be recorded and when it is needed.
Questions to work through
- Where will network and other equipment live, with suitable power, access and environmental conditions confirmed by the specialists?
- Are connection routes, outdoor points and interfaces between trades shown on the relevant drawings?
- Who checks compatibility between proposed systems, and who owns commissioning each agreed function?
- What labels, drawings, test records, user instructions and support details will be supplied at handover?
Record in your workbook
- Open question 1
- Question; owner to agree; date needed; drawing or document to update.
- Open question 2
- Question; owner to agree; date needed; drawing or document to update.
- Open question 3
- Question; owner to agree; date needed; drawing or document to update.
06 / YOUR BUILD BRIEF
Your first conversation brief.
Pull the main points onto one page. You do not need every answer before asking for help. A clear account of your priorities and unknowns is a useful place to start.
Questions to work through
- Gather available floor plans, electrical layouts, the build programme and relevant specialist proposals.
- Highlight the next decision deadline and the questions that need coordination.
- Bring this summary to your team or to a conversation with On The Team.
Record in your workbook
- Project location, stage and next decision date
- Add the people already involved in your team.
- Our three priorities
- The things we most want the home to support.
- Options we want to keep open
- Include provision or compatibility that still needs confirmation.
- Questions we would like help resolving
- Include available drawings or proposals to discuss.
This is a starting brief for discussion, not a technical specification or an installation checklist. Your architect, builder and appointed specialists confirm feasibility, detailed design, installation and certification. Later options depend on the agreed infrastructure and supported equipment.
TAKE IT TO YOUR NEXT MEETING
Make the questions
part of the plan.
Write down your priorities, mark what is still unsure and agree the next decisions with your team.
PDF · 6 A4 pages · 35 KB · printable and fillable · no email required
SOMEONE LOOKING AHEAD
Have the plans,
but still have questions?
Bring your completed brief and available drawings to a conversation with On The Team.